I know that the world has not been inflicted with any more sadness or tragedy these past couple of weeks compared to other times. But it’s easy to feel that the optimism usually brought on by a new year (and decade) can be emotionally vanquished with bad news that involves suffering.

These past couple of weeks have been emotionally difficult to watch the apocalyptic nature of fires ravaging Australia. Millions of animals killed, thousands of homes destroyed and loss of human life. The world has already been given numerous previews to the destructive nature of climate change, but for some reason, this has been extremely impactful.

On top of that, there’s tensions in Iran. A mentally erratic US President is making life-and-death decisions that provoke dictatorial regimes to react irrationally. The result, a plane full of productive people in our world family are senselessly blown out of the sky.

Despite these and many other bad-news stories, I simply refuse to lose faith in my fellow human or become pessimistic. No matter how bad things will ever get, someone will always try to make our human condition better. Someone will always be there to try to make peace. Someone will always be there to try to make us live in better balance with nature. I have made a life vow that I want to be one of those someones. I want to be a positive influence on this planet. I want to make use of my talents as a means to make that happen. I want to be one of many others who think the same way.

For me, it comes down to the power of the mind and the power of the heart. Imagine if every person on this planet collectively made a self-resolution that violence is not permissible in solving any problem. Many might think that this is impossible, but I don’t. If enough people think like this, the way we interact with each other and the planet will radically change…all through mindset!

So if you think what I’ve said here makes sense, then let’s work together to make it happen. After all, we have nothing to lose and all to gain.