How has your week been? Did you manage to turn any of the news off?
And a few of you wrote to me that you haven't been watching the news for years. I bow down to you. I wish I had your strength sometimes.
Last week I wrote about caring from a distance, and said the talk and the meditation would follow once my microphone behaved itself. It did, in the end. The talk is out, and the meditation went up tonight.
It really is hard sometimes, being the one watching. Something terrible is happening and there’s nothing you can do about it from where you’re sat. In the talk I go back to the night I broke my neck. I only had to get through the next breath. My family were stood in the corridor with nothing to do but wait. I think that’s the harder seat. And now we’re all sat in it, every day, on a phone.
That’s why I made this week’s meditation. It’s a gentle form of Tonglen, an old Tibetan practice. You breathe in what’s hard, and breathe out a wish for people to be safe. That’s all.
It won’t stop a war. It isn’t meant to. What it does is leave you feeling you’ve done something, and something that’s actually yours to do. The caring goes somewhere, instead of sitting in your chest all day. It’s just to help you have a little peace right now.
This one’s short because it’s late on Sunday night here, and I’ve a full on week of meetings ahead. So I’m doing what I said in the talk. Practice first, news second. I’ll sit in the mornings before I pick up the phone.
Tomorrow morning, before you look at the news, take three breaths. Breathing in, this is hard. Breathing out, may they be safe. Then read what you need to, do the one small thing if there is one, and put it down.
What’s the first thing you look at in the morning? Hit reply and tell me. I read every one.
Much love, Steven
Stillness in the Storms 179, Overwhelmed by the News: Caring Without Drowning. The talk I couldn’t finish last week. Why a heart built for a village can’t carry the whole world, the Boston bombing study, and the day I walked past Sid Owen from EastEnders. Fourteen minutes. Listen here or on Apple Podcasts.
Inner Peace Meditations 115, When the News Is Too Much: A Meditation to Care and Still Rest. The Tonglen meditation from this letter. For straight after a headline lands heavy, or first thing before the news goes on. About twelve minutes, with music underneath. Listen here.
If the news has stirred up anything heavy, please talk to someone. In the UK, Samaritans answer any time, day or night, on 116 123.
Thank you to Jane, Christine, Colleen, Danielle and Lindsey, who supported my work this week. A warm welcome to three new monthly supporters, Raquel, Jenna and Mia, and another Jane. And thank you to the anonymous supporters and everyone on Insight Timer. You all keep the podcasts free from adverts.
If you would like to support, listen to the podcasts, or just say hello: stevenwebb.uk