Weeding Out Negative Thoughts…

Pruning away my worry about the world!

I’m sure everyone has felt the extra worry-burden given the world by the COVID pandemic. I admit it — I am a fret-er! So I have spent a lot of time worrying about the health of the world, the pain and loss felt by loved ones of the 100,000 people, just in the United States, who died, the many people who have lost their jobs, their added economic burdens, the small businesses that have folded… The list went on and on until I realized how unhelpful my worrying was, and decided to take action.

First I got serious about learning meditation. I had been dabbling in acquiring this skill for years. But now I listened to Oprah Winfrey Interview Deepak Chopra and then a podcast where they cover Mediation 101. It is helping! I am exhilarated by Mr. Chopra’s optimistic view that the consciousness of the world is being elevated — people are actually improving! One easy example is – instead of a war, the world is fighting a disease. Every person in the world is affected by this pandemic, and we are uniting to overcome it. Surely, our cooperation is imperfect, but it’s progress.
I have taken my healing outdoors and worked on weeding negative thoughts along with real weeds. As Mr. Chopra teaches – you can mediate anywhere, anytime. The results have been rewarding. Overgrown and crowded areas of the garden are now weed-free and the beauty of each plant is evident. I have pruned a tree or two and the beauty of the plants they hid is now revealed.

Similarly, pruning back the worry in my mind has left me room to find ways to actually help people who are bearing the full burden of this crisis. As a person whose first reaction to an emergency is to try to do something to fix it, I now have a list of additional positive steps to take, that might lead us all back to a new ‘normal’.

Best of all – buried under all that negativity was my smile. It too is back in its rightful place.