Letter from the Publisher

Candi Broeffle
Publisher NATC

What a strange and remarkable time we are living in. The events of 9/11/2001 rocked us to our core, making us more vulnerable than we ever thought possible, and causing us to understand that the security we once took for granted would never return. We united as a nation and the world reached out in our sorrow. We knew who our enemy was and how it wanted to bring terror into our lives, and yet we stood strong. We gathered around each other, supported one another, and did what we could to help restore the sense of security we once enjoyed. All too quickly our fear of other turned this state of unity into distrust and we became divided.

 Here we are, less than 20 years later, facing an enemy without a face, without a religion, without any characteristics we can pinpoint. It’s completely unnerving, so in our fear we try to put a face to it. We tell ourselves that this enemy came from a lab in another faraway country that wants to take away our sense of well-being; this enemy only targets the old and those that are not in good health; this enemy is not real, but a made-up disease to take away our freedoms and rights; and the many more ideas designed to somehow restore some sense of security to our world. This kind of thinking or rationalization has the opposite effect by stimulating more fear which divides. That which divides is painful and destructive; that which unites is strengthening and constructive.

This is not to say that fear is unwarranted. People all over this country, all over the world, are facing fear caused by an event that is unprecedented in our lifetime. People are concerned for their health and the health of their families; jobs and incomes are being lost; many businesses won’t survive; and the silence of isolation can be deafening for many. Our lives are upended.

However, we can turn the fear inside-out by acknowledging that the greatest fear is coming from the minds of billions making unknown scenarios, not even true, but can become true if focused on long enough. Its opposite is equally true, where we can focus on whatever is positive in our life and help that to grow. To this end, partake of a most interesting read on page ??, “Hope in Hard Times,” by Vajracharya Dechan, and the Cherokee legend therein.

We know that fear can take away our choices. If there were, indeed, an enemy, it would be FEAR. It limits our creativity and causes us to focus only on our smallest self and outer events. It activates our fight, flight or freeze survival response which manifests in worry, guilt, anger, blame, judgement, overwhelm, lack of control, antagonism, resignation and other debilitating states.

Throughout the pages of this magazine and online on our website and social media pages, you will find more resources to help you abide in hope and well-being; with hope, our creativity opens, our blinders come off, and we can begin co-creating the world we want to live in: one filled with peace, love, freedom, wellness, security, ease and joy.

What a wonderful world!

Candi Broeffle, Publisher

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