THE MINDFUL EDIT

Quote of the Day

“When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.”

-Winston S. Churchill

Shifting Perspective for a More Unified Reality

I feel compelled to share my thoughts as I reflect on what's happening both in the world and within ourselves.

The election results are in, and as with everything in life, balance is inevitable—half of us are happy, half of us are upset. If we see life only as wins and losses, there’s no way for everyone to come out happy or successful. Everything is a lesson for growth, no matter where you sit right now. We learn the most valuable lessons from our failures, especially the ones that are the hardest to face.

This isn’t our first election with our side winning and our side losing, and it won't be our last. It’s not the first or last time we’ll have candidates on both sides who we feel meet or don’t meet our full expectations.

We must let go of the idea that our happiness depends on things outside of us. We've been here before, and we will rise above—individually and as a country. When you truly understand the power you have over your reality, you realize that nothing, not even an election, can take that away from you. That is what true freedom is.

This may not be what you want to hear, but neutrality is key in life. Neutrality means seeing all sides. It’s easy to get caught in our one-sided views, holding onto beliefs that feel deeply personal. But we must remember that everything has both good and bad, and we often don't see the full picture until hindsight.

No matter what side you're on, you’ve been influenced by the media. Their sole job is to push an agenda, and opinion ONTO you. We are being programmed at all times especially if you watch the news, read articles from media outlets, and are on social. And they are doing a great job instilling fear and pinning us against each other.

Take COVID as a prime example of this.

Looking back at the fear we felt, and now reflecting on it in hindsight, we can see it as both the most beautiful and the most devastating experience for so many. Some lost everything, while others gained everything. If you're still holding on to a one-sided view, I recommend making a list of both the good and the bad that came from that time.

Some good was getting time to slow down, working from home and spending more time with family, realizing how precious life is, focusing on health as a top priority because without it we have nothing, learning to be more present, and being grateful for basic needs that not everyone has. For me personally, it was the time I woke up to myself and really learned how to trust my own judgement, my own intuition, and take on the responsibility to create the change I wanted in my life for myself.

The bad was living in fear of dying or infecting someone and them dying, trusting others over ourselves, seeing many people die, watching people lose everything, being locked down, business shutting down, witnessing people being outcast for their views, and losing basic rights when mandates were put in place.

Now looking back it showed us that fear can't control us if we don’t allow it to. We can't mirror the negativity we see, even when we're faced with the worst. I am seeing so many people shame, bully, judge, and threaten in same way they judge and shame the now president elect for his bullying. I am watching people become the same thing they despise by acting out a contradiction they don't realize. I am seeing people hope Trump fails so they get proven right. How does that solve anything?

If we saw every experience, every person, and every situation as an opportunity to learn, life would be so much more beautiful no matter the circumstance at hand. We’d approach each day with curiosity, instead of feeling the need to assert our opinions onto others.

Why do we feel the need that everyone needs to think, act, and believe in what we do. They are living out their human experience the same way you are. Remember that everything you’ve experienced up to today has shaped your beliefs, just as it has for others. No one else fully understands your unique complexities like you do, and that’s why it’s so important to stop overgeneralizing why people act / vote the way they do.

Things can coexist—like being both driven and lazy, or compassionate yet tough. In the same way, you can vote for Trump and still support women's rights, or vote for Kamala and also want stricter border policies.

This isn’t black and white, so stop making it so. Our brains are wired for cognitive distortions, often pushing us to overgeneralize. It’s like thinking, 'I failed this test, so I must be bad at school.' But it’s up to you to recognize that distortion and stop it in its tracks. Choose to see things with more clarity and balance, rather than in a one-sided, all-or-nothing thinking.

Often, we’re just adults reacting from unmet childhood needs, struggling to control our emotions. As kids, we often responded out of fear, longing to be seen, heard, valued, and loved. That same mindset often shapes our reactions now. We’ve become conditioned to let everything outside of us dictate how we feel and behave. Until we heal and reprogram these deep-seated patterns, we’ll continue acting from a place of unmet needs, often without realizing that so many others are doing the same.

There is only one thing in life you truly control: yourself. Your reactions. Your perceptions. Your actions. You can either mirror the behavior you judge, or you can rise above it and choose to act differently.

If you’ve been with me for a while, you know that our reality is a reflection of our inner world. What we believe to be true is what we experience.

The same is true for the collective consciousness—our nation mirrors the beliefs, thoughts, and actions of all of us as a collective. We are all interconnected. We are experiencing insane division, where we cannot see the other sides views. That starts with us, how should we expect other people to see our side if we are not willing to see theirs. We need to collectively become neutral and balanced.

Somewhere along the way, we've lost sight of the fact that we are one—that we all ultimately want the same end goal. Let’s not wait for another event, like 9/11, to force unity upon us. Let’s not add to the problem by fueling division with hate and judgment.

The same question I would ask you about your personal life. Do you want to be the solution of your experience and see your control? Or do you want to look at life as happening to you with no power or control at all?

The goal shouldn’t be to make people think like us and believe what we believe but to learn from one another. I don’t care your race, social class, status, gender, when you approach any conversation the intention should be what can I learn from this person? What can I love about them even if we believe different things? There is always something to learn and love about every single person.

The last thing I want to leave you with is how you do one thing is how you do everything. How do you react when you lose, when you fail, when things don’t go your way? And how do you react when you win, gain success, and lead? That is a reflection of you—the one thing you’re truly in control of.

We’re all the same—navigating life as humans with emotions, lessons, and beliefs. We’re doing the best we can with the information we have. Let’s continue to do our part in learning and growing.

Thank you for listening to me pour my heart out as I reflect on the day after the election.

With love and gratitude,

Stephanie

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