In what now seems like a distant memory, a kind of hush descended on the planet when the world shut down in the face of a global pandemic. As we went quiet, the skies cleared, and the animals and birds came out of the shadows, reclaiming their kingdom. Two years later, with a possible end in sight, we have returned only to be louder than ever. Our footfalls are now so weighty they reverberate globally in multiple ways, increasing environmental damage, senseless wars, short-fuses, and pointless acting out, causing damage to others while harming ourselves.

Every day I do my best to live with inner elegance, coaching people to live happier lives, but just the other day I lost my temper so spontaneously, so shockingly I was literally shouting. I knew it was happening, I knew it was damaging but for that moment, I had lost control. My emotional barrel was so full that one additional drop of stress caused the overflow. Did the upset warrant the explosion? Certainly not. Did the explosion help the situation? Definitely not! Did I feel any the better for it? Absolutely not!

This moment led me to ask, why are we increasingly prone to being loud and reactive when everything that’s happening indicates we are all in this together and our most pressing need is to treat one another with empathy and kindness?

As touched on in previous articles we’re finding ourselves in a world “gone crazy” in the words of pop rock band Tears for Fears. It feels topsy-turvy as if everything we understood (even if we didn’t necessarily like it) has been tossed in the air and the pieces scattered far and wide. So, it’s only natural we’re disturbed, even fearful, and just like a virus, this heightened emotional state is highly contagious. Even though I know better, my reflexive reaction was in direct response to the loud reflexive reactions of others who were also experiencing painful emotional overwhelm they couldn’t contain either. 

It's challenging, to say the least, to keep elegant equilibrium when our world is in a period of radical transition. So, what can we do? After some careful deliberation, my best advice right now is to delve into some powerful, ancient wisdom and get quiet, and tread lightly, because we are wasting vast amounts of precious energy with all this reactive stomping about. For no matter how loud we get, we’re never going to force the world into the shape we want and by being so emotionally reactive, every step we take has the potential to create even more of the chaos we’re finding so disturbing.

There is also, I believe, a direct connection between how we are thoughtlessly dumping on one another and the thoughtless way we have been dumping on our planet. The spilling of toxic waste, whether environmental or emotional, poisons both our rivers and the hearts and minds of those around us. All of which adds to our increasing collective overwhelm.

By getting quiet, and treading lightly, we can all contribute to reducing our environmental and emotional footprints both of which are necessary if we are to make this a transition to a happier, healthier world. By reducing the stomping, we can create a quiet space from which to wait, and watch, giving ourselves much needed space to make wiser choices at every turn that will help make our next step a step in the right direction. A step towards a world where the only trace we leave behind each day is one of kindness and compassion for all and our beautiful planet.