You simply can’t help it anymore. It’s all around, isn’t it? Bombings, shootings, hate crimes, racism, floods, fires, tornados, corrupt politicians, government agencies fighting, false news, it all spreads so fast. Many people now find out on social media before it’s even reported!

A patient of mine was 30 minutes away from the Barcelona van attack. Another patient was so disgusted with the Charlottesville violence, that she found herself very negatively impacted and not sleeping well for over a week.

What is one to do? Go numb? Turn the other cheek and look away?

Here’s what NOT to do:

Internalize it

If you aren’t numb to experiencing emotions, you will probably do one of the following:

1. Suppress/repress them – subconsciously or consciously bury them (try to go numb)

2. Express them – if negative, they’ll come out negative toward others in numerous ways

3. Escape them – distract ourselves with other forms of entertainment (most of us are best at this)

They are all adaptive mechanisms that keep you moving forward in your life. Can you imagine taking it ALL in, internalizing it and trying to make sense of it? It’s good in many ways that we don’t succumb to the crushing and immobilizing effects of grief and sadness we could experience through sympathizing with others.

Here’s what TO DO:

Let it go

Breathe it in and let it out. Let the negative emotions surface and ALLOW THEM TO BURN OFF. Breath deep, acknowledge what you are feeling and imagine it surfacing and burning off. Here’s the thing: You are not negative emotions. Negative emotions are your internal guidance mechanism letting you know that what you are feeling isn’t you; it’s not what you are about. All that bad stuff we witness happens because negative emotions have been internalized and not dealt with. Suppressed and repressed emotions will boil to the surface; they will “blow up.” Expressed negative emotions hurt other people. You’ve heard the saying, “Hurt people, hurt people.” Escaping emotions works for a while, but will catch up with you at some point. If you have the ability, the inspiration and the capability to HELP and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, THEN POWER TO YOU – THAT’S WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT, but most of us find ourselves on the other side of the globe; seething, sobbing, boiling with anger, fear, frustration, etc.…

There’s a whole book written on the process of letting stuff go and it happens to be called: Letting Go. It’s by a wizard of a man who lived many years and has received accolade ranging from Mother Teresa and Wayne Dyer to even Sam Walton. His name is David Hawkins. Order it here.