Pathwalking 138
There is some scary stuff happening in the world around us right now.
In the United States we have this surreal situation in Missouri. I had really thought we left the hatred and fear and racism of the 1960’s back in the 20th century, but we seem to have all of that back again here and now.
In the Ukraine we have separatists who are likely backed by the Russians stirring up nationalistic troubles.
The Israelis and Palestinians of the Gaza Strip cannot come to peace and are killing one another once again.
As if that wasn’t enough, we are inundated with news of various acts of nature like storms and wildfires and potential volcanic eruptions and such. To call it all disheartening is an understatement.
All of these awful things beg one question. Why bother? Why bother to make and choose a path in this life when so many random awful things can interfere and disrupt that path?
The simple answer – because we have no control over these things. I cannot control what is happening in the world, I cannot control the actions of others.
I CAN, however, control my own actions, my own choices, my own destiny. In fact, this is one of the few things in the world over which I have nearly absolute control.
So what? You might go on and question, Isn’t control over anything at all an illusion? Plain and simple – no. While there are a finite number of things in life we have control over, control is not just an illusion.
I can control my emotions. I can control where I place myself in the world at large. I can control whom I associate with, and what I do with the people I spend time with in my life. I can control what I do with my time, and I can control day to do who I am. Certainly there are times this is not so easy, and without a doubt sometimes these are difficult matters, but I am still in control of them none-the-less.
I know there are finer points and semantics to be argued on this topic. Sometimes controlling how you feel is difficult at best due to outside influences. If I am lacking in money where I will be might be limited. Despite the control we can choose to wield, sometimes we still do not, even arguably cannot take it for ourselves.
Pathwalking is about finding and choosing your own path in life. It is making your own way in the world, discovering and exploring your own destiny. I have reiterated the point time and again that Pathwalking is about taking control over who you are, and what you do in this life.
Being inundated by so much negative and unsettling news can really do a number on you. And while it is good to stay informed, it is not necessary to let ourselves be overwhelmed. There is ALWAYS something happening out there that will rile us up, make us angry, make us upset and frustrated. I am not stating that as a negative thing, just a fact. That’s simply the nature of the media and our modern instantaneous news cycle. But since we can control how we allow ourselves to feel, we can choose to not let this affect us.
Again, I am not at all suggesting anyone be ignorant of the world around them. But we all need to keep more open minds, and we need to focus less on what we cannot control, and more over what we can. It is certainly a possibility that some world event will directly effect a course you might choose. It may be part of your path to join a protest or start an organization to do something about a problem in this world. Pathwalking recognizes no limits to possibilities.
I also believe that if we focus more on the things we can control, and we spend more time on our own lives and our own happiness, that will have its own impact on the world. Many of the scary things out there have to do with disempowerment and misery and sadness. People caught up in terrible situations who have no control, swept up in situations that leave little to no room for personal control or escape. I believe that the more empowerment we take, the less we will be caught in out-of-control extremes.
Watching and reading and discussion all the dark and scary world events around us feeds them energy. Go ahead and learn about them, but don’t linger with them. If we take them into ourselves and let these things become a part of our paths, we are giving away empowerment. I know I do not like the feeling of being powerless, and I am pretty certain that neither do you. Nor does anyone.
Let’s focus on our own lives, and the paths we are walking. We can be mindful of the world around us, and all that is happening, but we should not allow those things to dominate our thoughts and actions…unless that IS our path.
Lastly – if you find you have been thrown from your path by an outside influence such as world events, don’t feed negativity and annoyance and anger and frustration at the problem, or more importantly at yourself. Remember, that negativity impacts your path and your ability to walk it. Let it go, and focus instead on empowering your life. We all have days that are bad, we all get distracted from our paths by various influences, and we all make choices that prove to be wrong. Don’t let that throw you off…take a deep breath, release it and keep moving forward.
We can control if we learn of these things and continue walking our paths, or if we let them overwhelm us and shake us from what we want to do.
How do you take your news, and how do you let it influence your Pathwalk?
This is the one-hundred thirty eighth entry in my series. These weekly posts are specifically about walking along the path of life, and my desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Feel free to re-blog and share. Thank you for joining me.
The first fifty-two weeks (Year One) of installments of Pathwalking is available in print and for your Kindle.
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