Guard your Heart
I keep telling a friend of mine to guard her heart. That, every time she goes online, she is exposed to, and focuses on what’s wrong with the world. That she sees too much of the darkness that exists in mankind, through the news and social media, and that this affects her overall health and well-being. I keep telling her this, because I see how greatly it does affect her. I know; in part, because I know her well, and because I’ve been in the same place, myself before. I’ve dwelled there too; far too often, far too much, and for too long, actually. I’ve seen too much, experienced too much and, for a time, I let it harden my heart too much. As a cop, a counsellor and a crisis responder, I’ve seen the darkest pieces of humanity. And, for a time, I dwelled in and on that darkness. I focused on the bad and poisonous things in our world, instead of seeing beauty; or seeing the world from a place of love. I stopped trusting because of what I saw and experienced, and because I didn’t guard my heart against it, it hardened it. And, it nearly killed me.
Now, she’s not a first responder, and she doesn’t work in the counselling or crisis response field so, she isn’t exposed, first hand to the things that I have been exposed to; in these careers, in my life and my volunteer work. However, she has been through her own traumas, and has dealt with the after effects of such, and doesn’t need further traumatization. You don’t need to do this kind of work to see the workings of the darkness in our world today, however. All you have to do is open your web browser, go on social media or turn on your television or radio; and the evil that mankind does to one another smacks you right in the face. But for some reason, we still expose ourselves to it. We still read the article that we know will trigger us. We still share these articles with others. We still spread fear, and hatred and other such insidiousness by sharing these things. We still expose ourselves and others to fear, hate, bitterness, contempt, anger, lies, misinformation and darkness.
We know that the beauty industry has warped society’s view on beauty but still read beauty magazines, and still compare ourselves to others, after having done so. We still find fault and flaws within ourselves because of these comparisons, instead of loving ourselves as we are. We still expose ourselves and others to vanity and pride, or self-loathing and self-flagellation. We compare ourselves, and in doing so, try to change ourselves to meet these ridiculous and unattainable standards, to fit in and be loved. Yet we don’t realize that we cannot be loved for our looks. Love doesn’t exist solely within the flesh; not pure love, anyway. We have to be loved for and through our heart. But if we don’t guard our hearts, they become hardened and ugly; and no matter how beautiful the shell ends up looking, the person ultimately still becomes and appears grotesque, instead of beautiful.
We know that the news isn’t always a true representation of facts. We know that the education we receive at Facebook university won’t make us enough money to buy a cup of coffee, and yet we take it as gospel and teach others from the same twisted doctrines. Social media and online communities have become the antithesis of communication and connection. So much so, that it should be called, “anti-social” media. It has broken down communication and allowed us to connect with others, virtually instead of in reality; and in doing so, allowed us to paint a false picture of who we are and what’s really going on in our lives. We choose who we want to represent ourselves as to the world, instead of representing our true selves. We show a minute piece of our bigger picture to those who follow us; further disconnecting ourselves from others. Further damaging an already hardened heart, at that point. And when we’re lonely, instead of going out and connecting with friends, we go online and fake it until we make it.
We know that money can’t buy happiness and that material things do not fulfill us, and yet we expose ourselves to online shopping websites and social media ads, selling things we don’t need to fill a hole that will never be filled with things, anyway. And that, after we do that, we run out money and, often end up unhappier in the long run. And, will inevitably discard these things that we bought when we were feeling empty, when life overwhelms us or becomes empty and joyless. When life and our living space, gets too crowded, and we decide to downsize to make room for joy. But we still go online. We still shop, we still read and share the articles and we still read the magazines. We still expose ourselves to the worst elements of society and mankind, like these. And we are still adversely affected by these things; because we don’t bother to guard our hearts before we expose ourselves to them. We still dwell on the darkness, instead of seeking and spreading light.
How does one guard their heart, you ask? The simplest answer, and in a perfect world, would be to not expose yourselves to these things in the first place. However, we do not live in a perfect world, and there is often no simple solution to such complex problems; unless you have a highly attuned spiritual side, anyway. And even the most faithful among us, still have difficulty guarding our hearts with some of the horrors we are exposed to everyday. So, what is the answer? I don’t really know; not what would work for everyone. Although, I do know what works for me; not engaging.
By that, I don’t mean not participating, or not speaking up or educating others. What I mean is, if you are going to participate, and you are going to speak up, do so with some kind of spiritual and psychological protection. Further, if you are going to share these things with others, do so, armed with truth and from a place of love; versus engaging in perpetuating the preposterous. Don’t continually spread fear, hatred, and misinformation; share information. And, if you do share information with others, make sure that it doesn’t come from a place of fear, hatred and misinformation; share truth. That you research it, investigate it, and share it with the appropriate audience that will get something out of it; that won’t be triggered or harmed by it. Share only from a place of love and truth; easier said than done, right? Not really. If you see things from a place of love and compassion; if you look at things, rightly and learn to see the bigger picture or the truth behind the picture, you can see it from a place of love. If you guard your heart, you can see it from a place of love and share it from a place of love, as well. Limit exposing yourself and others to the darkness of humanity, and spread light, instead. Guard your heart from the darkness, by wearing the armour of the light.