We’re in a sea of worry: but we can help
Connect with your soul, and radiate love and courage
Pause for a few minutes, and review your emotional journey through the summer of 2026. Probably there were times when you felt alarmed. Now consider the people around you: did you share your worries with each other, or soldier on tight-lipped?
In a major crisis, I believe there’s a collective sea of worry, fear, etc: most of us feel it, but usually it’s not voiced because we just don’t know what to do with such painful feelings.
The last time I remember this collective sea was in the early days of covid, when no one knew if the death toll would be huge, or how long this nightmare would last. And the atmosphere of fear and helplessness was really strong, if you stopped and faced into it.
You may feel powerless to stop the drought, prevent wildfires, improve food supplies: and that’s mostly true. However, there’s a lot you can do about what I call soul resilience.
I believe that our soul chooses a series of human lifetimes in order to learn, grow, and be of service. If I breathe slowly, set my panicky emotions to one side, and ask my soul to show me why I’m here in crisis times, I get a clear, useful answer.
My soul asks me to deepen my inner strength, my spiritual resilience, and from that steady centre, embody and radiate love and courage: to the people around me, and to more extreme crisis zones like Ukraine and Iran.
Buddhist teachings remind us that we can’t control our environment, we can’t make the world’s troubles disappear, but we can choose how we respond.
This is utterly different from trying to deny or ignore the sea of worry: soul resilience asks us to live with the fear and alarm, carry them in our heart, but find the spiritual strength to meet them with compassion, so we can help both ourselves and others.
Let me admit that I don’t find this easy: my own worries are constantly stirred up by the collective sea, by the media, and by most of the individuals around me. It’s like trying to steer a boat to the left when its rudder is stuck, pushing you the other way.
To find this love and compassion requires us to keep choosing it, to keep remembering our intention, and to find processes which help us. Here are a couple of examples:
- the composting method in my book, Natural Happiness;
- praying or meditating for help from divine power, however you imagine it: see more here;
- The Work that Reconnects, a powerful group process to face into your pain for the world and grow through it: see more here.
This is only an intro to a big topic, but if this inspires you to explore further, you’ll find lots of guidance and processes on my new website www.soulresilience.net.