How Do The Events of Our Current Reality Affect Me?

Quite often, especially in this time of Covid, I find myself compressed by the aberrant events and the news media’s coverage of their “opinion” of the ensuing consequences.  By compressed I mean I feel I am losing my positivity and the “imagining” that keeps the excitement of the future at the forefront of my usually happy awareness.

At times like these I need a mental space to buttress feelings of impending doom with a future that looks dim and bleak.  After all, we all like to breathe deeply when our chest gets tight and anxiety begins encroaching on serenity.  I am not one to wait for an answer to a problem. So, instead of accepting the societal dilemma, I create my own helpful awareness through a deep dive into my emotions and feelings.

Until you can accept situations that bother you, you cannot resolve your feelings. Thus, as I started this with compression and negative emotions, I look for ways to mitigate them, otherwise they will just lead to depression. So, instead of running away, I turn around to confront those thoughts and “make friends” with those feelings.

A Strategy to Deal With Negativity & Embrace “Positive Possibilities”:

I remediate these thoughts and feelings with a “road trip,” not driving but walking on a quiet, and secluded path along my street.  Looking down the road I can see clearly what is near me, but as I look farther down, the less I can accurately assess the situation.  Well, “isn’t life just like that!”  In the distance I can only surmise what I see, so it’s incumbent on my own mind to project the future.  After a period of time, my sense of urgency, my negative thoughts and the feelings of compression begin to loosen, and I generate my own positive possibilities.

For every negative there is always a positive. For every up there is a down. For every dark there is a light. Without these opposites neither could exist!  So I’m relaxed on my walk knowing there are always degrees of each. I chose to see the “positive possibilities.”  I can control things close to me, but like the road upon which I’m walking, I can’t control as much as I look farther into the future. With those thoughts, as I walk down the “road of life,” I can imagine a future that shows promise and a myriad of “positive possibilities.”

Learn more about human perception of “reality” in Authentic Humanity: The Quest for Reality and Truth (from the Big Little Books series) by Leonard Swidler, PhD.