How well do you sleep? Last week, I had a conversation with someone who left me feeling angry and frustrated about an injustice, and my inability to help resolve it. I woke up in the early hours and lay awake for a while wrestling with the problem (and having imaginary conversations with the people responsible).
We can all have times when injustices and anxieties can keep us awake. And with all that is going on in the world, there is a higher background level of anxiety that I think we are all carrying. I spoke with one of the most resilient people I know yesterday, and they said that they found themselves getting uptight about things that would not normally bother them.
The news rarely focuses on the positive, but currently, it is far more challenging and negative than ‘usual’. And all that negative being poured into our lives impacts our well-being. If we constantly feed our bodies with junk food, then we know our physical health will suffer. Similarly, when our minds are subjected to ‘junk’ our mental health will suffer.
If you took a container with 50 litres of white paint and poured in 10 litres of black paint, how much white paint do you need to add to make it white again? A huge amount, obviously. With all the negative news around, a lot of black paint is being poured into our lives. If we are going to improve our well-being, we need to feed our minds with positive things and manage the negative we allow in.
To maintain a positive mental outlook, psychologists say that we need at least five positives to every negative. Focussing on the positive is nothing new… About 2000 years ago, St Paul wrote to the church in Philippi to encourage them in the face of persecution they were facing on three fronts: from the Roman authorities, the pagans, and even from some Christians. In part of his letter, he wrote:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)
He wasn’t telling them to ignore their problems, but to keep pouring in ‘white paint’, remembering the positive things they could be grateful for.
There are many different coping mechanisms that people use to manage stress and anxiety. I’ve found mindful, meditative prayer a huge help in letting go of the negative and focusing on the positive. It’s a great help in reducing stress and renewing/refreshing my mind. This sort of contemplative prayer is something we’ll be doing at Breathing Space, a new service on the first Sundays of the month at Kineton church (details overleaf).
Whenever we feel stressed or anxious (especially when we wake in the early hours!), my prayer is that we’d all find ways to help manage the negative, focus on the positive, and find peace. And I pray that we’d be generous in making allowances for the people around us, who will each be dealing with their own stresses and anxieties.
Rev Barry Jackson