Lately, I’ve been thinking about the crushing nature of our current news and information system. It is important to stay informed as to what is happening in the world, but our commercial information sources are based upon keeping the consumer in a state of outrage, anxiety and fear. If these sources can keep us frightened enough, we’ll stay tuned in through the commercial, or into the next cycle as they recycle the same scary or salacious stuff. Balance is hard to come by without being intentional about how I take in information. There is the news of the world, and there is what my friend Parker J. Palmer calls “The News of the Heart”. It is important to stay aware, so that I can dedicate my daily actions with intention. But I find without balance, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, which gets me stuck or leads me to despair. No, I cannot personally stop the terrible tragedy unfolding for our kindred in Eastern Europe. But I can support organizations that are trying to help refugees, I can support the companies that are refraining from doing business in Russia until the violence stops. I can also do my daily meditations, and prayers, I can remind myself to do and notice small acts of kindness and amplify them in the world. I can take good care of the bit of natural world around me. I can add art and music to the ether of the world.
Carrie Newcomer. Photo by Elle Hodge
The news of the heart is that the world is still filled with extraordinary people of good heart and spirit. If you ask someone, “Do you know anyone who is generous of spirit, who cares about living true and with intention, who will reach across all kinds of dividing lines for family, the food bank, for love, for a million other good reasons?” Most people will tell you, “Yes, I know a lot of people like that…I’m like that.”
Sometimes it only takes noticing to shift a moment. Flying home from California recently, I was helped by the most lovely attendant. It was a late flight, and yet she was so kind and pleasant and she had lovely eyes. So I told her so. “Thank you for being so kind and generous with me, it really does make a difference.” She stopped and was obviously touched. “I’m so glad you said so; it’s been a long day.” We smiled at one another and the moment shifted. A good-hearted friend told me that when she is traveling and encounters a cleaning person in an airport bathroom, she gives them a twenty-dollar bill and thanks them for making the restroom safer and cleaner for everyone. She’s gotten all kinds of responses, but in every situation the person felt seen and their work honored. Creating a shift might come in the form of stopping and pausing before you enter a room and asking yourself, “Will I enter this room in love or in fear” and then choose love. I’m serious; try this sometime. It’s not ‘woo woo’ … you will be surprised at the shift in a space, the shift in co-workers or whoever you encounter, but mostly there will be a shift in your heart.
Perhaps today is a day when you make it a point to step into a room intentionally with love. Perhaps this is a day you can contribute to what makes the world better by noticing the honorable work of someone that so often goes unacknowledged. Perhaps this is a day when your life shifts, and the world feels a bit more balanced because you’ve been engaging intentionally with The News Of The Heart.
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To find out more about Carrie Newcomer, and learn about her upcoming tours, concerts, books and other projects, visit her website. You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
“A Long Way Up” from her latest album “Until Now” on Available Light Records.
(Words and Music by Carrie Newcomer)
Enjoy more of Carrie’s music on her YouTube channel.
