Guest post by Nicole Wood
1. Acknowledge your emotions (anger, fear, anxiety, hopelessness, fatalistic, nihilistic, etc.) and Release them! (cry it out, write it out, walk or run it out, attend a worship service, connect in a healthy and supportive community or just be still)
2. Limit social media and local/cable news! Stephen Crockett author from The Root, made a good point that violence is no longer a distant issue, it is now broadcasted in multiple outlets of our life—it’s up close and personal—its traumatizing, creating more fear and anxiety. He further states the following from the article: “As a microwavable, social media, insta-depressive society, where even our feelings need filters and hashtags, we are moving toward a fragmented self, guided by violent exhaustion, where justice is starting to look more and more fuzzy.”—Stephen A. Crockett Jr.
http://www.theroot.com/
3. Stay centered. (prayer, meditation, positive reflections, and again being still enough to filter all the ‘noise’).
4. Practice Presence or the “Ministry of Presence” — not needing to have the right answers, but having an open heart to listen. Giving space for healing using encouraging words with empathy and letting go of opinions or judgments with no resolve to the issues.
5. Create Peace. Seek to understand vs being understood.
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Let us know how you are coping with your feelings @fierceurgentnow or FierceUrgentNow.
