From Panic To Peace

Wow! Eco­nomic melt­down! The con­cept is a lit­tle unnerv­ing. What is going to hap­pen to your income? Is it begin­ning to hap­pen now? Where will twelve months of this take you?
These types of ques­tions can really run away with you. After you let a few of them run through your mind, you get hold of your­self. You can­not afford to panic. It is too costly. Worse yet, it is too lim­ited as a point of view. Panic is a down­ward spi­ral — a fall into the emo­tional abyss of no alter­na­tives.
Per­son­ally, I am look­ing for­ward to what­ever the imme­di­ate or dis­tant future brings. Like the Apos­tle Paul, I have dis­cov­ered how to be happy with lit­tle or much. It really is in your per­spec­tive. Min­i­mal­ism is one of my hob­bies. There are won­der­fully grace­ful ways of going down the eco­nomic scale, while actu­ally increas­ing your qual­ity of life. Eco­nomic shifts are but start­ing pis­tol shots for the soul’s marathons. It loves long-term impos­si­ble chal­lenges. This cri­sis is just what it needs.
Soul power is supe­rior to eco­nomic capa­bil­ity. For as much as I enjoy pros­per­ity, it is eco­nomic lim­i­ta­tions that most stir the stew of new pos­si­bil­i­ties. Appre­ci­a­tion for the small things esca­lates. Brand names give way to gener­ics. Nature replaces expen­sive amuse­ments. Trust gets a chance to be gen­uine. Peace begins to per­vade the soul.
A few short weeks ago, it was fuel prices. The cri­sis before that had to do with some sort of elec­tion. The cri­sis before that was a tragic twist in centuries-old ter­ror­ism tac­tics. Before that it was polit­i­cal scan­dal. I remem­ber the Cold War years too. They came after World War II, which came after the Great Depres­sion, which came after World War I, which came after Civil War, which came after the Rev­o­lu­tion­ary War, which came after…
After a while, you notice a pat­tern to his­tory. I pre­fer to cut to the chase and go directly to peace. Panic is for the myopic. I have a never-ending life to live — no sense in being short-sighted. This too shall pass.