#197: Maybe This Way
Reframing helps me to see things differently.
The news is crazier, sadder, and more tragic by the day. How do we cope with this? I’m no psychologist, but here’s something that worked for me recently. Perhaps it may help you, too.
reframe | rēˈfrām | verb [with object]
1 place (a picture or photograph) in a new frame.
2 frame or express (words or a concept or plan) differently: I reframed my question.
I think of the news as the daily synopsis of a never-ending soap opera. The show has been playing for as long as anyone can remember as in…forever. Each season blends myth, Greek tragedy, fables, Middle Age morality plays, fairy tales, Punch and Judy, and war & horror movies. The series is set currently in the Henny-Penny the sky really IS falling doom of the 21st century. Lead roles stay the same but, as cast members die off, new actors take over the characters.
The show’s one theme is Power.
Who has it?
How did they get it?
When did they get it?
What…and Who…do they buy with it?
How do they keep it?
Can you imagine the brainstorming sessions in the writers’ room where they dream up this stuff? And what about the producers who demand that each episode be crazier then the last, end with a cliff hanger that makes viewers’ jaws drop in disbelief but somehow keeps them coming back, and back, and back. This current season is a doozy.
May it please come to a resolution in the highest good of all of us.
Thanks for being here and lending an ear.
What I’m Listening to Today
The Beatles - I’ve Got A Feeling
I'm not sure this helps, but historically speaking, things have always been scary.
I'm not sure *this* helps, but I like it anyway: The words of the English mystic Mother Julian of Norwich, who voluntarily spent most of her life in a cell attached to a church:
'All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well"'
In the middle of WWIi, T.S. Eliot repeated this like a mantra in his poem "Little. Gidding."
I was talking recently with someone and I was expressing my frustration at the number of people who see homeless people setting up their tents where they can be seen by the public and saying that they need to be moved out of there. "Where are they supposed to go? There's never anyplace else being prepared for people - we just don't want to have to see them!" My friend said "Maybe the question isn't where are they supposed to go? Maybe it's how can we help get these folks back on their feet?" It stopped me in my tracks. Here in Seattle, we keep voting for taxes meant to fund projects to help homelessness. This is because Seattle, like a great many cities in the US, is filled with people who want to help others, who have kindness and compassion for their fellow human beings. But we keep voting for taxes that somehow get spent in other ways. We don't hold our local government to their promises. I find it hard to believe that it's almost impossible to figure out what to do to help people down on their luck. (and many, many people are just one or two paychecks away from losing their homes.) We need to do better. Our city and state governments have a duty to serve all of the residents, not just those who don't need their help.