Positive Attitude – Coping With Difficult News Events

World tragedy of any sort impacts all of us on some level. In this past month, the horror of the Boston Marathon bombings drew riveted attention, compassion and solidarity from people everywhere, not just those local to Boston.

Most of us were very focused on the situation — the news played that one video of the explosions over and over ad infinitum — or so it seemed. From a journalistic aspect, that is what one would expect. From an emotional aspect, I personally needed a visual reprieve from all the gruesome details.

How did you react to this tragedy? Were you feeling infuriated, judgmental, angry — even vengeful?

Becoming immersed in the saga that unfolded over those several days may have weighed quite heavily on ones emotions, and takes an intense toll on one’s overall harmony and well-being.

I am not suggesting burying ones head in the sand. What I am suggesting is that it is important to know your emotional limits. If you are overwhelmed, step back. Don’t sit glued to the TV if you will become extremely upset and agitated by doing so.

Other peaceful and involved options are to offer prayers, going into a state of meditation, sending Reiki or other healing energy, sending positive intentions — anything that resonates with you in a more placid way but gets you out of the negative energy of the situation.

As much as I admit a concerned fascination with what transpired, I definitely felt I had to keep my emotional involvement in check as it was distressing to see replay after replay. (Shut the television, I admonished myself!)

Of course, I was relieved when the suspects were out of the picture and Boston was once again safe, knowing that the city had been in a state of lock-down until that happened. What a disturbing reality that had been!

So the message here is to not obsess with the dark events of our times, as that can well impact you in a negative way. Watching the news every day is enough to depress anyone. You have to carefully choose what aspects you bring in to your reality.

I wish there was a station that would report only positive news stories and maybe call it “Good News TV.” It would feature stories of heroic and altruistic acts — real, feel-good stories. But alas, such a program would probably never be commercially viable.

Yet in our own lives, we can seek out those better-feeling stories to bring light into our personal world. We can minimize the time we spend mired in the grip of difficult events.

Each of us has a unique perspective — and only YOU know on a “gut level” what brings harmony into your own life — and on the flip side, know what brings discord.

It always comes back to the concept that when you focus your attention on the positive and highly joyful, you magnetically attract more of that into your life. And you feel good! And feeling emotionally good is powerfully essential for your well-being…

Affirmations:

• I give focused attention to those positive, uplifting aspects of my personal environment.
• I know my emotional boundaries and make smart choices about how to process challenging events.
• I let my love, compassion and radiant inner light shine in the face of turbulent and discordant situations.