The shocking, tragic events of last week are still weighing on my mind and heart.
The senseless loss of lives. Worlds destroyed. A time for rejoicing turned into mourning.
How can we deal with this pain and suffering?
We all deal with the pain, sorrow, and loss in different ways.
The first thing to remember is to allow yourself to accept the feelings that come up.
Allow yourself to cry, yell, or be silent.
Accept any fears, doubts, or pain that might come up.
And then you can do something to connect yourself to the pain of others.
Focusing on the strong sense of community and the feeling of unity and shared pain we have here in Israel is an important (and evidence-based) way to navigate a crisis.
There are so many ways to connect to the pain of another. We can pray for them, say tehillim for them, learn torah for them.
We can also simply open our hearts and send them healing thoughts.
Here’s a simple meditation you can do to connect to and support those who are struggling with loss:
Take a few breaths, allowing your mind to settle
Bring your awareness to your heart center; imagine you are breathing in and out of your heart center; you can even place your hand on your heart
Notice whatever feeling is in the heart at this moment and accept it
Focus on a specific person or group of people who are struggling right now – and radiate compassion/caring/warmth to them
You can even imagine a colored ray of light beaming from your heart to them
Before ending, return your awareness to your heart center and breathe
Finally – we can channel some of our angst and pent up emotion into doing something positive. We can dedicate the act of goodness to the memory of those lost or as a service in honor of reducing the pain of those suffering. An act of kindness, a charitable donation, even a gentle word.
To summarize – here are some suggestions for coping with crisis:
- Accept your own feelings
Send healing thoughts to those suffering via prayer, saying tehillim, or a gentle meditation
Do an act of kindness in honor of those who are suffering
There really is no way to explain or control the tragic things that happen in this world.
But we can choose how to respond to them. And perhaps we can in some way even support those suffering from afar.
