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Hi friends, it's Rosie here.
Welcome to Radio Headspace and to Thursday.
So I was reading the news recently, which at this point doesn't even feel like a good idea.
Every morning I go back and forth between the desire to be informed and knowing the algorithm is gonna serve me a variety of depressing headlines.
But eventually, curiosity wins and I look at the news.
This particular morning was no exception.
So I opened up the news and, yep, it was a catastrophe.
Global warming, tragedy, global warming, tragedy, tragedy, I mean, you know the drill.
Anyway, I landed on an article about a severe drought going on in Mexico at the moment.
A place, as you know, that is near and dear to my heart.
So I clicked on it.
And yeah, it's really bad.
There are huge water shortages across the country, particularly in the north, and because of the type of person I am, I automatically thought to myself, what can I do to help?
And in that moment, I stopped.
I brought myself back and took a few deep breaths.
And I told myself, there's nothing I can do about that, at least not now, but that doesn't mean I can't work to make small, positive changes in the world around me.
Every day, we are sort of presented with problems happening in the world that are so far beyond our control that it can instill a sense of helplessness.
It's like standing on a curb and watching a car crash in slow motion.
But when I'm feeling this way, I start to lean into what I can personally do to help things in my immediate surroundings.
Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh called this engaged Buddhism.
And the basic idea is that, due to the interconnectedness of the world, small acts of compassion sort of ladder up to the big stuff.
But let's go back a bit.
If you listen to this show or are interested in the world of mindfulness, I'd almost guarantee you've heard of Thich Nhat Hanh.
In the world of mindfulness, he was a living legend on the scale of Nelson Mandela.
He was a Buddhist monk and peace activist from Vietnam.
And when the Vietnam War broke out, he wanted to help.
Now, clearly, ending the war was an impossibility for one monk.
But helping the devastated communities around him was something he could do.
So he founded an organization called the Youth for Social Service.
And they worked to rebuild bombed -out villages.
This led him to the idea of interdependence, which basically means that you can apply the insights of meditation to problems in the social, economic, or political sphere.
This was eventually articulated as engaged Buddhism.
So engaged Buddhism is deeply rooted in the interconnectedness of our world.
It's the idea that every action, no matter how small, affects the whole.
So if you can't help a tragedy occurring in another country, that's understandable.
But you can maybe help out a homeless shelter in your local community.
And that kindness you're putting into your local community ripples throughout the world.
Engaged Buddhism would argue that our kindness not only benefits the recipient, but it's good for us, too.
It nurtures our resilience and capacity for compassion.
Thich Nhat Hanh taught us that all of this is sort of propelled forward by mindfulness.
So the more mindful you are in your day -to -day actions and in the way you help those around you, the better things will be for you, your friends, and hopefully the world.
Now, if you don't believe in any of this, I completely understand.
But I still think it's a valuable way to reframe what you can do when presented with problems that are clearly out of your control.
Also, it's just good to be nice to people and help your community.
And, if you need it, maybe take a break from the news.
I know I need to. Shout out to Thich Nhat Hanh.
That's it for me today.
If you enjoyed this episode, please share your thoughts with me on Instagram at RosieAcoista.
Thank you so much for listening.
I'll see you back here soon.
