Gordon Robinson | Create your own post hurricane reality

This week has been all about Hurricane Melissa and that’s likely to be the case for many more weeks.

So there’s no better time for a reminder of the power of positive thinking. In that regard you need to understand and commit to some spiritual realities that no church will acknowledge because it’ll hit them in the collection plate.

1. God is always with you.

2. You are made in the image of God and, so, are Creators just as God is. This promise was made by Jesus Himself (John 14:12) but theologians prefer to interpret The Christ’s unambiguous words to mean that we’ll carry on God’s work according to God’s will. In other words, worship at church and pay your tithes.

3. Your entire life is a creative process. YOU create your reality beginning with thought (imagination); then “word” (you speak your mind; verbalize your thoughts; put yourself out there so you are forced to act on your words); then your deeds create your reality.

In the looooooooooong lead up to Melissa’s arrival, Jamaica was in a state of prolonged wait and see:

Sitting here in limbo

but I know it won’t be long.

Sitting here in limbo

like a bird without a song.

We had nothing to do but watch various TV weather forecasts delivered by clearly excited American presenters (well, presenters with distinct American accents) who seemed more fascinated by Melissa’s “meteorological perfection” than concerned about the people in the s**thole country about to be devastated. The glee in their voices as they marveled at the “impressive” eye-wall (apparently the driest in history) and the bright colours of their hurricane cartoons superimposed on their weather maps were most annoying.

While they were almost orgasmic about Melissa’s unprecedented size and strength, our brothers and sisters in St. Elizabeth, Manchester and Westmoreland were on tenterhooks bracing for the repeatedly and excitedly predicted “catastrophe”. While too many Jamaicans faced ruin or worse TV hypesters indulged in morbid fascination that I don’t recall hearing when they reported on the California wildfires or Houston floods!

And their “forecasts” turned out to be more like foreboding as they continually got it wrong but never once admitted that possibility. We were told Melissa would reach us circa Friday or Saturday October 24 or 25. Courts closed. Businesses shut down. She was landing in Clarendon. Then it was Sunday in Manchester. Then she was to land Monday in St Elizabeth (Treasure Beach/Alligator Pond); then Tuesday morning (time of writing; done early while I still have electricity); then Tuesday afternoon closer to Westmoreland. She seemed to be the 1989 Festival Song:

She stop; she go; she stop

She stop; she go; she stop; she go

She want to go everywhere.

She want to jump shout and cheer.

She waan do dis sshe waan do dat.

She waan fi chip and she waan fi chat .

She waan go East; she waan go West.

She waan fi labba labba dushunguay

While hypesters were excitedly anticipating a turn to the northeast some of us were using our collective consciousness to push her further west.

She obliged.

Then she started to turn. Then she paused. Then she turned, but not as much as predicted, and picked up forward speed. She created her own reality despite for what TV meteorologists parroting dire National Hurricane Centre predictions were wishing and hoping.

Now it’s time for us to create our own reality; our own future. Begin by remembering you can never be separated from God who dwells within you and is always with you. The God within you, no matter what name you ascribe to God, will ensure your intention becomes your reality if only you focus on YOUR intention and don’t allow others to intrude with their predictions of doom and gloom. Your intention can become your reality if you learn to control your thoughts quickly and efficiently. That’ll be the catalyst that decides how quickly your intentions become your lived experience. If your mind is allowed to wander so will your reality.

Thought control, what some may call “prayer”, is the be all and end all to creating experience. Thought control is the highest form of prayer. I never send “prayers” to those I believe to be in need of spiritual support and comfort. I always send “positive thoughts”. I ensure my thoughts of them are always positive. I never think of adversity as anything but an opportunity to experience resilience and a challenge to overcome and from which to recover.

I. Do. Not. Worry!

Worry is distraction’s favourite tool. It prevents you from thinking clearly and thus doing what’s necessary to overcome adversity. So, no matter your post hurricane situation, don’t dwell on dark or negative thoughts. As hard as it may seem think only on the goodness and righteousness that’s coming your way once you concentrate on the positives and analyze what needs to be done.

Don’t worry about the time lapse between thought and deed. That’s because you’re still here in the physical world. So the result you seek may not be immediate. It’ll come. The lapse of time in this world between thought and its conversion to reality can tempt mortal souls to think things are happening to them and not because of them.

That’s an illusion!

That worldly illusion is what causes you to forget that you’re the cause of what happens in your life. Nobody is out to get you. Nothing has conspired to betray you. There is no bad luck. There is only YOU; your thoughts, words and deeds. So, post Melissa, concentrate on the positives:

Positive Number One: You’re alive. If you weren’t, as, regrettably are some of our fellow Jamaicans (already three died preparing for the hurricane before it actually arrived) you’d have nothing about which to worry. So worry oughtn’t to be an option. Assess your situation. Seek help where it’s available. Commit to recovery as fast as you can. Most importantly help those who are in worse condition than you. If you walk a path of goodness and righteousness, goodness and righteousness will walk with you.

Positive Number Two: You are enough. Your mind can solve any problem once you focus on that simple task. You made it this far despite life’s ups and downs. You’ll recover from this if you aren’t distracted by prophets of doom;

Positive Number Three: You have community. We are all in your boat whether we live in Portland or St. James. We’ve all been where you are. Don’t be afraid to ask for our help. We’re anxious to give it. But we can’t give it if we don’t know we’re needed. Again, thought, word and deed are the creators of every reality.

Sitting in Limbo by Jimmy Cliff was one of the twelve songs on the original Harder They Come movie soundtrack. The 1989 Festival Song winner Stop and Go by Michael Forbes, an unexpected choice, was greeted with much controversy as it didn’t include standard festival lyrics about ackee, saltfish, beaches and beautiful women. But it was a poignant, metaphorical, social commentary on the nature of national progress under successive Jamaican governments that consistently took one step forward and two steps backward.

Don’t do that in your post Melissa recovery. And don’t be concerned with the time recovery is taking. Time itself is another creation of this existence. Watch the Oscar winning movie Everything Everywhere All at Once. It’s based on a spiritual truth that time is what we make it. We’ve created time as a linear phenomenon so we can explore and examine experiences more fully (or “fulsomely” if you prefer). Time is just YOUR perspective. In the spiritual world, everything happens at once. It also does that here but we’ve created the linear perspective. We mortals like to measure things.

So your recovery might take days. Or weeks. Or months. Don’t be disheartened. Or distracted. It’s only time operating as we’ve created it. Eventually your reality will be as YOU have created it.

Peace and Love.

Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com