Finding Peace Around Chaos

Meditation practice is regarded as a good and in fact excellent way to overcome warfare in the world: our own warfare as well as greater warfare. - Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Last week I felt myself get very affected by the continuous news of the protests and unrest in Egypt. From listening to it on the news in the car as I traveled to and from work, to it being on TV when I got home. You'd think because scenes like these are shown on the news frequently, not to mention on drama shows and such, that I'd be numb to it and not phased by it. This time for some reason, maybe because it did seem to be on 24/7 or it was in the way the stories were told, it upset me greatly. I became very upset by the stories and the visuals. I noticed my mood change. I became more agitated and uneasy. It made me quite nervous. I even noticed that I interacted with others in a more distant way.

As soon as I was able to identify what was making me feel this way, I turned to my meditation and breathing practice to find some quiet. I decided that although it is important to stay up to date with the news of the day, I didn't need to hear about it at every turn. When I was in my car, I started to play more music. At home I turned off the TV or walked away if my husband wanted to continue watching.

Meditation and pranayama truly helped to calm me down and refocus my energies to more positive and more productive things. By the end of the week, I spent more of my practice time sending thoughts and peaceful energy to those areas in the world where there is unrest. Maybe if more of us are able to pool our resources of breath and positive energy, we can change the momentum there. It only takes a small pebble in the water to create a large ripple effect. Imagine what many pebbles can do. Maybe we can start a tidal wave of good energy going to all the troubled regions to make changes for the better.