Posted on May 25th, 2023

It’s perfectly natural to want to improve the planet. What a noble pursuit! What a satisfying process to witness, to direct, to offer some lasting contribution to the betterment of your community, of your country, and perhaps of all of humanity.

How does one partake in such a massive undertaking when it seems that you’re merely a speck among the billions of people who culminate the whole of civilization? When tragedy strikes and shakes us to our core, the possibility of initiating change seems all the more daunting. Even if you have a worthwhile solution that deserves consideration, you may invariably feel silenced by default. You have no microphone, no pulpit, and no audience with which to inspire change.

All true, at least to a certain extent. The world is filled with millions upon millions of talkers. The big question becomes, “Who listens to whom? And does it even matter who listens if nobody heeds whatever is said?”

Therein lies the solution to our quandary, but it’s impossible to grasp when we’re eyeball-deep in the problems we face on a daily basis. In other words, when all we notice is problem after problem, we unwittingly turn a blind eye to the solutions right in front of us.

Do not be fooled into thinking you are powerless and therefore hopeless. You are powerful beyond measure, but that’s difficult to believe when you continually feel the exact opposite. If ever there comes a moment you feel aligned with your true power, you often squelch it immediately. It fades quickly into nothing more than a fleeting delusion of grandeur. Cold hard reality sets in. Again, you feel cemented into perpetual powerlessness.

So how can you be both powerful and powerless? It all depends upon your focus. Most humans have trained themselves to focus predominantly on the actions and behaviors of others. Others seem despicable, and because of their unconscionable nature, they have your undivided attention. And no matter how loudly you broadcast your condemnation of them, the heinous actors only seem more emboldened, or they grow in number. Soon, all you see is headline after headline of more acts committed by the most deprave monsters to ever walk the earth.

Do you have a good picture yet of this uncontrollable mess? No need to go into further detail, right? It’s easy to believe that the planet is awash in misery based on what you see depicted in the nightly news.

There’s no hope then, is there? The world’s a hostile place where death is the only way out, and the afterlife is our only chance of feeling the promise of lasting peace.

Wait a minute. That kind of stinks, doesn’t it? So we have to die in order to feel better about our existence? There’s some screwy reasoning going on there.

You want a glimpse of the bigger picture without having to croak first? Here it is: despite the horror you see depicted on television and in the papers, well-being is by far the dominant sentiment on this planet. But it’s impossible to believe that if you’re focused on the tiny fraction of hellish events that are bound to unfold regularly on a planet with billions and billions of people.

Should we then turn a blind eye to the horror? Should we run for the hills or bury our heads in the proverbial sand to pretend that the misery isn’t real? No. You didn’t come here to pretend that all is well when clearly there are goings on that are at odds with what you know to be acceptable. You don’t have to accept misery, at least not in the sense that you’re doomed to live it eternally, so therefore just deal with it. That’s not why you came here at all.

Then why did you come to this wretched planet to begin with? It almost seems pointless based on everything you hear about being broadcast in the media.

Ah, the media! They must be the ones perpetuating our hell on earth!

No. That’s not it at all. As much as so many of you are convinced otherwise, the media doesn’t wield that much power. The media merely represent the focus of the world at large. In other words, if happiness sold as well as misery, you’d see more stories of rainbows and a lot less bloodshed across your screen. But you’ve trained yourself not be as interested in the rainbows. You’re much more interested in the blood. It’s just so much juicier!

So give the media a break. I know. That must kill so many of you, but understand that it’s not their fault. In fact, if we could step away from the blame game for just a moment, we’ll actually make some decent headway.

Placing the blame on anything outside yourself renders you powerless, unless that thing you’re blaming is willing to accept accountability and change.

Fat chance.

This isn’t your first rodeo, is it? So you know the end of that story really well. That’s why accountability is a fairy tale in so many instances. Not all. There are exceptions. But to hold steady to the holy grail of accountability as the panacea of all our problems is to ignore the infinite intricacies that formulate our co-creative experience with one another. Let me say it better: if accountability worked so well, we’d have fewer and fewer accountability issues.

We can’t Supreme Court our way to a better world. I don’t want to diminish the role of our judicial system. It serves a valuable role, but it isn’t something we can control as mere individuals.

So what do we do as individuals? Are we powerful or powerless?

That depends on the individual in question, and it varies at any given time. You can be powerless one minute, and a moment later wield the power of millions.

What’s the deciding factor?

I can answer it in one word:

Clarity.

If you’re focused squarely on the problem, you have no clarity. It’s impossible. The gravity of the problem ensures it. However, if you shift your perspective so that the problem isn’t dominant in your experience, you have access to a pool of solutions that weren’t visible moments ago.

So what do you do to get your mind off the problem and instead focused in such a way that the solutions become evident? The answer is both simple and complex. It’s sensible to understand, but it takes significant mental prowess to put into play. I’m not talking about IQ. I’m talking about your ability to relax.

When you’re wadded up in a problem, your mind remains in survival mode. It’s going to keep you alive as best it can, but it’s not going to give you access to higher realms of receptivity. You’ll lack the clarity necessary to move into the solution phase, which is where all of your power lives.

If you don’t feel at ease, you don’t have access to clarity. You lose your ability to inspire confidence within yourself, and therefore you lose your ability to instill confidence in others. You lack connection to your well-being, which immediately weakens you. Your most powerful asset in influencing your surroundings in a positive way is solely through your connection to well-being. Well-being is the life spring of clarity. It is the fount from which all good ideas flow.

Motivation from a place of fear and worry yields such short-term gain in comparison to the wealth of wisdom attained through proper alignment with your innate vitality. Whatever worldly problems you’re struggling with, I encourage you to set them aside briefly. There is a tendency to want to wrestle a problem to the ground and kill it, but such a strategy so often backfires, leaving you exhausted and despondent. In stepping away from the difficulty, at least momentarily, you afford your mind a chance to relax and refocus. Eventually, with practice you’ll learn to re-calibrate your mind to the solution side of the equation instead of being solely fixated on the problem itself.

If you struggle to relax at first, it’s perfectly okay. Resist any urge to bully or pressure yourself into a state of calm. It might not happen immediately, and forcing it just compounds the frustration. Consider a respite such as going for a walk, talking with a friend about a completely different topic altogether, or put on some relaxing music to soothe your mind. As you begin to relax, you’ll notice new and improved thoughts entering your consciousness. This is proof of the manifestation you’re seeking: gradual alignment with broader perspective that yields access to the myriad solutions you desire.

This is the way of the masters, the greatest leaders throughout history. When you attune yourself to inner sanctity, you have access to the energy that creates worlds. One who is connected to that stream is more powerful than millions who are not. Stay there as long as you can. Keep in mind that nobody remains there permanently. The masters simply know how to regain their balance quickly and effectively.

The steadier you are at finding and maintaining alignment with well-being, the more you’ll receive instantaneous solutions where once you only saw problems.