When we choose to spread more love and less fear, we become good stewards of the planet. Yet, this isn’t easy to do in a culture dominated by fear that’s spread by the media and other groups. By protecting ourselves from such sources and becoming conscious of our energy, we can focus on thoughts and deeds that contribute towards growth and peace. (Estimated reading time: 6-7 minutes)
“If you want to cure the world, don’t emanate fear – emanate love.”
— Ram Dass
Love is undoubtedly the highest form of energy. It can instantly lift someone up with light and dispel the darkness within them. It makes the world a better place and it’s the only force that gives meaning to all.
Despite knowing this, we live in a culture that seems dominated by fear and hate because of the propaganda of the media, political leaders and the existence of fear-based groups that terrorize the world.
Turn on the news, and you’ll see vicious crimes, tragic headlines and vile acts of evil. It’s easy to get lost in all the negativity and hysteria and allow fear to cloud our natural state of peace, love and joy.
We have to be conscious of the fact that the media has a vested interest in feeding us with stories of shock value to elevate their ratings. Most of the time, this involves regurgitating negative news to catch our attention.
If we’re hooked on to their stories, it can alter our views of reality and diminish our capacity to see the positive in humanity and dampen our willingness to alleviate the current problems.
Fortunately, there are better alternatives to staying that are outside the media bubble of fear. When we’re in control of the conditioning that we expose ourselves to, we’ll realize that no matter how dark the world looks at times, love, kindness and hope still prevails within us and around us. Once we discover this for ourselves, we can become agents of love.
This requires us to be conscious of the kind of energy that we’re projecting into the world. We are part of a collective consciousness, therefore, every thought and emotion that we have can either raise it with higher vibrations or diminish it with lower vibes. Without even realizing it, you could be spreading hate, anger and bitterness through your actions and words, and polluting the energy ecosystem.
In his book, The Secret of Water, Dr. Masaru Emoto, demonstrated how our feelings and words affect the protection and movement of water. If we try shifting the global consciousness by offering thoughts, words and prayers of empowerment and hope, we can actually lower the risk of natural disasters such as tsunamis, intense storms, and other calamities caused by water from occurring on the planet.
The first and most critical step towards becoming a source of love and positivity in the world is to first extinguish our own cynicism, fears and unaddressed emotional issues. Our biases, hate and prejudices all come from a place of pain and fear, and we need to hold ourselves accountable for any acts that originate from this place of hurt and get the help that we need to heal it and move past it.
Another important step towards counteracting a fearful mindset is engaging in genuine acts of kindness. Commit to engaging in acts of love as a daily activity and make it part of your spiritual practice. Don’t limit the acts only to those who you know, but to any stranger you encounter who seems to need it.
The good news is that when we improve ourselves, we simultaneously infuse the world with loving vibes and virtues such as respect, honor, affection and consideration. With the right intent, we can brighten someone’s day and even lift those who are in a dark place. When you open your heart space, you become a role model to others by demonstrating what unconditional love feels and looks like.
This is especially important if you hold a leadership role in your life, such as a boss, manager, parent, community organizer, team leader, political figure or a creative artist. When you’re in a position of power, where people look up to you for guidance and inspiration, you need to be especially aware of how you’re communicating with others and how it could potentially be received by them.
Examples of individuals who changed the world by spreading love include Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, the Dalai Lama and many others. Religious and spiritual figures are pivotal messengers of love and virtuous traits. When their scriptures are interpreted correctly, we can find inspiration from their words and raise our vibration by following the moral principles.
Here are some simple ways by which you can start spreading more love into the world and less fear:
1. Cultivate love within yourself: You can’t be a source of love to others if you don’t love yourself first. This seems like a no-brainer but it’s not so easy to implement. One of the biggest lessons in the human journey is learning how to accept ourselves for who we are and love ourselves, despite our flaws. Learning how to manage our insecurities and fears through the ups and downs of life is an essential skill for a fulfilling life. When you work on dealing with your own “stuff” and seriously engage in self-care, the natural byproduct of that will be a positive energy flow that goes out into the world.
2. Stay informed and maintain a balanced perspective: Part of being a responsible world citizen is staying informed about what’s happening around the globe. But this requires us to be mindful of two things: the source of our news and how we interpret and react to the news. I prefer to get my news from neutral and unbiased sources that focus on facts, versus the ones that have an agenda and that like to sensationalize. Once we’re exposed to the news, we should be conscious of how we process the information that we’ve received.
For example, if you see a story about a cataclysmic natural disaster that’s occurred in the world, you can either let it scare you about the uncertainties of life or motivate you to contribute towards rescue efforts for those affected by it, and be part of the solution.
3. Focus on kindness: Engaging in random acts of kindness is one of the best ways to spread love all around you. Let go of any judgments and prejudices when you interact with people and replace it with openness and compassion. Simple things like smiling, holding doors, giving up your seat for the elderly or sick, or saying please, thank you and excuse me can make all the difference. Courteous acts like these demonstrate respect for your fellow beings. I’ve covered the subject of kindness in detail in this post.
4. Become a source of hope: Today, it’s easy to become pessimistic and get caught up with what’s wrong with the world. We mistake skepticism for pragmatism and criticizing for intelligent discourse. We’ve all been around those Debbie Downers who like to make circumstances appear worse than they actually are. In the world of social media, where word spreads like a forest fire, we need to be especially careful of what we say and how we express our opinions. I believe that hope is a beautiful and powerful word that we don’t hear enough of these days. When you spread hope, you’re essentially uplifting people and painting a picture of a better future.
5. Focus on the solutions and not the problem: Focusing on hope and positivity won’t sufficiently eradicate the problems in our communities, country and in the world. So if there’s a cause that’s close to your heart, become proactive about mobilizing change. Show your compassion and humanity by going to where the destitute are and give your time and energy to aid them. Exposing yourself to the hardships of others will open your heart and trigger feelings of empathy.
In a world where there’s suffering, only our love and compassion can soothe the wounds and pains of those who need help. Every single person’s efforts count and when we all try to pitch in, we’ll be able to see big results.
At the end of the day, we’re only accountable for ourselves. Let us all strive to be good stewards of the planet by reminding ourselves to strive to choose love over fear in all our decisions. As Mother Teresa once said, “Small things done with great love will change the world.”
All my best on your journey,
Seline
Question for you: What steps are you willing to take to spread more love and less fear in the world?
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Loved these! Especially the last one. So many people focus on the problems and the bad things rather than what they can do about the problems and instead of looking for the good things in their lives.
Yes, life can suck at times but there is almost always something somewhere to focus on that is either good or at least better than the problem at hand!
Mara
Hey Mara, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I agree, there’s always something good that we can focus on and we should expand on that!