Spirit Matters: Be a part of healing the world around you

As this year closes, I can’t help but wax melancholic about where we are and the uncertainty of where we are headed as individuals, communities and a nation.

It has been a difficult year, in different ways, for all of us.

I tend to see my younger years as “the glory days,” to mitigate the discomfort that comes from living these days. The 1970s, 1980s and 1990s were relatively free of electronic distraction. Yes, there were video games and personal computers, but there also were a variety of interactions with other human beings that involved eye contact and conversation void of chat lingo – conversations that required genuineness, soulfulness and individual thought.

People still consistently went outside and interacted with nature like the organic beings we are. Somehow, without being aware of it, we knew we needed nature to be fully realized human beings – that it is balm for what ails us spiritually. We are sadly seeing now what happens when being outside isn’t a regular part of everyday life.

We have lost our soul.

This year, lifelong friendships and relationships with family members have been fractured, some beyond the point of repair, due to widely disparate ideologies. These fractures have been hastened and intensified by vast, for-profit media corporations that have turned the once deeply respected profession of journalism into a carnival of inflammatory opinions and commentary.

We can no longer expect fact-based reporting from most media outlets, regardless of what side of the spectrum we consider ourselves. It is important for all of us, when consuming “news,” to consider who is bankrolling the “news” we are consuming, including where their personal interests lie and why.

We should select news sources not because they tell us what we want to hear but because they tell us what is actually happening, with thoughtful analysis based on history and the principles of economics, sociology, mathematics, science and other trusted disciplines, rooted in proven experience.

Mike Wallace would be mortified at the way reporting current events has turned into a propaganda parade.

The bottom line is the internet and other media sources are saturated with misinformation and disinformation. Those who put falsehoods out there can be sly at what they do, making it difficult to distinguish between the truth and pseudo news. Still, it is our responsibility as informed citizens to learn to do so, even when the truth doesn’t align with our ideologies.

I try to make this space a sacred refuge from the world. I realize that the content of this column is a rarity. It is uncommon to find media publishing a column that reflects on the experience of life as we know it from a spiritual point of view. Note that I said “spiritual” and not “religious.” Although I do have my faith, and it does inform some of my views, I have always tried to approach what I write from as common of a perspective as possible. And it doesn’t get more common than sharing in the human spirit.

When we express ourselves and share our stories honestly and vulnerably, we inevitably touch upon a common thread that many can relate to, even if they haven’t experienced life exactly as we have. Somewhere in our stories, they can find a piece of themselves.

And that is not only spiritual. It is magical, because if something we have experienced can contribute to another being making sense of their own complex life and being better for it, then true healing can begin.

We have all been given unique gifts that can help mend our collective wounds. It is up to us to recognize them and put them at the service of the holy one to draw us back into a restored human family of which we are blessed to be a part.

In these last few days of 2024, think about your gifts, what people have told you throughout your life you are good at, and how you make life better or easier or more fulfilling for others.

Then, go into 2025 determined to develop those gifts and use them to aid in the spiritual healing of our troubled world.

SPIRIT MATTERS is a weekly column by Jerrilyn Zavada Novak that examines experiences common to the human spirit. Contact her at jzblue33@yahoo.com.