If you have been listening to the news and TV for the past few months, you might be feeling a little battered and drained of energy.

While I can see the appeal of wanting to know what is happening around the world and locally, I can’t seem to get past the fact that people are feeling heavy and very drained by all the news.

We are often offered a diet of negativity when stories are reported. The positive ones being few and far between. What is really going on with life and our ability to function in a positive environment? How can we sustain our own energy, our own creativity and therefore our ability to help when it’s needed in an effective way? I think that the “Global Financial Crisis” and the devastating floods and fires in Australia have been uplifted by tremendous reverence from the local, wider Australian and Global communities.

When disaster happens in any form to anyone it shocks us into waking up and getting stuck into the absolute core of what needs to be done. We shortcut all, ‘should we do this’, ‘should we do that’, ‘budget this’, ‘allowance for that’, into … direct action.

Governments and communities are rallying together to support people in building and maintaining their lives whether we agree with the way it is being done or not. The amount of money raised in this challenging economic time has been amazing.

Are we adjusting our expectations of what and who we are and what is truly at the core of our being and what we find important?

Is empathy coming out in full force?

Each day I look at what I love and enjoy the most and, for most part, money can’t buy them.

Our core beliefs are being challenged and questioned. What do we REALLY believe in? Who are we REALLY without ‘Things’?

Celebrate in the resilience and helping hands around us.

When I hear about people who have shifted and had to change their way of living and do it in a positive way I feel so joyful for them.

If loss and stress knock at your door, how will you greet it?

Stressing about it is not going to solve or relieve your pressures so let it go. Let go of the fear. Take stock of yourself and your emotions. Sit quietly and reflect on how you are feeling, what you are feeling and whether they are feelings of joy or sadness. These feelings are sometimes linked to our ego or our wanting to please others.

Once we really find clarity within ourselves we find clarity in our resolve to find a positive outcome.

I bumped into a friend a few weeks ago who I had not seen for a while. When I’d previously seen them they looked very stressed and worried. They had red eyes and a look of panic and shock in their faces. On this recent occasion they looked very relaxed and at peace. Their faces were calm and not so tortured looking. I asked them how they were and, with such a wonderful calm expression, they told me how they were selling their house and down sizing so they didn’t have so much pressure placed on them. Imagine the torment that they must have felt in the process of ‘letting go’? Once the decision and clarity came about what they needed to do, they found relief.

Sometimes it’s relief that we are after, when we let go of other’s expectations and what we expect of ourselves.