Have You Become An Adrenaline Junkie? Get Off the Merry-Go-Round.
In this morning’s New York Times, Opinion writer at large Charlie Warzel writes, “The best description I’ve seen of our collective anxiety was from Mother Jones editor in chief Clara Jeffery: ‘The entire country is awaiting a biopsy result.’
“Why is waiting so difficult and what, if anything we can do to make this uncertain moment a little more tolerable? Waiting on news like election returns (or even just for Election Day to arrive) combines two unpleasant states: uncertainty and powerlessness.”
Let’s dig in, shall we?
We all, all the time, live in uncertainty.
We don’t like it. We pretend it isn’t so. We demand that we be in control when we’re just not.
In fact, the one common denominator in all experience is change.
The point is that you already know how to manage uncertainty. We all do. We do it every day.
We show up, do the best that we can with whatever arises, and keep going. This is a fact and the norm for all of us whether we like it or not, whether we admit it or not.
Powerlessness is, as my friend Annie would say, a whole ’nother bottle of wine.
In the face of the feeling of powerlessness, I quote Opinion writer and nature columnist Margaret Renkl from the same august news outlet, also from this morning, “But this is the United States of America, and we don’t have to live with this travesty of a government anymore. This is the United States of America, and we can vote. Until Tuesday, we have the chance to cast our votes for idealism over cynicism, for optimism over despair, for faith in this country and in our fellow Americans.”
A perfect antidote to powerlessness. Use the power of your own legal franchise. Stand up and be counted.
This still doesn’t help the waiting, though, does it?
Well, for those of you who consider yourselves spiritual beings, there’s always something you can do to take you directly out of powerlessness, isn’t there?
It doesn’t matter what format your spirituality takes.
You can always pray.
Take Ms. Renkl’s suggestions, and pray for idealism, optimism, and faith in one another.
Or my suggestions, and pray for safety for all voters everywhere. Pray for accurate election result reporting. Pray for all the people who are doing the work at our nationwide polling places. Pray for those who are undecided. Pray for fairness, goodness, kindness. Pray for the highest good for all of us, including our country.
If you’re too afraid on the Earth level, pray on the spiritual level. Thy Will Be Done is always a good one. Every time you think about the election, chant Highest Good to yourself till you calm down.
If you’re really daring, pray for the future you want for all of us, the future you dream for all of us. Consider, a future that addresses and heals climate change, a future that sees food scarcity as a relic of the past, a future that makes sure all those who want education can have it, a future that includes people of all sorts filled with joy because we’ve returned to doing the right things, the kind things, the generous things.
I’m sure you know I could go on and on and on. Your prayers, Beloved, are limited only by your own imagination — which, by its very nature, is actually limitless.
We have been living in a sad world lately. A mad world. Maybe even a bad world. But we can slow the merry-go-round. We can quiet that manic calliope music. We can slip off that horse, and face our own powerlessness with vision, with imagination, with caring through prayer.
When I was in Seminary, they called me The Promiscuous Pray-er — she’ll pray with anyone, anywhere, anytime. It’s still true.
Let us pray, Beloved.
Dr. Susan Corso is a spiritual teacher, the founder of iAmpersand, and the author of The Mex Mysteries, the Boots & Boas Books, and spiritual nonfiction. Her website is susancorso.com.
