How To Deal With The “Emotional Inflammation” Rampant Now

I don’t know about you, but for the past several months and weeks especially, I have felt deep pain in my heart space over all that is happening in this country and in the world. So much acrimony, hatred, pain, loss, heartbreak , suffering everywhere. Ad hominem with no basis in fact, lies and deception, distortion of truth. Evil exposed (a good thing, but still very painful).

A client put it well when she told me, “I feel horrified, and heartsick at all that is happening.”

And scared. Studies show there is a lot of anxiety, over the upcoming election and in general.

There’s a name for this stress that feels almost like post-traumatic stress, that stems from taking in the energy of a tumultuous world: emotional inflammation. I’ve written a lot about it.

You can listen to a podcast about this here, or check out the book by Dr. Lise Van Susteren and Stacey Colino h mere. It helped me to understand how much we are all affected by what’s going on in the world—whether we pay much attention to the news or not.

The problem is, there are so many narratives out there. So many nuances to an issue. So many people twisting the facts to fit their own narrative or agenda (or ignoring key facts).

I feel mentally and emotionally exhausted just thinking about making my way through all that to the truth. But I am committed to doing so, through prayer, as God leads. I want to be part of the solution, not the problem.

If you feel at all this way, too, I offer you some ways to deal with the emotional inflammation that are helping me cope.

1. Discern any dysfunctional thinking behind the narratives. I give more guidance here on my blog. Look over the chart below–you can even print it out. I think you’ll find once you are aware of these forms of distorted thinking, you will see it everywhere in the media, social and otherwise. Pay special attention to how such thinking undergirds the present narratives in this election cycle.

2. Two ways to pray for healing. Every week I include in my newsletter the prayer below. I believe God is and will continue answering that prayer.

The hope is that when evil is exposed and truth is revealed, the path to peace will be made possible.

So that we can all heal.

And how do we heal? Beyond and as part of the Healing Codes, it has to be prayer.

One of the things that has been impressed on my personally in the last few weeks is the importance of prayer. Prayer actually is God’s way of making things happen on this earth. As I have prayed, I have gotten amazing answers. Amazing answers.

And I’ve noticed, it’s only when I pray, that good things seem to happen.

As I prayed about what I, personally, may be called to do to respond to the terrible things happening in the world now, I felt led to do two things.

One, invite you to join me in a prayer that I have recorded and put on a web page so you can print it out or read from the screen. My suggestion is that you choose a specific time each day to play my recording and pray along with me, out loud, as you read the prayer. I have started praying this at 8am Central, though truthfully, I am praying this often through the day.

Two, I offer a practice that has helped me tremendously to release the emotional inflammation of all the negative energy around me.

This practice is based on an Immanuel Prayer experience I had. (Find out more about Immanuel Prayer here.) We have another Immanuel Connection call experience coming up on November 5—voting day in the U.S.! Go here if you want to join me on Tuesday.)

The release practice is very simple. You open your heart space, front and back, and allow all this collective emotion to pass through. But it’s not going nowhere. Behind you is Jesus, and he is catching it. So you say, “Through me to Jesus,” and, “Jesus is Lord.” With this affirmation, you are invoking King Jesus, the one who is actively, currently facing down evil, to take this on.

I’ll often use this on my morning walk. As I walk, repeating these words to myself, “Through me to Jesus. Jesus is Lord,” I usually feel a very distinct lightening of my heart. Whenever grief, pain, anguish, sadness, anger again wash over me, I again do this. It is the only thing that seems to help me.

We must feel. We must care. It is the blindness and the desensitization to the humanity and suffering of other human beings that is at the root of much that we’re dealing with.

However, none of us can carry the weight of what is being unleashed on the world. We need to give it over to the One who is still in charge, and who I believe will act as we unite in prayer.

Final Words: Meditation on Light

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1: 5).

Light exposes. It is exposing things that need to be changed. Let us have to courage to allow the Light to expose the evil in our own hearts, first and foremost.

Light reveals. What is revealed is meant to be healed. Seek what is being revealed for YOU to change, to heal, to act upon. The Light reveals the truth. We so need God to help us discern truth, because truth gives us something solid to stand on.

Light comforts. We are like frightened children in the dark; we so need the comfort of the Light in the darkness in which we find ourselves. Come to the Light to be comforted. God doesn’t only reveal evil; he also highlights the good, and expands it. Remember that, and be comforted. Allow him to highlight all the good—in yourself and your life, in others, in the world. Join him in searching for the beauty, and expanding it.

Light also guides. It shows us the next step, clearly, so we won’t stumble. When we can see clearly the path before us, including the potholes, we can avoid or figure out ways around the obstacles in front of us rather than stumble over them.

So let us look to the Light, and pray the prayers.

And Lord have mercy, let us heal.