Throughout this work, I’ve advocated that we operate from our core values and not add to the malignant stress waves, but I’m not suggesting, by any means, that we cannot avoid creating stresses when we advocate for our position: any action we take against the status quo will likely create a stress for those who want to keep things as they are. As we experience our empowerment, those who have been dependent on us and have benefited from our vulnerability, powerlessness and fear will experience their own waves of stress. In the larger picture, however, these will be the natural stresses of evolution, correction of injustice and awakening – rather than the mindless and habitual stresses of ignorance, helplessness and vulnerability.

After all, stress is inevitable in anyone’s life who is actively engaged in living, but how long we stay there and how we respond to it are up to us.

My cursory survey about the stresses created by the 2016 election (and their precursors) omitted a significant question. If the election of a man known to accost, bully, cheat and lie to others is so stressful, why aren’t his supporters similarly stressed? Certainly, many of them have been abused, too.

There are some well-known psychological dynamics that may have come into play here. One is that of “identification with the aggressor.” Some people, as a reaction to their helplessness in the face of aggression, make an identification with the aggressor as a way of handling their powerlessness. This allows them to deny their vulnerability, to feel powerful and to avoid needing to confront the abuser’s behavior.

Another mechanism is the fact that some people with anxiety (over encroaching minorities, their own lack of resources, economic instability or what have you) seek an authoritarian leader they hope will save them from their real or imagined peril.

It would also appear that some supporters are not much concerned with the content of the man’s character or the nature of his policies, but are caught in admiration of his attitude. An identification with his attitude promises a freedom from constraints of “polite” society (or should we say “politically correct” society?). This again refers to people who feel they have not had a voice, and here is a powerful man who can say the most ignorant, offensive, abusive, patently false things and still flaunt his power. So, it’s not just the content of the statements, but the fact that he will say them outright and get away with it – with tacit approval from most of his political party. He will not be cowed by social convention or pressure. The fact that some portion of the content parallels what they would like to say is enough to validate him as a representative of the attitude they want to show the world.

Constraints of polite society and the judgments that come to them for their violation is clearly distressing to them and, of course, adds to the general stress wave – including the backlash of judgments being made about them by most of society. These people have been (in their own eyes) outcasts, and he gives them voice.

“Conservatives” have embraced him because of his advocacy of unbridled individual freedom, free from responsibility for one’s fellow citizens, for the centrality of wealth in their value system, and for the love of unregulated corporate power. He appeals to their negative inclinations toward personal greed and neglect of social responsibilities. These “conservatives” have experienced considerable distress under the evolutionary pressures of universal healthcare, inclusion of other races, ethnicities and non-conforming sexuality. (It’s remarkable how they seem to desire powers for corporations where there is no accountability that they find abhorrent in government where there is.)

Traditional “family values” groups have easily set aside their social and moral standards because this man is doing what they would like to be able to do with impunity: judge, criticize, persecute and dominate – and he implies that he will support their attempts at domination in a theocracy.

These supporters may well be playing a part in the dynamics of the rest of us – as our own negative shadow, making them people the rest of society can look down on and not have to examine the ways in which they have, themselves, allowed the problems of our modern world to fester unresolved.

Regardless of whether we see these mechanism of rationalization and support as cynical manipulation, gullibility, insanity, stupidity or sincerely-held positions, they all reveal unresolved concerns about modern civil society and have created a festering pool of distress that has been neglected by those pleased or advantaged by “liberal” society.

This is the almost final posting of this series. It was my original finale but, because of more reflection, there will be some addenda coming in a few more days, addressing some unanswered questions, taking some ideas a little deeper, or clarifying some points.

Putting What We Know into Action

After all that’s been said, there are three primary things to keep in mind, so we can stay on a heart-centered track:

• Mitigate the impact of stress waves (internal and external)
• Make daily efforts to restore core values
• Take action in the world based on core values and supported by personal balance

1. Mitigate the impact of stress waves

Let’s get more specific. Here are five ways to mitigate the impact of stress waves:

1. Our own stress-management, not just to reduce stress, but to restore resilience and well-being;
2. Bolster our personal boundaries – personal, psychological and energetic, including how much we expose ourselves to media, and what kinds of media;
3. Invest our attention into the heart of our own development, healing, sovereignty and creative self-expression;
4. Enlist the assistance of whatever spiritual forces, beings or principles we have available;
5. Join with others in positive communities of like mind in common activities and endeavors.

Here are some of the ways we can daily seek restoration and a return to our Core Values:

• Meditation
• Prayer
• Contemplation
• Acts of Service and Volunteering for people, housing, animals, environment
• Time in nature
• Time with pets
• Beautifying our surroundings
• Exercise
• Shamanic Practices
• Chants, songs, mantras (clear the mind and synchronize with something greater)
• HeartMath practices noted earlier
  • Indulging in core values – by memory or by action
  • Inner Ease
  • Quick Coherence
    • (There are others found on HeartMath’s website or through certified coaches.)

2. Engage with Representatives

If you don’t like what’s going on in our country or the government, communicate with your elected representatives. Yes, they may be under the influence of other parties and you may only get a vague, party-line form letter back, but their job depends on keeping constituents happy. If you don’t bother, you are letting others make the decisions for you. Here are two sites to identify elected officials (national and in Minnesota) and how to contact them.

https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

https://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/districtfinder

There’s no need to put a lot of time into your message. They don’t have time to read long letters, and short missives are usually clearer. Don’t overestimate their ability to digest complex reasoning.

3. Vote with Your Dollars

Do the companies you support reflect your core values?

What advertisers might be influenced to support more favorable media?

What do the companies do with their profits, and do they “hide” them off shore?

What political parties, representatives, policies do they support?

Will it make more of an impression if you stay in an organization and advocate for change, or cut loose?

Does the company verbally advocate for equality or the environment, but then donate money to the party or politicians that have other ideas?

For banking – do you want a large system or credit union or cooperative?

Do your investments reflect your values?

It’s not enough to just change from one company to another, but to communicate why and on what core value.

4. Keep Perspective

It’s necessary to separate goals from sub-goals and the steps toward them; and focus on increments of change over all-or-nothing judgments. Never let improvement fall victim to perfectionism. We always need a healthy dose of self-forgiveness because we will not be perfect in this endeavor. Forgive your lapses and resolve to learn from them and move on.

5. Recognize and Express Your Identity

1. Is there an interest you had a child that you would enjoy reviving?
2. Is there a skill you’d like to learn, if only for the pleasure of it?
3. Is there a language in which you are interested?

6. Causes – Choose Wisely and Focus

There are numerous causes to which you can give support (financially or by volunteering). It’s important to focus on a small number to which you can really feel connected. Focused advocacy is usually more effective than a shotgun approach.

7. Self-Care

Take care of the one area of the universe for which you are primarily responsible. What do you really need to be healthy, happy and whole? There is a saying I heard from a Mongolian shaman. She said, “First, heal your community; then heal the world; then straighten your sash.” I interpreted this to mean we should certainly engage in advocacy and activism in the our outer lives, but also must care for our own health and wholeness.

Resources – Where to Go for Support and Action

Coaching: coaching is available from HeartMath certified trainers and others to reduce stress and realize goals

Classes/groups: there are many outlets and community education resources for learning about your world, learning a new skill or joining with others with similar interests.

World Wide Web: of course, the internet is a resource for finding advocacy groups, for research into areas of interest, and for deepening an understanding of current events.

Non-profits: many organizations exist for everything from animal rights, to the environment, to child care and political action, to gun safety, to name just a few.

Service organizations: some non-profits are actively attempting to meet the needs of suffering populations. They may build houses, serve the homeless, or feed the hungry.

Making an Action Plan

So, here’s what an action plan might include:

• Daily practice(s) to anchor, center, balance, restore focus on core values
• Daily review of unresolved emotions triggered during the day
• Occasionally things to do that restore a focus on core values
• Awareness of things to be careful about or to reduce in life
• Things to work into life
• Actions to express who you are, what you value, and what you truly love
• Causes you might consider supporting that align with your core values
• Development of a hobby, special interest of exploration, or activity that you can do just for the pleasure of it – perhaps an earlier-life interest you’ve set aside.

It’s likely to be overwhelming to try to do too many of these at once, so I wouldn’t try. Pick a couple that appeal to you and go with them. Add the others as you feel ready, if you have time. Just try to keep yourself balanced and engaged.

Summary

Perhaps I can summarize all this in a few words:

Acknowledge – acknowledge the stress or issue.

Surely, as we acknowledge the nature of the problems, we will feel their impact on us – anger, stress, discouragement – but awareness of these internal responses is a good thing unless we stay there. Our awareness gives us choice whether to act, and what actions to take. Our emotional responses tell us about ourselves and about our relationship with what is going on in the world.

Re-balance – don’t get stuck in an immediate automatic reaction

Being aware of the way in which our perceptions of the events have affected us, the second step is to re-balance ourselves. Given the adverse impact of stress on our reasoning, and because of the stresses and pace of modern life, acting out our initial impulse is not usually the wisest or most effective course of action.

Re-center – return to a focus on Core Values

This might help us remember who we are and to return to an awareness to our deep values – what’s important to us beyond momentary provocations.

Act – take constructive action that’s aligned with Core Values

I’d like to see us attend in a healthy way to the challenges we see in the world. Equally important is the fact that the nature of current stresses can throw us off center, distract us from our path of healing and growth, while flooding us with waves of stress, anger and discouragement. After all, we are in relationship with both the outer world and with our inner selves (even if we ignore them). What happens in one has an effect on the other – for good or ill. My hope for these postings is to make it better for both realities and not to add to the stress waves or fruitless unhealthy argument we so often see today. We can do better; we can be better. Maybe we can even communicate with one another. And it helps to remember that how we are is often as important as what we do.

 

*(This series is adapted from Restore the Balance, a presentation made at Unity North Spiritual Center on January 7, 2018.)

Note also that a video course is being prepared on The Patterns that Shape Our Lives – and what to do about them. It includes explorations of patterns of emotional responses, relationships, dreams, physical ailments (and more), how to explore them and, with some effort, gain liberation from them. If you are interested in knowing about when it is completed, let me know.

Moving Forward – Empowerment and Engagement

Empowerment

As we look to reduce the negative impact of stress on us, as well as to make our efforts at inner and outer change more effective, we need to address at least three factors.

First, we must learn to resist the intrusion of adverse forces and ideas; that is, to resist stress waves, emotional viruses, misleading information and geomagnetic anomalies that flow through our collective consciousness, along with the provocations on which many people, organizations and other entities feed.

Second, it behooves us to anchor ourselves in the power of our heart-centered sovereignty (our core values), and to work from that foundation, rather than from fear or anger. Our fear and anger may certainly motivate us and provide information to us, but we want to operate more effectively by centering first on our core values.

And third, we need to maintain forward development and expression of our own identity as a unique, soul-filled individual – and craft our responses to things based on this identity. Beware of allowing external agents to capture our attention and, thereby, hold in abeyance our own interests.

Each of these three factors helps to keep us from becoming the mirror image of those we do not like, and gives access to our own moral compass. This means, in part, making time for that which nurtures us.

A Review

At this point in my meanderings, we’ve looked at a list of cultural stressors, their impact on us, our connectivity with nature and people, the adverse impact of stress, the inestimable worth of our core values for guidance and health, and how to use our emotional system for perception and problem-solving. Our next topic will be moving forward to make change in the world and in our lives – on a foundation of our core values rather than provoked reactions. But first, let’s look at some of the not-so-obvious factors that make change difficult.

Hidden Pitfalls on the Path toward Empowerment and Sovereignty

Many of us resist change – and there are reasons why we might choose to resist even that which would ultimately benefit us.

Some people have an ingrained authoritarian orientation. They find security in looking up to a strong leader and clear rules. Loyalty becomes a high value. For such individuals, independent thought, too much self-examination or ambiguity are uncomfortable. They like things clear and direct; and an autocratic leader saves them from responsibility and uncertainty. (This authoritarian orientation was early noted to be a common denominator of the president’s followers. This allowed candidate Trump to brag that he could shoot someone in broad daylight and not lose any followers – as if that were laudable.)

Also, something in us wants our leaders to god-like – to believe some divine force put them there. On the other hand, to be automatically cynical (“They’re all corrupt.”) is an equal abdication of responsibility since one is once more freed from the obligation to think, evaluate and act. Such individuals are still authority oriented – just negatively so.

Others may be attached to their stresses or may be getting something out of their current situation – even if it has unpleasant features. They may enjoy a benefit, special consideration or the moral high ground. And having someone to blame for their troubles (even if true) can take the onus of off them to move on.

Still others may be attached to their anger (reflecting deeper personal issues) or even addicted to the anger chemicals in their body (certainly a more powerful feeling than vulnerability). If one is angry, one is focused on the infraction and perpetrator and not on one’s pain.

Finally, it’s often the case that change is just plain hard work, requiring attention to our goals, honesty about our efforts, and evolving the relationships around us, many of which may be invested in things staying as they are.

This is not to blame the victims who live in pain and struggle to keep going, but only to recognize the full ramifications of introducing change into a structure.

So, before undertaking efforts at change, it may behoove us to explore these questions:

• What does the current situation cost you, or deny you?
• Has it given you any special considerations or privileges or a moral high ground?
• Are you gratified by having someone to blame?
• If things truly changed, is there something you might have to give up?
• If things truly changed, are there responsibilities you might have to assume?
• Are there people who depend on things being the way they are – on you being the way you are?
• If things changed, how might your relationships change?

Another broad question might be to ask what your investment is in things as they are, as well as the need for change? With that awareness, you may be able to approach efforts at change in a more wholistic and effective manner.

Next, we’ll get more specific in the final section – part 3b.

Stress, and the Physical and Metaphoric Heart

As I mentioned before, I’ve been teaching about various aspects of stress-management for decades and it has never seemed more applicable. In this section, I’ll be presenting some of my own ideas based on my experience with hypnosis, psychotherapy, biofeedback, and the science-based methods of the HeartMath Institute (www.heartmath.org).

Power of the Heart

Let’s begin with the millennia-old concept of “heart.” Since ancient times, the heart was seen as the seat of intelligence. The word “courage” even comes from a word that means heart. One way to access the wisdom of the heart is to consider the following questions. I suggest that you take the time to write down your responses to these questions, and to note how you feel as you think of them. Take your time.

• What means the most to me?
• What do I love?
• What makes life worth living?
• When do I feel my best?
• What do I enjoy doing for its own sake?
• What makes my heart come alive?
• What do I think the world needs more of right now?

You may have realized that these are the same sort of questions put in different ways. Our answers reflect our core values – values originating in our metaphorical heart. When I do workshops and ask these questions, there is invariably an experience of peace, well-being and joy, along with the realization that almost no one spends nearly enough time in that state, or doing those things that elicit that well-being. Blame for losing touch with these core values is most frequently put on distraction and stress.

The importance of the heart is not just metaphoric, however. The relatively new medical field of neurocardiology has recognized that the heart has its own intrinsic nervous system that both responds to changing conditions, as well as participates in perception and decision-making. In addition, researchers have discovered and measured the way heart rhythms can either coordinate or disorganize brain functions – including our ability to perceive our environment, remember facts and solve problems. And our emotions play a major role in the way the heart responds. Many of our responses to the environment and our own thoughts are an interaction among our perceptions, emotional memories, coordination of the thalamus, heart rhythms, heart-rate variability (a reflection of interaction of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems), hormonal secretions, focus of attention, and opportunities (or not) to respond in a way that metabolizes the stress hormones our body generates.

The most efficient and user-friendly methods of intervention I’ve seen are those taught by the HeartMath Institute. Derived from research-based exploration, these methods have been used by ordinary people, health-care workers, military and police personnel, educators, students and other groups to restore core values, reduce the wear and tear of stress on the body, improve cognitive functioning and enhance social relationships. With a little practice, we can become healthier, calmer and smarter within minutes – all by shifting our attention, regulating our breathing and generating a positive feeling. It seems too simple, but it works. The heart of the method, so to speak, is heart-focused breathing and the activation of a feeling of care or gratitude. Regularized breathing calms the nervous system, and the activation of a fun, positive feeling is hormonally restorative and makes the good state last longer. Furthermore, one can use the technique for a quick calming (in about 30 seconds) or as a sort of meditation over five to fifteen minutes.

One of these tools, “Inner Ease,” can be found on the HeartMath website at https://www.heartmath.org/articles-of-the-heart/heartmath-tools-techniques/inner-peace-inner-ease/.  My favorite technique, called “Quick Coherence,” can be found at https://www.heartmath.org/resources/heartmath-tools/quick-coherence-technique-for-adults/.  The institute’s research is also available on line.

When I worked in the schools, I watched these methods restore people to their core values, re-discover the things that made life worth living, and improve test-taking skills. When I practiced regularly, my immune system was stronger. For more detailed information, I suggest accessing the HeartMath website, attending a seminar where the methods are explained in detail, or you can engage a HeartMath coach for individual instruction and goal-setting.

You can also purchase biofeedback-like devices to monitor and practice regulating your heart-rate variability. These devices are either computer connected (called “emWave”) or powered by a smart phone (called “Inner Balance”).

The biggest stumbling block, however, is developing the discipline to care for oneself. To take a minute several times a day to apply the above techniques, or to take 15 minutes once a day to lock in a state of well-being can seem insurmountable – especially for people who are caring for others. Researchers have found, however, that such self-care is not just a benefit for the persons practicing it, but also for those around them. That is, well-being (like emotional viruses) can be contagious, which takes us to the topic of connectivity of living systems.

The Connectivity of Living Systems

A fascinating area of research is the way living systems connect with and influence one another. I already mentioned the effect of geomagnetic storms on human behavior and well-being, but we ourselves are also generators of electromagnetic influence. It turns out that every beat of the heart broadcasts your emotional condition through the measurable electromagnetic field generated by the electrical pulse that activates the heart muscle. This is one of the invisible influences among people – for good or ill. This heart-based influence has also been seen between people and horses and other animals. What’s more, trees’ responsiveness to earth events and human emotion is also being explored. You can find more information about this research at https://www.heartmath.org/gci/.

These new research projects support my earlier point that we are not alone, separate and individual. Certainly, we have our individual characteristics, but we are also connected to nature and to each other. Taking care of ourselves is also caring for the earth and our fellow citizens.

We have choice

I hope this all-too-brief foray into the science of stress-management makes clear that our efforts at staying balanced and heart-focused are not selfish acts of personal contentment but, rather, a decision to not contribute to stress waves and, instead, broadcast a field of care and rejuvenation that may make a measurable difference in the world – and certainly for ourselves. Furthermore, it’s my hope that, through these efforts, we not only increase our well-being, but also experience the empowerment that heart-centered living can provide.

In part III, we’ll move on to the applications of what we know so we can bring benefit to ourselves and to the people around us, even while we tackle the stresses of our time.

Recovery and Restoration

This begins the process of restoring our balance, reducing the impact of all those stresses on us, getting us centered into our deep-heart values, and enlisting the positive power of our emotions so we can move forward toward making constructive change in the world without betraying our own identity.

Redeeming our Emotional Resources

Emotions: Are They Friend or Foe?

In the face of a lot of stress-management writings, Eastern ideas about non-attachment and New Age dogmas, I need to address the power and value of our emotions. Plus, I’ve implied that our emotional reactions might be problems. They can be – if not allowed to do their job. Our emotions have been betrayed by some of the things we’ve been taught. One of these betrayals is that some emotions are blessed as being positive and others are judged to be negative. We’ve even been told by one writer that there are only two emotions – love and fear – regardless of the wide spectrum of emotional responses that we all experience.

Another potential pitfall is the teaching that we should only attend to positive, elevated emotions, and not give attention where we don’t want energy to flow. Sometimes this works, but it is only a partial truth. Of course, we have a choice whether to feed an emotion by fixating on it and replaying the memories that created it, but it is fruitless to deny what is already there. We must distinguish between suppressing an existing emotion, on the one hand, and re-generating emotions we don’t want on the other.

Our emotional system is just not as simple as some would like us to believe, and I’d like to present what I think is a more useful perspective.

So, what are they for?

We have, I think, four primary emotions, each with its own functional purpose in our lives.

• Each is a form of perception of our relationship with some aspect of the world.
• Each is an agent of valuing things, people and events.
• And, each is an attempt to resolve some issue with which we are faced.

In short, our emotional system is a form of perception, evaluation, response and problem-solving – if we allow it. There is a difference, of course, between naturally-occurring emotions and those we generate ourselves or contaminate with judgment, intent or attachment. Also, they can be incorrect, inappropriate, misplaced, mislabeled or based on false realities; but they each serve a purpose that, if recognized, helps us to know who we are and what we are being called to do. If not recognized, however, they create distress in the system.

Again, please note that I’m talking about the primary emotions not contaminated with judgments, or incorrect labels. These basic emotions are sadness, fear, anger and joy. Anger, for example, is an honest emotion, while hatred is not. Hatred includes a judgment, and a target marked for aggression – one whom we have decided no longer deserves the respect we say we value. As another example, feelings of betrayal are usually a mixture of disappointment, sadness and anger.

The specific functions and value of emotions should be clearer if we look at my “Emotional Toolkit.”

The Emotional Toolkit

We have four primary emotional tools.

• Anger is a response to a perceived violation. It helps us maintain personal boundaries and to get our needs met.
• Anxiety is an instinctive response to protect us from a perceived threat.
• Sadness makes us aware of the absence of something (or someone) we value.
• Joy shows us what our lives need for renewal. (My hypnosis instructor many years ago told me, “Everything necessary for the preservation of life, the Creator made pleasurable.”)

Of course, what I’ve put forward here is the ideal. In real life, our emotional systems can get distorted by inadequate or misguided parenting, needs for approval, gender expectations and emotional wounds. But that’s not the fault of the emotional system itself. Rather, it’s our failure to understand and nurture the proper development of these tools of living.

When beset by an emotion, we might ask:

• What does my anger want me to change? What boundary has been crossed? What or who has held something from me (or someone else) due me?
• What does my sadness show me I’ve lost? What does my sadness show me I value?
• From what is my fear trying to protect me? Does it really need to? Is there a deeper fear under what I’m feeling?
• What does my joy ask me to make more time for in my life?
• What do I want? What do I really want?

That last question is one of desire, more than emotion. Desire is another often-misunderstood human function. Desires are often dismissed as transitory and shallow, which they can certainly be. The desires we should pay attention to, however, are those that seem to come from deep within us – usually desires related to our core values for they tell us who we are.

When the work of the emotion is complete, it leaves us of its own accord – unless, of course, we feed it, or we have mislabeled it. This means we need to recognize it, find some way to express it honestly, and then let it go.

So, each emotion and desire are signals about who we are and our perceived relationship with some event, person or idea in our environment. In addition, they carry the energy to realize and express our identity and maintain our sovereignty. To reject, disown, degrade, or dismiss our basic emotions are all forms of willful soul loss, self-abandonment, and self-suppression.

Further self-reflection can help us evaluate the appropriateness of our emotional states and make better use of them. We are not trying to analyze them away, but to embrace the meaning of each one and its relevance to our lives. Here are some considerations to test the validity of the basis of an emotion. (Note that we are evaluating the validity of the basis of the emotion, not the emotion itself.)

• First, how much of the emotion actually belongs to me? Is there some portion of it that I absorbed from those around me or when I was a child under the influence of adults? (Whether you consider this a transfer of actual emotional energy, or a kind of sympathetic response is not as important as being able to distinguish what is ours and what really belongs to someone else.)
• How much of what I feel is manipulated or generated by what I’m reading or seeing? And how much by what I’m replaying in my head?
• How much of what I feel might I have absorbed from a social wave of emotion?
• Does this emotion cover some deeper or rejected emotion?
• How much of this is an emotional memory from my past?
• How does the emotion relate to its purpose as noted in the Emotional Toolkit?
• To what degree does it relate to my core values?
• How can I use its information and energy to support and express my core values related to this?

Note that this self-assessment is in no way intended to invalidate or immobilize the emotion. Rather it is to give it its true place, to honor your perspective and allow you to take the appropriate action based on current external realities, internal needs, and your core values.

Speaking of core values, we’ll next look at their place in our health, stress-management and as a moral compass as we address the stressors of our time.

8. Religious Evolution, Structure and Belief

The shift from animism to polytheism to dualism to monotheism to attempts at sectarian dominance and dogmatic theocracy have reduced the willingness of some religious factions to tolerate diversity, along with ambitions for political control. This is a bad sign.

In addition, for thousands of years, we have had religions and religious-like movements blatantly rail against equality and democracy, against science and against respect for one another and for oneself; religions that value personal loyalties over everything else; religions asserting that their god has given them rights that supersede any social contract or common morality. Thus, we see drives for theocracy not only in some Islamic states, but also in Christian-dominated countries, including the United States. History shows us how religion has been used to support the conquest of new lands, to oppress indigenous peoples, suppress women, censor science and oppose equality of individual rights. Since the Roman take-over of Christianity, (and before) women were treated as second class humans and, for centuries, not even given credit for having souls. This shaped and supported the abusive patriarchal culture we inherited.

Religion, it seems, is particularly vulnerable to being corrupted by secular power.

9. National Karma – An Oppressive History Creating Guilt, Anger and Injustice

I’m using the term “karma” here as a general term noting that actions have consequences. And there are lingering – and festering – consequences to America’s history of privileged classes building an economic system on the backs of slaves, the theft of others’ land and resources, suppression of women’s wages, cheap labor, and upward wealth distribution. “States’ rights” has been used as a cover for policies that support such immoral activities, making genuine discussion of states’ rights difficult, if not impossible.

Many who have enjoyed the benefits of this system are afraid of losing ground as the underclasses claim their due.

10. Constitutional Challenges

Constitutional challenges have been used since the beginning of the history of American government to clarify an unfolding understanding and interpretation of the meaning of such things as equal treatment under the law and due process rights. Arguments about the meaning of the Second Amendment have taken a moral/religious tone on both sides, making common ground difficult to find. Congressional committees are using public relations in the release of selected information instead of adjudicating issues through transparent bipartisan investigation. And the separation of powers seems to have broken down. (Ironically, many of those touting devotion to the constitution are those we see trying to circumvent it.)

Thus, those of us who look to the American constitution for equal treatment, justice and due process are seeing an erosion of respect by those sworn to uphold it – another source of today’s stress.

11. Personal Issues and the Illusion of Individuality

As if the chaos we see in the world around us weren’t enough, we each have our own personal issues, distortions, blind spots, shadow and karma, if you will (along with our gifts, talents and spark of the divine, of course). Consequently, we add our own personal stresses into the mix – stresses about social acceptance, career, health, taking care of our families, threats to retirement security, the changing economic landscape, family harmony, etc.

What’s more, we labor under the strange idea that what happens to and within us is about us alone – that we are somehow separate from the world, and from other people (which takes us to the twelfth potential source of our stresses – one that goes to edge of the known materialistic world we usually live in).

12. “Invisible” Forces

Collective Consciousness

It’s not a popular concept in our individualistic and materialistic Western culture, but we are a part of a collective consciousness of humanity: other people’s actions, thoughts, emotions, attitudes and secrets are also a part of us – as ours are a part of them. This idea has been around for ages among mystics, but science is catching up in its discoveries of “connectivity” among living systems. I’ll discuss something of that connectivity toward the end of Part II of this article.

Stress waves

For reasons I’ll explain in Part II, I’d like you to think of this “stress wave” not as symbolic, but a literal physical-but-invisible wave of emotion that is contagious and influential, and is a significant part of the stress we have all felt in the world – and to which we have contributed in the arousal of our own anger and anxiety. (Not that anger and anxiety are not warranted, but it’s how they are handled that determines whether they are helpful or destructive.)

In addition to these “stress waves,” we also see “emotional viruses” – contagious defeatism, resentments and negativity passed along in social networks, in work places, families and across the country, especially when a politically savvy group can take advantage to discount opponents or motivate advocates. But it’s not just humanity that contributes to these invisible stressors.

Geomagnetic Aberrations – from the Sun, from humanity

Perturbations of Earth’s ionosphere caused by solar events have been correlated with events and behaviors such as crime, accidents, and morbidity from heart attacks. Also, ongoing experiments have shown that mass reactions to global events can also affect otherwise random activity of computers. My point here is that there are potential stressors that are astronomical in nature and simply part of the way the world is. There is exciting research into the question of how a focused humanity might alter the ionosphere, thus improving its return influence.

Metaphysical, Religious and Shamanic Concepts: Thought-forms and Spirits

I already mentioned Itzhak Beery’s shamanic observations, but similar ideas have been floated on the fringes of things, suggesting that there are destructive spiritual forces at work (“Satanic” of otherwise), along with witches’ spells, secret societies, and various real or imagined conspiracies.

The bottom line here is that we are all in this together.

The Deleterious Effects of Stress

As if the stresses weren’t enough by themselves to wear on us, they have other consequences that detour our efforts at personal growth. What we are beset with from the outer world can take our attention away from our efforts to heal the wounds inside of us – wounds that occurred long before this last year. It is too tempting to focus on the person(s) who scratched open the wound (and keeps scratching) and neglect what is necessary to heal it from its original source. As we sometimes hear said, it’s hard to remember our objective is to drain the swamp when we’re up to our asses in alligators. We get distracted from attending to our own reasons for living by the stressors that assail us.

Finally, even though others may trigger our wounds, the wound still belongs to us and we are left with the responsibility to do something with it.

Time for Reflection

Whether you agree with this critique or you are offended by it, let’s get beyond the divergent content of thought and deal with the reality that, on either side of the issues, the emotional content is often the same. Regardless of whether we are right or wrong, anger, anxiety and depression have deleterious effects on our physiology, including our sense of well-being, our immune system, our ability to think clearly; and, the fact that our attention is being manipulated away from our own core values and sovereignty.

It doesn’t matter all that much which side you’re on if you generate the same emotional states of stress, anger and judgment. It doesn’t matter that you might have the moral high ground or a more valid right to the anger and judgment, because of three things they will do.

• They have an adverse impact on body and mind, even if you are right;
• They obscure the realization of your core values; and
• They contribute to the general stress wave around the planet.

Furthermore, when two sides lock into their opposition to one another, each becomes little more than a negative reflection of the other and neither can move toward a better outcome without the other one objecting.

It might sound like I advocate not reacting and not acting, but that is not at all my intention. I will explain how the stress turns to harm, and why and how you can and should still care. The goal at the end of this of all this is to be able to still care, and have that care nurture and strengthen us rather than torture us. For the time being, we are not interested in ideology, but the realities of being a human creature with awareness, with choice, with a body designed for survival, and a heart designed for healing and joy.

How to move on

So, after identifying some of our stresses (probably feeling all the more stressed), can’t we just go on to doing something about them? Yes, we can, but first I’d like to assert why it’s as important to be aware of how we are as it is to plan what we do. This is not a new issue. Centuries ago, Aristotle (384 to 322 B.C.E.) put it this way:

“Anyone can become angry. That is easy. But to be angry with the right person to the right degree at the right time for the right purpose and in the right way, that is not easy.”

Acting out of our stress will be less effective than acting out of our inner values, which is the point of Part II. So, we will begin setting things aright with ourselves in the next section as we, first, deal with the mismanagement of one of our most powerful resources – our emotions.

In Part 1a of this series, I noted that the stresses that emerged around Donald J. Trump’s election to the presidency did not originate solely with him, but that he was a catalyst for pre-existing, underlying conditions. In this and the next section, I’ll lay out 12 of these social conditions.

1. Public Indifference & Disaffection

Let’s first recognize the fact that only about half of eligible voters voted in the 2016 election and less than half of those voted for this president. But the politics of gerrymandering and complications of the electoral college allowed someone with one fourth of the country on his side to take over the rest of us, despite losing the popular vote.

For many people, the two major parties have become indistinguishable in their structure and investment in power, although espousing vastly different values. Both parties can be said to have betrayed their basic principles to stay in power and to cater to wealthy donors. Third parties have not been successful in escaping challenges of irrational ideologies of their own, charges of personal grand-standing, lack of financial clout, or having their own questionable backers.

Many citizens don’t see their influence in the face of powerful forces that benefit from public apathy.

2. Manipulators of Legislators – a Shadow Government

Lobbyists register and work openly to influence legislators, but there are also shadow organizations that work mostly outside of public view. This movement began some decades ago. One example is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) – founded in 1973 – whose agenda has been to draft corporate-friendly legislation to be passed into law at the state level and to promote their policies. They write up bills and give them to sympathetic state legislators who, in turn, introduce them into state governing bodies. Also in the 1970s, Exxon-Mobile’s research scientists concluded that their products were contributing to anthropogenic climate change. The company’s response was to initiate a misinformation campaign to discredit others who came to the same conclusion (using some of the same people who tried to discredit research on the dangers of smoking tobacco). Please note: it is not the conservative or liberal nature of such groups that are of concern, but their operation as a kind of manipulator of public (mis)education and government. In addition, we also have various super PACs on all sides claiming to be public welfare organizations, but clearly operating as political agents.

I suspect that the discrepancy between our façade of a citizen-driven democracy and the reality of influence by powerful organizations and donors is a source of stress for those of us with only one vote.

3. Tribalism, Tribal Boundaries, Loyalty and the search for Certainty

Political discussions are too often presented in absolutist, either-or, all-or-nothing, for-or-against terms in ways that undercut communication and the engagement necessary for various factions to work toward viable solutions. That is, there appears to be more investment in boundaries and brand-loyalty than in substance, common values and compassion. We see this regarding climate science, gun issues, women’s healthcare, immigration, gender, race, ethnic equality, economic policy, civil rights, environmental safety, corruption in government and business, to name a few. Furthermore, autocratic leaders are less interested in truth or solutions as they are in loyalty and conformity.

I see anxiety motivating this kind of behavior – an outgrowth of felt threat of a loss of identity, status or power, which brings us to the next point.

4. The Unheard Voice of the Left Behind and Socially “Victimized”

Part of this president’s popularity has come from the fact that there are people who have felt victimized by what most of us would consider social progress, as well as those who have been left out of the economic riches of the country while others prosper. Each time the previous president talked of economic growth, these folks were not seeing it in their world. This discrepancy has been a fertile field for mobilizing opposition to the establishment, with a desire for radical change – no matter the cost.

Among the “victimized” are people who outright distrust most any form of centralized government. They distrust its power over their lives, object to restrictions on their behavior, and want to keep more of their earnings that otherwise go into taxes that sometimes pay for things they don’t believe in.

Some are afraid that raising the status of people who are not like them is a threat to their way of life and even their identity as Americans. Thus, civil rights for others seem, to them, to be a reduction of their rights.

5. News media and social media

We have media – news and social – that appear to be more interested in generating their own wealth than serving us, often operating by an “economics of outrage.” That is, they present news items in provocative ways without proper analysis or fact-checking. Opinions are stated as facts, speculation as reality; and we get recurring false equivalence or grossly slanted presentations. (Slanting might be expected, but distortions are dishonest and misleading.) It has become work to find out the truth behind much of the news, especially when the algorithms of search engines tend to “feed” us with our own biases or what is trending – not with what is reliable.

Contrary to the modern myth of the so-called “liberal press,” most news corporations are owned by a few wealthy conservative businessmen.

Finally, our news feeds are constant. Whereas we used to be faced with news at the end of the day, after dealing with our own lives, we now are subjected to it on the web, on our phones and on social media.

Thus, we are constantly faced with a flood of “information” that may or may not be true, is provided in order the sell something, and can come through a variety of channels amenable to manipulation. We have the stress of too many words, too little truth, and even less meaningfulness.

6. Our Abusive Patriarchal Culture, sometimes called a “Rape Culture”

There has been a struggle against “political correctness” that hides a desire to dispense with expectations of respect for others. This is little more than an attempt to institutionalize bullying and the expression of anti-social behavior.

What’s more, under a general category of abuse of power, we see a more insidious practice of powerful men displaying underlying misogyny and opportunism as shown in increasing numbers of accounts of sexual harassment and financial corruption, reflecting in part, the religious dynamics of a patriarchal church built on the values of ancient Rome and Greece with their subjugation of women. We’ve not yet recovered from that conceit of male superiority.

The pervasive nature of this cultural defect is only recently becoming evident, although women have been aware of it for centuries. Church and state have colluded in downgrading the power, influence and wealth of women, including the battle for control over their bodies and medical needs. Women are still treated as if they were property in some factions of our 21^st century society. We should remember that women were not even given the rights of citizens to vote until 1920 – less than 100 years ago.

This gender inequality (to put it mildly) may be one of the most significant failures of our culture, and certainly is a major source of stress for us all.

Furthermore, our high regard for successful business executives turns out to be support of predatory greed, theft of wages, and ownership of anything they can bend to their will. This structure of approved institutionalized predation is a threat to all of us not sitting in the offices of power. Any of us could be fodder for their engines.

7. Climate Change and the Industries of Denial – Hijacking Science

Tremendous efforts have been made to undercut legitimate scientific studies and, as I noted before, since the 1970s Exxon Mobile mounted a campaign to dismiss evidence of global warming that they found in their own research. George W. Bush and this president have both tried to downplay, if not censor, the significance of scientific data regarding climate change (and other critical environmental issues). Propagandists posing as scientists, paid by oil companies and other corporations, are given equal press against legitimate scientific studies and the scientific process. Ideology has taken precedence over reality – a stressor for anyone aware of what is happening to our land and seas.

Likewise, scientific concerns about food quality, pollution, toxic industrial products, sustainable energy sources, and sustainable agriculture have come under fire. Progress toward more sustainable and safe sources of food and energy have been curtailed in favor of dying industries.

Science is, after all, our reality check on the nature of the world around us, our impact on it and its impact on us. One would think a rational person would want as much true science as possible. The profits of the few have been elevated over the well-being of the many.

More to come. . .

I’ll continue my listing of the dozen underlying conditions that supported the rise of such an administration in the next posting, and then begin to address the adverse impact of the resulting stresses, and how to deal with them.