With two major stories rocking the world, Flight MH17 and the continuing attack on Palestine, the pain and suffering is vibrating out and effecting us all.
Two images have touched me deeply.
The 3 young children who with their grandfather were travelling out of Amsterdam on that flight—the parents to follow later. It is unfathomable what they are going through now.
The family of the 4 little boys bombed while playing football on the beach in Gaza, their pain must be so unbearable that I cannot even consider it.
These are but two examples of the loss and sadness that is occurring today. The world is interested in what is going on in Russia and in Palestine. Many of the atrocities in Africa in recent times have gone unobserved by the world’s press.
What can I do with this sadness that sits like a weight in my belly, in my heart? I don’t want to run away from it, to pretend it isn’t there. I try to drop into the feelings, but it hurts too much.
What can I do.
When I see that expression of pain and loss on the faces of those left behind, I feel that pain somewhere in my soul. In that moment I feel love for these strangers, real love, and wish with all my heart that I can protect them.
I realise that love is my natural state. Whenever I am not feeling love for my fellow man it is where life has changed me. Now I can begin to work on myself to return to this natural state.
The next time I am irritated by someone I meet, the next time negative feelings and emotions rise up in me at a bad driver or at slow service, I will try to remember that love is my natural state.
The second thing I can do is to make the most of today. Of right now. To be grateful for the abundance of love I have in my life, for every breath of fresh air in my lungs. For every second I spend without the pain that my sisters and brothers are experiencing on this day.
In light of their loss and suffering I realise I am living a dream. Life is full of peaks and troughs and my life hasn’t always been easy, pain and loss have effected me, and will again.
But today, I am the luckiest woman alive. As a prayer to those who are suffering I vow to live each day with gratitude and love.
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Editor: Emily Bartran
Photo: Author’s Own
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