A resolution to be hopeful
In an uncertain world, the only stability we can find is that which we provide ourselves.
We can't look elsewhere when we are taken by doom and despair. These feelings of pessimism and fear are responses to external events—not the direct result of them.
This is very lucky. Despite what our feelings would have us believe, we don't have to change the world or hide away from it to be rid of anxiety.
It's a matter of internal re-calibration. To re-calibrate, we change our perspective. To change our perspective, we quantify rather than qualify.
The quality of the world is subjective and prone to errors of judgement in many flavors: hyperbole, underestimation, recency biases, self-centeredness, self-depreciation, bigotry, passivity, etc.
Under scrutiny, the quality of the world is proven to actually be the quality of our minds and how we perceive ourselves and our environment. It can't be trusted.
There is an objective quantity to life, however. I have two eyes, two legs, and two arms. I have a home with four walls. I have a small altar dedicated to Amitabha Buddha. I have a pair of slippers, pajama pants, a t-shirt, and a warm hoodie. I have ample food. I have a cup of tea. I have two cats. I have a father, mother, two sisters. I have a wonderful wife. I have friends. I have a steady job. I have the ability to breathe, see, hear, taste, touch, smell, and think. I have a Bluetooth speaker playing my favorite Erykah Badu album.
You could give all of the big, bad things in the world the same quantitative treatment—in fact we already do, every single day. And the more we spin out, the larger and grander our list of ills becomes, until it is so far removed from our immediate awareness that it morphs into a qualitative indictment on reality.
The world might be filled with horrible things, but the world is not our world.
Moving forward into an era of national and global uncertainty, I am going to make a practice of putting my world first and the world second. This doesn't only help myself, but others as well. What is the world, if not the sum of 7 billion individual worlds?
Maybe the best we can do for others is the best we can do for ourselves.
I'll leave you with two Youtube shorts by one of my favorite Buddhist teachers, a Tibetan nun named Robina Courtin, that have helped me recently: "Be strong in the face of problems" and "Aversion and fear only make things worse".
Take care, everyone. ❤
✘ Posted on — 01/20/25
✘ Last modified — 6 months, 4 weeks ago
✘ Link — https://blog.xavierhm.com/a-resolution-to-be-hopeful