Are you grateful for the bountiful blooms on the hydrangeas this year? Then, in part, thank last year’s rainy July and August weekends. Like many, I’ve wondered why my hydrangea bushes are dripping with flowers and learned the cause was the previous summer’s wet weather along with the mild winter. The combination of moist soil and moderate temperatures is promoting the prolific growth.
I find it interesting that something we abhorred — rain on almost every summer weekend — is at least partly responsible for something we adore. Good coming from bad. Given current events, that concept got me thinking about what, if anything, good might come from our political turmoil.
Whatever party you support, it seems that there is an opportunity to use this fraught moment to cultivate abundance, in this case, of equanimity.
I remember sitting in my car in 2020 waiting to go in to a business meeting and listening to an interview with Deepak Chopra, the author and practitioner of integrative medicine and personal transformation. The interviewer framed her question something like this: “Everybody is so upset and worried about the outcome of this election, what do you advise them?” Chopra immediately said, before answering, some version of “I’m not upset and worried.”
I was struck then and still think about all the time how he exuded a sense of deep calm and imperturbability — equanimity in the face of potential upheaval. It’s a personal goal of mine to face life’s storms — personal and in the broader world — with that same inner peace. I am pretty far from achieving that goal. But I still try. And I turned back to Chopra recently to see if he or his wellness foundation offered any tools that I can employ.
One of the foundation leaders, Roger Gabriel, wrote this: “If we look at life from the level of problems, our world will become small and limited, however, if we see everything as an opportunity for growth, we will learn to trust that whatever is needed is already waiting for us, we maybe just need to move it from there to here.”
I often, to the annoyance of my kids, tell them to be “solution-oriented” when they bring up a problem they are having. What Gabriel is proposing, especially given individually there’s not a lot we can do to solve the world’s problems, is more seizing, than solving. Can we seize this opportunity of political turbulence to strengthen our equanimity?
The Chopra team proposes these approaches:
First, release resistance.
This “inner fight against what already is” could actually be impeding our ability to accept the “present reality” and see our way clear to a broader perspective and taking a long view.
Second, recognize what you can’t control.
It was Victor Frankl, who endured more than any human being should who noted, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing… to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”
Third, revitalize in nature.
We know the positive impact of the outdoors on our mental and physical health.
Fourth, renew through meditation.
I’m a terrible meditator. My typical practice, when I do it which isn’t regularly, goes something like this “Om, om, breathe, what are we having for dinner, om, om, I forgot to send that email.” I know meditation will be transformative if I ever commit to it, so why don’t I commit to it?
Fifth, reconnect to your values.
The Chopra team expands on this concept by writing, “Identifying and personally embodying your highest values allows you to find joy in your own actions… rather than searching for it in how others are expressing your values.” Another way to put this particular approach is that well-known saying “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
Sixth, revamp your routines.
Do you start your morning watching MSNBC or go to bed after binging on Fox? I tend to doomscroll on X. I’m going to try to curb that behavior and double down on my healthier routines.
And seventh, reignite your passion.
“If you feel anxiety, agitation or anger in response to the current political scene, it is a sign that you need to reconnect to the activities that inspire your joy,” encourages Chopra.
What inspires my joy? What inspires yours? The next few months seem like a pretty good time to commit to bringing more joy into our lives.
Back to the abundance of hydrangea blooms. In the “you can’t make this stuff up” category, as I was finishing this column, a member of my family came home and told me they accidentally ran over the gorgeous hydrangea at the side of my driveway with the car. Ran over, as in drove over, as in flattened.
What good will come from this bad? I’ll let you know. Some day. If, I mean when, it does. Deep breaths, Virginia. “Om….”
