Series: How to Shift Feeling Overwhelmed By The Suffering In The World: Part 1

There have been quite a few events in the world making major headlines as of late. Unfortunately, most of them are heart wrenching. I’ve experienced quite a few encounters with people who are feeling deeply hopeless about the state of the world. They are feeling surrounded by violence, swallowed by negativity and intensely sad or hopeless about the state of the world. I can so relate. For most of my life, I felt like we were going to hell in a hand basket and I didn’t know how to live in such a world. However, we don’t need to feel hopeless. There is massive reason for hope! If you stick with me and keep reading, I’ll tell you why.

We are all exposed to massive, global negativity brought to us through many different channels. While I don’t believe all media is bad, much of it is creating and perpetuating a fear-based culture. Many media outlets are more than happy to fill us in about the tragedy and suffering of humans all over the planet, and on the flip-side, even happier to tell us about the evil and cruel acts of some humans.

While all healthy people are affected by human suffering, highly sensitive people are even more easily overwhelmed by suffering because of our empathic nature. It can feel unbearable. For most of teens and into my late 20’s, I held a deep sadness that I couldn’t explain. One therapist asked me about it, and I simply said, “It’s like I can feel the sadness of everyone in the world.”

When I had my son, my hopelessness exploded. I felt crippled by the grief, suffering and negativity I saw around me and I felt guilty that I had brought him into the world. I wanted a beautiful life for him, but all I saw was hopelessness. I was lost in grief and depression.

I want to highlight what I just wrote in the last paragraph:

“All I saw was….” 

This is the key. Your perception of the world will determine how you feel on a regular basis. If the only things in your line of sight are negative, that is the predominant feeling you will experience.

How we feel about our life is determined by the following:

1. What you see around you
2. What you focus on
3. What the majority of your thoughts are
4. The connection to your positive sense of self and what you are putting out into the world

The good news is that you can change your focus at any time. It’s your choice. This does not mean that you become callous, indifferent or turn your back on the events happening around you. It’s a practice to allow more joy, love and positivity to enter your experience of life so you are filling yourself up with beauty, good, love and light. When you tip the balance, allowing more positivity than negativity to enter, you create more of what you desire and you lift yourself up to happier heights. It’s about displacement. You will start to see the world as a beautiful place, with beautiful people. You’ll start to see it as a place of possibility, where wonderful things can happen.

Love,

Cortney

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