Healing That Which We Can
“We can't heal the world today. But we can begin with a voice of compassion, a heart of love and an act of kindness.”
— Mary Davis
In these times of global urgency and aching, many of us are so physically removed from conflict yet our emotional and spiritual spatial expanse crosses geography — our hearts break beyond land and sea.
We may seek to meet this urgency and can find it to be too enormous, too complex, too much for an individual. Near impossible to address singlehandedly. I think a strong way to turn toward the action of helping the world to heal is to become an agent of compassion and love in the every-day, within the community we regularly engage. We can walk with a heart that is open, be human-centered, and feel the hope that our individual agency engages humanity in a broader way than what we see right before us. No act or words are too small and insignificant in times like these.
Small actions that can be taken to inspire hope and keep us afloat:
- Offering granola bars to someone asking for help on the side of the road (maybe you previously avoided eye contact)
- Buying a coffee for the stranger in line behind you (if you’re able to)
- Sending handwritten cards to friends (you can write about your appreciation for them)
- Helping a neighbor or friend clear out their flower beds for spring
- Dropping off leftovers from a nice homemade meal to a neighbor or friend
- Participating in a local trash cleanup (Waste-Free Dayton is an incredible Dayton-area nonprofit that holds monthly cleanups)
- Spending time in libraries or parks and just being around safe and positive community spaces
- Engaging in conversations and really practicing active listening, soaking in what the other is saying, rather than listening to respond (most of us just want to be seen and heard)
Just a start with a few humble suggestions, this list won’t cross seas. But we can lean on the kindness it gives. We can serve others. We can toss the stone that sends gentle ripples through the water.
