It's Probably Not Your Uppermost Concern
Recent articles are pointing out that, while people assume that they can move to a safe place where they will be protected from the worst effects of global warming, there is no safe place. Canada? Its current wildfires have burned five times more land than the record-breaking 2020 fire season in California. New England? In Vermont, people were kayaking through Montpelier, the capital, and the governor had to hike from his home to the emergency response center. Yet only 8% of us consider global warming to be our top priority. Why?
How Our Minds Work
The way our minds work is that, at any given moment, they are focused on the strongest stimulus at that moment. Are you thinking about work? About your partner, your friends, your children? About a health issue? Are you in the midst of a chore? Or are you enjoying your favorite food, music, or TV show? Whatever provides the strongest stimulus at any given moment, whether a problem or a pleasure, will be the thought, or the feeling, that you are aware of. But in view of what we now know about global warming, you would think that it would be the strongest stimulus. Why isn't it? (Unless, of course, you have recently been exposed to its effects.)
An Exception to the Rule
There is one exception to the rule that the strongest stimulus occupies our awareness. If a stimulus is too powerful, too overwhelming, it can't enter our awareness because that would be too traumatic. A portion of our response to it, perhaps a thought about it, may enter our awareness when we are exposed to an overwhelming stimulus. And we may feel brief anxiety at such times. But, except for those moments, our minds remain occupied by stimuli that are not traumatic, while the overwhelming knowledge about global warming remains out of awareness.
Can We Protect Ourselves?
So, how are we to cope with something that we can't fully appreciate? How are we to prepare for the consequences when a danger due to global warming comes our way? Will it be a fire? (or toxins in the air caused by fires far away?) A flood? (or toxins in our drinking water due to the contamination of our water supply?) A hurricane? A tornado? A heat wave? A lack of food due to the destruction of habitat that supports our food supply (such as the heat-caused bleaching of coral reefs that harbor many fish)?
The Emotional Comfort® Tool Can Help
How? The Tool describes how you can create a new mental pathway in your mind that will be dedicated to whatever problem you wish for it to solve. If you wish for it to protect you from the effects of global warming, it will work to fulfill that wish. It will work, out of your awareness, to understand the threats you face and devise optimal solutions for them. You may find yourself motivated to take actions that will help you. If you haven't already, you may feel yourself motivated to put together a go-bag in the event that you have to evacuate your home, and to locate available escape routes from a danger. If you haven't already, you may find yourself motivated to update and safely preserve the documents that you may need under those circumstances. As an extreme example, I got a hollow pipe that I could use to breathe through if I needed to jump in our apartment's pool to survive a fire that I otherwise couldn't escape. Far-fetched? Others have done that very thing when fire came to their homes. Your new mental pathway will evaluate the threats that may face you and influence you to do what you can to protect yourself.
GET THE EMOTIONAL COMFORT® Tool
