How to read screaming headlines and not scream back?

When I got up in the middle of the night to work on today’s blog, the first thing I read was Der Spiegel’s editorial, "Europe must defend itself against a dangerous president.”

Then I read about Amnesty International’s report of killings and torture in a Syrian prison.

And Somalia’s "milestone of corruption.” And on and on.

Well, I can’t start your day and mine with our brains awash in this.

So I googled optimism, stress reduction, and more.

Here are some thoughts posted yesterday by Seth Zuihō Segall, a Zen priest and psychologist who is a retired member of the clinical faculty of the Yale School of Medicine and a former Director of Psychology at Waterbury Hospital.

He says: "If one can be deeply present ... and see the suffering of the world; if one can show up with the intention to relieve suffering whenever one encounters it to the best of one’s abilities; if one can include every being within the circle of one’s care and compassion; and if one can avoid anger and disillusionment when suffering doesn’t always abate despite one’s best efforts, then one is engaged in a social activism that epitomizes Buddhist practice.”

Now, on to the day ahead. Have a good one, my very dear readers.