After publishing my book, The Journey of a Motherless Child, I did a lot of traveling to promote my work. During my traveling, I had many face-to-face conversations with people. I became more aware than ever before how much pain and suffering people endure in silence. When I heard about the challenges they were facing, I found it surprising that the issues I was concerned with also concerned the young and old. It wasn’t just the worries of some, certain issues effect everyone across the board.
Some of the largest issues we are facing include affordable healthcare, affordable housing, the care of our growing elderly population, global warming, and the shortage of clean drinking water…just a mention a few.
When I ask people, “Do you live your life consciously? Or do you react emotionally to everything, and try to clean up the mess afterward?” Most people say they react before they think.
The truth of the matter is, most of us are so bogged down with our daily lives, we feel as though there is no time for anything else. That is how most of us live our lives, putting off everything, saying we will do it tomorrow—but tomorrow never comes until it is too late. As Henry David Thoreau once said long ago, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”
In spite of the reasons so many of us are living unconsciously, if we want to end the suffering in our lives and in the lives of our families, we need to examine our lives and try to live a conscious life every day—not just when we face a crisis.
We have advanced so very far in the field of technology, but I am not sure about our own humanity toward one another, and our planet. There so many issues that disturb our senses and leave us feeling powerless and helpless.
What I have learned is that there needs to be a balance in every aspect of life.
I want to continue this dialogue, writing about the stories of people and the issues that face us, sharing those stores as well as helpful information from those who are finding the way to live their lives consciously.
Mi Sun Donahue.
