I don’t have to tell you these are troubling times–it’s obvious. People are suffering, electeds are acting against their constituent’s best interests and the whole country seems to be turned upside down. It’s hard to live with the uncertainty about what lies ahead.

So what is the antidote? How do we live in this morass of uncertainty? How do we remain sane when the world around us seems to be going crazy?

Maybe it’s this:

We refuse to harden.

Maybe we refuse to become cynical just because cynicism is the automatic, knee-jerk reaction. (I know it is for me).

Maybe the antidote is that instead of us no longer caring because caring hurts, we care even more…. because if we don’t, others are hurt. Perhaps we refuse to see other human beings as disposable because some political leader tells us to pick sides and dehumanize each other.

We see a lot of dehumanizing these days. A shocking amount.

But the antidote may be smaller and simpler than we imagine.

We can act on the personal level: make a phone call to a shut in, share a meal with a lonely friend, talk a walk with our dog.

In my age group so many of us have the joy of being in the presence of grandchildren. Maybe some of the rest of us can help others quietly. OR talk about it on line in case your action inspires others.

(See? There are two edges to every sword.)

We can turn off the chaos in our minds by acting on the individual level, doing small things that have big impacts on our mental health.

Or we can act bigger, because we want change and action helps direct our anger. Like participating in a protest. Many of us call and write elected officials.

Even though fear spreads quickly, so does calm. Acts of kindness beget other acts. Steadiness inspires people to remain calm, themselves.

And maybe the greatest act of resistance now is to remain deeply human in a world that keeps trying to pull us away from our core values. They’re so easy to forget, it seems.

I don’t suggest we pretend to be naïve or blind or detached from reality.

I do suggest is that we remain grounded, compassionate, awake and aware.

The world has enough unfiltered, unfocused outrage. What it desperately needs today are people who can still bring light into dark rooms.

Let’s all be those kind of people.

Who knows? We might be able to light up the world!