Overthinking about big issues

[Bellacat]

youve got to attain peace with the fact that humans destroy

I've actually tried that, and I've also tried "the Sun will eventually consume the Earth and all will be lost anyway", and sometimes that actually does bring a little bit of relief, in a kind of sad way I guess. That line of thinking brings a big risk of existential crisis though too.

I just don't get how I can walk in the forest and savour the quiet, having this spiritual experience of wonder and peace, just completely filled with awe at every little mushroom and lichen, and the guy next door can drive up there with a chainsaw and tear it all down without a second thought. I just don't get it.

 

[Streetwise]

I've actually tried that, and I've also tried "the Sun will eventually consume the Earth and all will be lost anyway", and sometimes that actually does bring a little bit of relief, in a kind of sad way I guess. That line of thinking brings a big risk of existential crisis though too.

I just don't get how I can walk in the forest and savour the quiet, having this spiritual experience of wonder and peace, just completely filled with awe at every little mushroom and lichen, and the guy next door can drive up there with a chainsaw and tear it all down without a second thought. I just don't get it.

do you hate violence ?do you think violence is wrong? thought is powerful ,sadly you live in a country where nature isn’t revered and greed is ,if you add that together with disliking violence you have your conclusion.

 

[Mia]

It was less than an hour before a neighbour came up with his tractor and started cutting trees down on the property bordering ours. He's preparing to clear cut a large area of old forest. There is so little old forest left. He doesn't understand what he's doing, he's just cashing it in. A scots pine can live for 700 years, but most are cut when they're only 60. They're just children. Any day now the industrial machines will come to take it all away, leaving nothing but devastation and gaping wounds in the soil. Our own little piece of the forest will suffer losses in the coming years as it is not accustomed to facing the full force of wind coming through the valley. Yes, someone will probably come up in a year or two and plant new trees there. New trees from a nursery somewhere, all the same age, selected by humans for the purposes of future logging in about 60 years or so. The ecosystem itself will not have time to recover before it is cut again.

I think that if I had the money in that same situation, I would offer to pay the neighbor to keep the trees standing. If he needs the money, then I would have given if I could, with the written proviso that they are not cut down the trees for sale in the future. If I had lots of money, I would buy up as much forest as I could with it. There's a house that was just built nearby, where they cut down eight 200 year old maples. And the stumps are still there like gravestones. There was nothing wrong with those trees, and the house has not been sold.
A waste. I think, that all new construction should be done on existing previously used land, no more forests cut down anywhere. A stop to all of it.

 

[Bellacat]

I think that if I had the money in that same situation, I would offer to pay the neighbor to keep the trees standing. If he needs the money, then I would have given if I could, with the written proviso that they are not cut down the trees for sale in the future. If I had lots of money, I would buy up as much forest as I could with it. There's a house that was just built nearby, where they cut down eight 200 year old maples. And the stumps are still there like gravestones. There was nothing wrong with those trees, and the house has not been sold.
A waste. I think, that all new construction should be done on existing previously used land, no more forests cut down anywhere. A stop to all of it.

I so, so agree. This is always my response when people ask what I'd do if I won a lottery. I'd buy land and protect it. We actually did briefly discuss buying his land, but unfortunately we don't have the money.

But to try and bring it back to why I actually posted about this on this forum, I guess my real question is:

Is there a way to interrupt a negative thinking spiral that starts to get a little out of control?

I've been given advice on this issue that seems to imply that other people have more control over their thoughts than I do. Is this true, or is it just easy advice that wasn't really thought through in a practical sense?

If others do have more control over their thoughts than me... how do you do that? Is there some trick to it?

Taking today as an example:

I was up in the forest taking a walk. I noticed, as I always do, the holes in the forest across the valley where others have clear cut massive areas in the last three years. Then I see the flags marking out where the forest next to ours will be cut. I think about how much has been lost, how little is left to lose. There's a wave of anger, sadness, frustration, but I try to push it away. Being among the trees still makes me happy, I can enjoy what's still here, and focus on what will remain. This seems like it will work.

As the day goes on though, while I do other things, my mind will work in the background pulling up every example it can find of humans being horrible, reckless, destroying nature, etc... or it will fixate on the specific things from today (that's what it's doing now) and sooner or later some minor stupid thing like an itchy shirt will push me over the edge and suddenly I'm curled up on the floor sobbing, shaking all over and so overwhelmed and consumed with grief I can barely breathe. I've only been diagnosed recently and am still learning my way around, but I think this is, or is something like, a meltdown.

Is there a way that I can stop that background process from happening, or do I just have to live it out?

I can feel it happening right now so if anyone has any advice for how I might be able to interrupt it and avoid losing this evening to one of these episodes I would be extremely grateful.

 

[Mia]

I can feel it happening right now so if anyone has any advice for how I might be able to interrupt it and avoid losing this evening to one of these episodes I would be extremely grateful.

No, the only way for me is to continue to exist while I get through it. I have them too. The more I've been exposed to these kinds of feelings over the years, the only noticeable effect is that it has slightly lessened and is for shorter periods. Now, I would have suggested meditation and mindfulness and all the new age things that absolutely don't work for me. When I'm in the state you've mentioned, I sleep, cook, do hard exercise or work and draw, and read. Then I come out of it, and begin again with my life.

Attempting the very real task of figuring out how I can have an effect on this kind of mindset, the destruction, the devastation that it all entails.

I think there is hope though. There are in some countries rules and regulations on how the land must be used and treated. And more and more, those stipulations have become slightly stronger. No cutting down of older trees unless absolutely necessary, as the result of disease or damage. There was a law suit, where some rivers have been given legal rights:
New legal rights for rivers
It's only natural: the push to give rivers, mountains and forests legal rights
Environmental personhood - Wikipedia

How I will go about doing this in Canada, is another question entirely. Yet, some people have done it through crowdfunding: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/crowdfunding-3-million-protect-princess-louisa-inlet-property-sunshine-coast-1.5265624
Which gives me some hope.

What Greta Thurnberg did is speak aloud what some of us think all the time.

 

[Tom]

Continuing to endure/fight in the seemingly hopeless fight is not something new, and has occurred many different times and can occur in many different ways. It can be something big, like the whole world or small just in your own life. Someone shared a very old Sanskrit inscription with me that touched on this feeling (frustration/sense of futility) a long time ago, that was helpful for me. I have tried to find it before and failed but will try again. I doubt there is any one methodology to finding the strength to continue and at the same time inner peace. It more likely is a thing one constructs oneself. But one can maybe get bits and pieces they can use from the efforts others have made, the struggles they endured.

Laying aside the spiritual side, as a student of history I draw insight and inspiration from many people thru the ages. People like Leondias, Gandi and Lincoln who all endured against the odds, remembering they could not control whether they could win or lose. Even today someone like Thunberg is an inspiration.

But please forgive me if I also draw strength of a different type from satirists and comedians like Moe Howard (of the 3 Stooges).

 

[Tom]

I just read about the second concern. What I'll call negative mind looping for lack of a better term. I agree with Mia it is a tough one to tame, and I share the problem. This may be an aspect related to autism or at least one of the commorbids like anxiety or OCD. Like Mia also my only defense against it is to up my meds (if I think it is anxiety related) or launch into a distraction campaign until it diminishes, as it usually does.

 

[Streetwise]

I've actually tried that, and I've also tried "the Sun will eventually consume the Earth and all will be lost anyway", and sometimes that actually does bring a little bit of relief, in a kind of sad way I guess. That line of thinking brings a big risk of existential crisis though too.

I just don't get how I can walk in the forest and savour the quiet, having this spiritual experience of wonder and peace, just completely filled with awe at every little mushroom and lichen, and the guy next door can drive up there with a chainsaw and tear it all down without a second thought. I just don't get it.

never thought@Tom reminded me ,have you checked your levels of vitamin B and potassium and magnesium ,nervousness can be your lack of these vitamins and minerals, Especially autistic people will use them up much faster ,if you crave thought certain things you will know probably what you are lacking.

 

[Wolfnox]

I've actually tried that, and I've also tried "the Sun will eventually consume the Earth and all will be lost anyway", and sometimes that actually does bring a little bit of relief, in a kind of sad way I guess. That line of thinking brings a big risk of existential crisis though too.

I just don't get how I can walk in the forest and savour the quiet, having this spiritual experience of wonder and peace, just completely filled with awe at every little mushroom and lichen, and the guy next door can drive up there with a chainsaw and tear it all down without a second thought. I just don't get it.

Would you prefer hearing that Earth will be remade?