Healing Our Country: How You Can Make a Difference Today

We Can Change the Story

More than ever before, I’m repeatedly asking myself: “What does unstoppable love look like right here, right now?” It’s not a passive question murmured from a place of defeat. It is a transformational question asked while believing that we are all interconnected and that we all have the power to make a difference. All of us. Any of us.

I’ve written previously about the people I’ve met on my deployments to international disasters around the world. The Thrivers — the ones who refused to give up — have inspired me and changed me. One of the greatest lessons they taught me is that, no matter what, I have the power to make a difference.

One man who has had a significant impact on my thinking is the Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl. In 1942, the Nazis captured Frankl and his family and sent them to the Thereisienstadt concentration camp where his father died of starvation and pneumonia. The Nazis later sent them to Auschwitz, where they killed his mother and brother. To say that he suffered during his 3 years in the camps is an understatement. But Viktor Frankl didn’t just “survive”. He made a tremendous impact on the other prisoners by helping them find meaning in their suffering. He said, “No one can take away our ability to choose how we respond to any given situation.”

Having the power to choose how I will respond — no matter what happens to me — is one thing. The big question is, how will I remember to choose? Frankl also said, “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” If I’m not very intentional about this when I’m under stress, I react without thinking. I’m not even aware of the “space” that Frankl talks about. It takes practice. One of the most powerful tools that I’ve learned while practicing mindfulness has been the concept of PAUSE-NOTICE-CHOOSE. It is a simple strategy that works. When you feel yourself reacting to something, pause and take a couple of slow deep breaths. Notice what you’re seeing (outside and in), hearing (outside and in), and feeling (outside and in). After you have paused and noticed then choose the best answer to the question “What does unstoppable love look like here & now?”

Will it be tough? Yes.

Do we have a choice? Always.

Can we make a difference? Absolutely.

PAUSE-NOTICE-CHOOSE while asking, “What does unstoppable love look like right here, right now?”