“Never think of pain or danger or enemies a moment longer than is necessary to fight them. You’re here. It’s our time and our life, not theirs.” ~ Ayn Rand
It’s not an easy road, but it’s my road…
“Never think of pain or danger or enemies a moment longer than is necessary to fight them. You’re here. It’s our time and our life, not theirs.”
As the world burns both figuratively and literally around us, it’s all too easy to sink into despair, into fear, into hopelessness. In many ways, that is the goal – to keep us small and distressingly despondent so that the few who wield “power” can control us and only take care of what they deem important, which is rarely in the interests of the whole or of the people.
To counteract this, we fight and we fight hard. We rise up, we educate ourselves, we listen, we march, we sign petitions, we make calls, etc. We stay aware and focused and on-guard, and we burn out.
It’s truly unsustainable to keep up with the insanity and the chaos. We must rebel by paying attention to these things only for as long as it takes to fight and thwart them and then allowing ourselves to feel happy. To take time to breathe and enjoy all the small things that make our days a bit brighter, a bit nicer, a bit kinder. It is our life, after all – not theirs.
By choosing to remember that no matter what happens, we do have a say in how we choose to interact with our life we can take our own power back. Sure, there are those who are trying to restrict the rights we have to choose what we read, what we learn, to our own bodies, etc., but our lives are not theirs. They never will be so long as you don’t allow them to be.
We do this by actively choosing joy however we can – so long as it harms no one. We tend to ourselves by providing for our needs as we are able. When you tend to the needs of your heart, you can then tend to the hearts of those around you. It never costs you anything to be kind to yourself and then to extend that kindness to those you care about, to the communities you choose to be a part of.
I’ve felt a certain shift within myself that has decided that those who act from smallness, from ignorance, from hate no longer get my anger, my outrage, my energy. No. Now I channel the disgust, indignation, and horror I feel into ways I can help with the fear, the neglect, the hostilities. I turn my energies to myself and to my chosen communities and I do what I can to care for them, to tend to them. If we all started doing this, maybe, just maybe, the change that is so desperately needed can actually take root and provide a much better now and future for us all. And if not, well, at least I know I’m doing what I can and being true to myself without adding fuel to all of the hate that wants to strangle us all.
Take care and just know that you are not alone.
Namaste ~ Ella
~ Affirmation Mondays are positive words of wisdom, insight and joy to add a bit of cheer to the start of your week and any day you need a bit of a pick-me-up! For even more inspiration please check out my Affirmation Mondays Pinterest Board and my Quote-spirational Board!
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