No matter how often I fly, I still look forward to the moment when the airplane pierces a shield of clouds and is met with radiance on the other side. The drearier and more menacing the weather on the ground, the greater the exaltation when you rise above the clouds and see again that the sun was always there. Just hidden.

That truth is a running theme for me as life does what it's meant to do: ebbs and flows, treats you well and then blindsides you with a nasty curve ball.

I'm really proud to say that even in my worst moments, I've always had the good sense to know that however bad things were, they wouldn't remain so. Everything passes if you learn to hold things lightly.

Bad breakups, bad decisions that left me disappointed in myself or the way I handled a situation: Every little mistake has been a chance to grow. I long ago learned that “I never want to feel like this again” means don't do what caused the feeling the first time.

These days, sitting atop my perch as a 64-year-old, I can see clearly that the collective consciousness of we-the-people is the cause of much of our national angst. How much energy have we given to thinking about “how bad things are”? How much more are we going to give?

I for one am weary of the refrain. Because what we focus on expands. The more we complain, the worse things get. It's a universal law.

Our insatiable desire for “reality” entertainment, gossip, the dish on anyone—our human tendency to look for the worst in others to make ourselves feel better by comparison—has created a culture where it's hard to see that life is a mirror.

What's showing up for you is always a reflection of how you see yourself.

But what if you took a minute to step away from the noise of the world, the constant bombardment, and go to the still, small interior space where you abide as observer of it all?

In the stillness is where peace abounds.

I want peace, so I actively work at having it. I don't leave the TV or any media on without choosing to. I refuse to be fed a nonstop barrage of negativity. Or to continue to engage in conversations about how bad things are.

I come from a people who endured the worst of times: slavery, Jim Crow, the total absence of civil rights. Times when things really were as bad as they seemed. So I relish the power of choice! The freedom to choose who I want to be and how I want to live each moment.

As long as we have the freedom to choose, I know for sure that things are never as bad as they seem.

Freedom offers you the opportunity to stir things up, to bring your light and break up the darkness. To make your mark. Contribute. Give. Knock down the negative. And build a world worthy of your highest good. Let's do it.

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