It's not a bad idea to wonder periodically what you could learn from whatever is upsetting you. Remember the adage: If you spot it, you got it.

That means asking yourself whether any of the traits you condemn in others are manifest in you.

It's a graduate course in spiritual growth. As soon as you hear yourself judging someone, look for ways you might be doing the same thing.

 

Take action when you feel guided and inspired. Too often, activism stems from anger; the actions we take are actually reactions against whatever we perceive as wrong and bad. If we come from a state of resistance, we only generate more conflict.

Align with Spirit (the Universe, life, a force for good, whatever you call it) before deciding what to do.

Don't be afraid to pray, "What is mine to do?" The answer might not be to march in the streets. It might be to rear compassionate children. It might be to volunteer in your community or church. We each have different gifts, and every contribution matters.

You don't have to save the world. Mother Teresa said, "Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love."

 

Shifting our point of view takes practice, but the Bible tells us love casts out fear.

Here's the whole verse from 1 John 4:18: "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love."

Could we explore loving the people involved in those things we fear? The shooters, the terrorists, political leaders, corporations, drugs, immigration raids? No doubt a great many people caught in those battles need love, on all sides.

 

We might not see the big picture, but I have to believe there is one. Maybe this is happening for the individual growth of each soul. Maybe it's a collective experience to push society forward.

In my view, the human species is struggling to grow up. Other species are thousands of years older, and many have established cooperative systems with nature and each other that allow them to survive.

I see us as a bunch of teenagers. We judge others in stark terms of right and wrong, and we think we have all the answers. But don't you also see brilliant flashes of wisdom and intuition in teenagers?

As a species, we're not finished yet.

 

In Practical Metaphysics, legendary Unity writer and teacher Rev. Eric Butterworth said, "The important key to effective living then is not trying to find the way to set things right, and to straighten people out, and to get the world to stop acting like it does. Not to set things right, but to see them rightly. ... As Emerson would say, from the highest possible point of view."   How do you see things?  What thoughts are you sending out to shape the world of experience?