In the past week I have received dozens of emails, and been part of several conversations with people who are trying to figure out if the world is falling apart.  It’s hard not to get hooked into a fear cycle with our current media climate.  Even with social networking I find myself inundated with “news” from questionable sources.  This week I was told that I didn’t have enough food in my house to survive a natural disaster.  I received emails urging me to leave my home in Los Angeles due to a natural disaster that would be caused by the largest full moon in years.  Friends asked if we were prepared with iodine tablets to retard the effects of radiation coming from Japan.  For a brief moment I got lost in the panic.  Well, how much canned food do we have?  Perhaps we should get prepared for some kind of nuclear meltdown?  Water, we need to stockpile water!  This was all too reminiscent of living in New York City during September 11th.  Ladies and Gentlemen, we live in a fear-based society.  When we watch the news we are rarely greeted with a story of inspiration and triumph.  Rather it’s the opposite:

• It’s not just a hot day, it’s a fiery hell.
• Swine flu is back, and it’s coming to get you!
• Radiation specialists *helpfully* warn us of what “could” happen.
• “Journalists” camp outside of Charlie Sheen’s home to capture him in the middle of a mental breakdown.  Winning?

Where is the voice of reason, I ask?  On Sunday morning after I realized we had survived the alleged earthquake that so many people warned me about, I was surfing the web and came across an article on radiation levels from Japan in the Huffington Post.  For a moment I thought, “how much energy have we all spent fearfully questioning our safety”?  If I were to be honest I have taken way more time thinking “what if it happened to me”, versus having a moment to send positive light and energy to the people of Japan.  I have spent more time researching how many MRE’s  (Meals Ready to Eat) to store in my home than sending a donation to the red cross to help the Japanese people rebuild their lives.

In that moment I realized I needed to shift my energy.  I was stuck in the cycle of fear, and to be honest it was making me feel terrible.  Now don’t get me wrong, there are appropriate measures that we can take after a natural disaster.  We checked our hand crank radio.  We did decide to have an area in the house for food, should we face a large scale earth quake.  David secured a large bookcase to the wall with Quake Hold straps.  However, after taking precautions to protect my family, I must step out of that anxiety and put forth positive energy.  I made a donation to the red cross.  I posted an article on facebook, hoping to ease some of my friends’ panic on the radiation.  And most importantly I took extra time to pray for those in need.  Remember, in every situation we have a choice – we can add to the fear or we can step out of it and focus on the light.  If you find yourself losing sleep for fear of all the what-if’s in life, or you are obsessed with the news and ingesting troubling photos for hours, then you are stuck in a fear cycle.  Our goal in life is to establish balance; you may swing too far in the opposite direction and haven’t read a single story on the chaos in Libya.  Again, find your balance.  Update yourself on happenings in the world but don’t let it consume you.  Use your thoughts and intentions to bring peace to the planet.  And then focus on more important things, like the end of the world in 2012.  Kidding!