December 7, 2025

What is it that we’re meant to be doing these days when tuning into the news, we see nothing but bloodshed, injustice, fear, division, and pain?

I feel the pain. I’ve employed a few strategies: Tune out, and stop consuming “news” or reposting every injustice I see with righteous indignation, “You voted for this?!” echoing through my mind incredulously. These strategies don’t work. Tuning out is not an option. I care too much. Living in judgment and righteousness and againstness doesn’t work either. I know it’s false. I know that separation is an illusion.

I woke up one recent morning with the words “whatever you do, do with all your heart” present in my mind. A little gift. I repeated them. I enjoyed the energy of these words because they resonated with me as truth. I mentally began to look inward to all the places I am in resistance and, therefore, not bringing all of my heart. Withdrawal and being guarded is a strategy to avoid being hurt, and yet, it also blocks me from living wholeheartedly. It’s like the volume is low, and living at that frequency is slightly to extremely dissatisfying. I think many of us do it to stay safe, and we are missing out.

I feel my potential is to live as the embodiment of love — not a low volume little love but a BIG, BOLD LOVE. This love is not just superficially sharing kindness and caring for others when it’s convenient; it comes from a deep well within where I not only believe we are all one, I know it and act from that knowing. I am far from this lighthouse of where I want to be, but the inquiry that is now compulsive for me to look inward when I hear something come though — like, “Whatever you do, do with all your heart” — and to notice all of the areas I am not doing that and make a shift is something that I feel is leading me in the right direction. It’s one good thing about aging and letting the end, where I want to be when I die, guide me in the choices I make today.

I recently watched a touching film about the CNN Hero Maggie Doyne called “Between the Mountain and the Sea.” Maggie is someone who is helping kids and communities in Nepal with all of her heart. She reminds me of another hero of mine, Scott Neeson, who left his cushy Hollywood job to start the Cambodian Children’s Fund. What these two humans have done with all of their hearts is incredibly inspiring and it is the power of intent, focus, passion, and, most importantly, love. They are a lighthouse for me leading me toward more wholehearted living.

I believe in the power of love and know that I need to turn it up. We all need to amplify love in any way we can in our homes, communities, and in the world. We don’t have to completely shut out the news, but we have to commit to staying focused on what we truly want to see and to build that like Maggie and Scott did.

Imagine if instead of opening her heart to help all of those children in Nepal and creating a school, safehouse, and women’s center to help people, Maggie spent all of her time yelling and screaming and crying about how wrong the circumstances were that created the need for these things? She let her heart lead and created something that has given thousands of kids a chance to succeed in life. Scott is the same — he advocates for change on a policy level, and he feeds, clothes, and educates kids, making the leaders of tomorrow who will do things differently because someone cared enough to care for them.

Locally, I could not be more inspired by the volunteers and staff at CASA of the Ninth. Yes, it sucks kids are going into foster care. There is no way around the trauma that creates for them. And yet, the CASA volunteers walk with them. Being a CASA or fostering a child or animal in need is one way locally you can turn the volume up and amplify love into a heart that truly needs to hear that they matter and are worthy of love.

This post originally appeared in my monthly column in The Aspen Times.