Even When the World Feels Out of Control, We Still Get to Choose How We Show Up

Dear Friends,
It’s been a deeply disorienting stretch of time.
So much uncertainty.
So many devastating events, near and far.
So much pain in the world that many are afraid to even turn on the news.

In times like these, what do we do?

How do we stay open, present, and purposeful when everything feels like it’s unraveling?
How do we become what is needed—not just for ourselves, but for each other?

I come back, again and again, to this:
We always have a choice.

A choice to listen to the loud voice of fear—within our minds, and all around us.
Or to choose something else.
To root into the one thing we can always come back to: our inner power.
Our locus of control.

This past Sunday, I woke up heavy—disheartened, disillusioned, and unsure how to move forward.
The weight of the world, the headlines, the helplessness... it all felt like too much.

And then, in a stroke of luck, I opened Instagram and landed on a clip of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—his voice steady, his message timeless.

He spoke of “the audacity to believe.”

Something inside me shifted.

The noise in my mind quieted.
And I remembered:
We always have the power to choose—
To remember why we’re here.
To remember who we can be in moments like these.

The voices of those who came before us still guide the way.
They are the light when things feel dark.
They help us shine for those who can’t.

That moment on Sunday pierced the fog—and lit a spark.

It reconnected me to my guiding light: Dr. King.
His voice first stirred something in me when I was 11.
Even then, I felt it—
The call to bring light to the darkness.
To turn hate into love.
That knowing has never left me.
It just sometimes gets buried beneath the weight of the world.

So I sat down and wrote this—
To remind you (and myself):

We’re not powerless.
We’re not alone.
And even now, we still have a choice.
A choice to believe—against all odds.
A choice to anchor ourselves in something deeper than the chaos.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, spoke of "the audacity to believe."

The audacity to believe in human dignity.
The audacity to believe in peace, when the world is at war.
The audacity to believe in change—when our feet are tired, and the path is steep.

He wasn’t speaking from idealism—he was speaking from a deep truth:
That even when the outer world feels unmovable, we still get to choose our inner stance.
That real power begins within.

I thought of Nelson Mandela, imprisoned for 27 years on Robben Island.
He once said:
“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.”
He walked out not just a man, but a leader—for all of South Africa. That prison shaped him. And he let it.

Then I thought of Maya Angelou, who said something that lives in me every time I’m called to speak or show up for someone else:

“I've had so many rainbows in my clouds. I had a lot of clouds, but I had so many rainbows. And one of the things I do when I step up on a stage... I bring everyone who has ever been kind to me with me. Black, white, Asian, Spanish-speaking, Native American, gay, straight, everybody. I say, 'Come with me. I'm going on the stage. Come with me. I need you now.' Long dead, you see? So I don't ever feel I have no help. I've had rainbows in my clouds. And the thing to do, it seems to me, is to prepare yourself so that you can be a rainbow in somebody else's cloud.”

She reminds us: you don’t need everything around you to change to be a light. You just need to decide to be one.

The Dalai Lama echoes this:
“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”

These master teachers were rooted in a profound understanding:
That we don’t wait for the world to change before we act with courage.
We change ourselves—and through that, we change the world.

We find our purpose in the pain.
We come home to the power within.
And we remember—we always have a choice.

That’s why I’ve made a quiet promise to myself: to keep listening to Dr. King’s voice each day.
Not just as inspiration—but as a grounding force. His words help me return to what matters.
To stay connected to the clarity of choice. To stay attuned to the light, even when things feel dark.
That’s how I keep the ability to choose alive—by anchoring to the voices that remind me of who I am and what I stand for.

And from this place, I created something to offer you.

New Meditation: A Soft Place to Land
The W.E.A.K. Mantra Practice