How do we keep from worrying about things too large to fix?

I read a friend's blog post this morning, right after I read Heather Cox Richardson's recap of what has been and what may be at the federal level. I'm glad I read them in that order; my friend's post was a gentle reminder that all that is bright and lovely and worthy of our attention and love is at our fingertips, at least to start. We may not be able to impact the larger concerns (okay, crisis) directly, but we can spend our efforts making those we love and those we are charged with taking care of a lot more comfortable and as safe as possible, especially in the coming days and weeks and months...and years. Even if there were not an impending sense of disorder, that is where our attention rightly lies. I tend to forget that. I worry about the nation and world writ large, but my ability to make a true impact is far more humble. 

So how do I keep this all in focus? What can I do to stay grounded? House work. Take care of my students. Hang out with Holly. Bake bread. Sometimes, it does the trick. Other times, I lie awake, scared and worried and sensing that the world is a total mess, and people have ruined all of our chances at righting the ship. Too often, that last one is the one that wins. It makes for a long night.

I know that other people, most far smarter and wiser than I, have wrestled with the same concerns throughout time. Here's a few smart ones who have things to say to me. Maybe you'll like them, too.

Have a good day, and keep the faith.

C

“What is success?
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate the beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch Or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!”

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

A noiseless patient spider,

I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated,

Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,

It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,

Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,

Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,

Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,

Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold,

Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

--Walt Whitman

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower 

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand 

And Eternity in an hour...

--William Blake, from Auguries of Innocence