Coping with Disaster Despair. Don’t Miss Those Little Signs of Hope

The Crimson Cardinal

I pulled up my shade as I do every morning.  But this morning, I was greeted by a plump red cardinal perched just a few feet away.   He balanced on coiled wires leading from my house.  He sat for a long time, I put a foot up on the windowsill and leaned forward to take him in.  I went away and he was still there; his little black banded head shifting left and right.  Except 1x for brief moment in early winter, I have not see a red cardinal- my favorite bird. Yet there he sat- chirping occasionally, the rain dripping around him.  I took him as a sign to have hope.   I believe all around we are being communicated with.  This was the clearest positive sign I could have, that I should not despair about the earthquake/tsunami and now nuclear disaster in Japan.  That I should not despair of the pain our living planet is in.

I then continued the everyday routine.  Boil water, grate ginger slivers into it to create a makeshift chai tea.  Add some cardamom powder and cinnamon.  I sat to read fresh stories about Japan and whether the nuclear crisis had worsened.  Just then the classical station began to play the most beautiful Ava Maria. Sitting in the dim kitchen with soft grey light and the illumined computer screen, the sadness and beauty of it all overwhelmed me.  I took the gorgeous music too as a sign to never give up hope. And then a headline on my screen, a new rare video made by Japan’s Emperor Akihito, in it he urged his nation to “never give up hope, take care of themselves, and live strong for tomorrow.”

Harmonious peaceful societies are possible-if we can evolve together to that point.

We live on a truly amazing planet-if we can learn to live harmoniously with each other and without polluting/destroying the planet. It could be a paradise.   Humanity needs to find the heart to develop technologies that are much less harmful, renewable and even life enhancing. We need a paradigm shift, if we set the latter of “life enhancing” as our goal collectively we could find ways to move forward without fear of nuclear meltdowns, and other abuses of land, air and water with toxic byproducts of “civilization.”  We have to find the heart to make that choice and then the will and ideas will flow.  I don’t’ think humanity’s will is primary attribute at this point, as willpower, power over, dominance is what has brought us to where we are now.

Hopeful Video Resources:

See below some short videos, each is different in tone but all I think will leave you feeling better today.  I recommend the Adyashanti as giving the most “big picture” view of where we are now:

• “Little Grandmother,”on planeatry changes/ 30 min.(?) Uplifting, spiritual “pep talk,” specifically on 2011.  Some criticize her as “inauthentic” as she is not Native American, and yet claims some lineage or authorization.  But I find she speaks from a place of Truth.
• David “Avocado” Wolfe/45 min. (on coping with personal difficulty and setbacks, negative effects of media…) This is from 2010, they talk about 2012 in a light conversational manner.
• Adyashanti (24 min) Most serious, big picture on human evolution.  At about 10:52 he talks about our need to evolve in order to survive on planet.  He invites us to not cop out in terms of despair and not acting.  As we realize time is running out, “there is tremendous pressure to evolve to awaken,” Adyashanti.  Is an American teacher out of the Zen Buddhist tradition.