03/12/2026
COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN INTERESTING TIMES
Interesting times, amiright?
Many of us have heard the phrase, “May you live in interesting times.” While scholars differ on the origin of this phrase, it really just means that “interesting times” are times of war, chaos, pandemics, and social upheaval.
Wherever this term comes from, we’re in it now.
War in Iran, the ripple effect on gas prices, and then market fluctuations worldwide. Now we’re dealing with threats on American soil, and American tech companies and banks by Iran.
I probably don’t have to keep you updated. The 24/7 news cycle, whether it’s part of social media feeds or legacy media, will do that readily.
While doing so, they’ll make a ton of money. Media companies and social media platforms don’t actually like peace because peace doesn’t translate into clicks and views, and clicks and views lead to ad dollars.
I really feel the need to remind you of that, because humans are wired to pay attention to danger. The state of the world around us is increasingly uncertain, and now people are walking around with a constant state of anxiety (truly, bordering on panic) through most of the day.
We scroll a little more, hoping for an update that the danger will subside. We worry more about the future, both at home and abroad. We wonder more and more what will happen next, and that’s all part of your human nature.
It makes sense, sure.
But it doesn’t make sanity.
The more we scroll and keep ourselves updated, the more irritable we grow. Tension in our shoulders, our necks, our jaw. Snapping at our loved ones, having problems sleeping. All of these result from the constant “doomscrolling” we all seem to be addicted to.
That’s collateral damage, and now, without realizing it, the war in Iran is at our kitchen table.
As humans, we’re designed to look out for danger, absolutely, but we were never designed to carry the weight of the entire planet.
Spiritually, emotionally, and mentally, we’re built for something a lot closer to home. We’re built to care for our lives, our homes, and our families. We’re built to look out for our neighbors and community.
But now we’re in really interesting times, and I don’t want to ever add to the doom we’re all scrolling through. With that said, I want to offer a few simple practices that will help you bring your heart, mind, and soul back into balance.
Here are a few that I come back to over and over, and I’m all the better because of them.
I hope you can get there as well.
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Cut Off the Firehose of News
There is a difference between being informed and being flooded.
Modern media is designed to keep our attention locked onto the most alarming story available, and if tensions rise somewhere in the world, the headlines repeat it again and again until it begins to feel like the sky is falling.
Remember: clicks and views are always ad dollars, and the billionaires who own these platforms are interested only in those ad dollars. They are certainly not interested in your peace.
Try choosing a single time each day to check the news. Once is usually enough, but I write these words realizing I’m talking to a portion of the world that’s addicted to Fear. Try to fight that addiction, check in once or twice a day, and after that, step away from the endless stream of updates.
Manage your social media feeds. Hide the news, and snooze those who feel the need to spread the doom, all while doing the work of the billionaires who want you addicted to Fear.
Our minds, hearts, and souls were not designed to carry the entire world’s anxiety in our pockets.
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Return to the Body
An anxious mind lives in the future, and a calm mind lives in the present moment.
One of the fastest ways to settle yourself is to return to your body, and one of the easiest ways to do that is through your breath. Your central nervous system can be calmed down through the breath, and that’s why I’m a fan of “Box Breathing,” or what’s known as the “Four Fold Breath.”
Here’s how you can lean into this, and it costs absolutely nothing.
Put both feet on the floor. Take a breath through your nose for a count of 4.
Hold for a count of four. Then, let it out through your mouth for a count of four, then hold for a count of four.
Repeat, and if you can knock out ten of these breaths, you’ll come back to your body and you’ll be so much calmer because of it.
It sounds simple because it is simple. The body knows how to return to calm, and sometimes we just have to guide it there.
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Go Outside and Touch the Living World
One of the best spiritual, emotional, and mental medicines available to us is still the Earth itself.
Step outside for a few minutes. Walk among trees, feel the wind on your face. Let the sunlight warm your skin. Hear the birds as they return to the land slowly thawing beneath our feet.
The natural world is our greatest teacher, and guess what? It’s never moved at the speed of headlines. Instead, it moves at the speed of seasons.
When we stand among trees or beside a river, our bodies and nervous systems remember that life is older, wiser, and so much steadier than any current news cycle we could scroll through.
As the wisest among us often say: “Go outside and touch grass.”
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Wash the Dishes
When the large world feels overwhelming, bring your focus back to the small world that is actually in your care. When you feel like life is spiraling out of control, remember what you can control.
Cook a healthy meal and clean the kitchen. Fold the laundry, or water the plants.
These ordinary acts are more powerful than you know, reminding our minds and bodies that our life is still here, still moving, and still worthy of our attention.
Sometimes, emotional, mental, and spiritual stability begins with washing the dishes.
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Seek Out Other Humans
Fear and anxiety often grow in seclusion and isolation.
Talk with someone you trust. Call a friend or make time to sit with family. Share a meal and laugh about something ridiculous.
Human beings regulate each other's nervous systems without even realizing it. A simple conversation or shared moment can bring more calm than hours of worrying alone.
Oftentimes, the best soul medicine is old-fashioned good company.
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Dial into Spirit
When the world feels uncertain, many people instinctively turn to quiet reflection, prayer, or meditation.
Find a quiet space that’s sacred to you, and light a candle. Sit quietly and speak to the universe, to God, to your ancestors, or simply to the deep intelligence that seems to move through life itself.
I cannot tell you how sitting with my Beloved Dead and my Ancestors helps me, and how much it helped me through the COVID-19 pandemic.
There’s no perfect way to do this, and you most certainly don’t need a “perfect” prayer. Sit quietly, and just aim for a sincere moment of connection.
We’ll never have all the answers, and that’s okay.
We just need to remember that we’re not alone in the questions.
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Get Your Vitamin Joy
Joy is not ignorance. Joy is nourishment.
Listen to music that relaxes your shoulders. Dance in the kitchen while dinner cooks. Watch something that makes you laugh. Sit outside with a cup of coffee and watch the clouds drift past.
I define “Joy” as participating in something that gives us pleasure, allowing us to step outside our current story for a moment. I define “Vitamin Joy” as the reminder that we need to get Joy in just like a vitamin, or we become sick and bitter.
Joy reminds the nervous system that life is still beautiful, no matter what the headlines and the Fear Machine would have you believe.
In uncertain times, choosing small moments of Joy isn’t frivolous or selfish.
It’s medicine.
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Remember We’ve Been Here Before
It can feel as though our moment in history is uniquely unstable. Yet if you look back through time, every generation faced periods where the future felt uncertain.
Wars and economic struggles. Social upheaval and times when people worried about what tomorrow might look like.
The fall of the Roman Empire. The American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression, the Vietnam War, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 70s. 9/11. COVID-19.
We’ve been here before, and we’ve made it. Through all of that, we still planted gardens. We still raised children. We still sang songs, fell in love, and gathered around tables.
All of our ancestors lived through difficult chapters of history, and they still found ways to live meaningful lives during those moments.
You can too.
Whether you believe it or not, their strength still lives in our blood, our bones, our marrow. They’re still with us in Spirit, and while they might not have lived with social media, they were still victims of manipulation and propaganda.
They have a lot to teach us if we would just listen.
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Calmness is Your Superpower
You can’t control what’s happening in the world, but you can control how you react to it. There’s a world of difference between reacting and responding, and when you’re tempted to share the most recent outrageous news headline or meme, you should ask yourself: Am I contributing to the doom that so many people are scrolling through?
You just might be. Social media especially wants us addicted to fear, and through your good intentions, you might be doing their work of peddling just that.
Still, do what you want with your online efforts, but I’ll remind you that no one lives in a vacuum. What you share ripples out to others, and while you might feel virtuous while doing so, you’re most likely contributing to the collective sense of panic that people are feeling.
Are you spreading medicine, or are you spreading poison?
These are big topics that few people are talking about, but I want to remind everyone that we are being manipulated every day.
We don’t have to participate in the madness. We don’t have to freak out at every headline, and we certainly don’t have to do the work of these tech billionaires who want us all addicted to Fear. We become collateral damage in these interesting times, and we bring others down in the process.
I’ll always remember the words of my Grandmother, who helped me through the COVID-19 pandemic, even though she was in Spirit. She reminded me that I have a responsibility to my family and to my community to remain calm, and that remaining balanced in mind and emotions will always be my greatest superpower.
My Grandmother, who lived through decades of strife and pain, reminded me that the strongest among us will always use their minds and hands to help. The greatest among us will always start hauling buckets of water when the world begins to burn.
They won’t add gasoline.
