My heart goes out to my friends who were hurt by the results of the 2016 pres­i­den­tial elec­tion. I real­ize that you are fright­ened by what may now occur. However, I encour­age you to quit read­ing the head­lines and to start cre­at­ing your own.

The world is not ruined by the Trumps of this world, but by those who abdi­cate their per­son­al pow­er to them. To know the degree to which you are doing that, just start list­ing the peo­ple you hate and the things you com­plain about. No mat­ter how hate­ful the per­son you hate, your hat­ing them makes you a HATER! How many pre­cious moments of your life do you wish to spend in that use­less, self-​destructive ener­gy?

Whatever you focus on (feed) grows. You can­not make them do right by mak­ing them wrong. That only makes them dig in their heels. Think about it. Has the sham­ing that you have received from oth­ers made you bet­ter? Could the hat­ing and blam­ing pos­si­bly be a reflec­tion of your own feel­ings of pow­er­less­ness and unwor­thi­ness?

Believe me or not, extend­ing love and com­pas­sion to your ene­mies takes far less ener­gy than hat­ing them. Even if express­ing it makes no change in them, giv­ing love changes you. You can­not give with­out an acknowl­edge­ment of abun­dance. You can­not love with­in the grip of fear. While not mod­i­fy­ing them at all, you can still enhance your response to their actions.

Loving your ene­mies is the equiv­a­lent of doing a Vulcan mind meld on your­self: “The bul­lets are not real.”*

Tragedy can be avert­ed. The world can be made bet­ter. But only if you rec­og­nize that hat­ing, sham­ing, and blam­ing are futile tools of weak­ness and despair.

Your cham­pi­on did not win, but that does not make you a los­er. Creating a more beau­ti­ful world is in your hands, not those of some­one else. Your rants are a dis­trac­tion from your true pur­pose and a drain on your resources. Reach out to your allies instead of spit­ting on your ene­mies. If you act to cre­ate sit­u­a­tions where every­one wins, then all your ene­mies dis­ap­pear.

*from “the TV series “Star Trek”, sea­son 3 episode 6, “Spectre of the Gun”, October 25, 1968

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