From the Brain of Dr. Nicki: Hatred, Hatred Everywhere As Into Blood We Sink

When fear and self-contempt collide hatred is born. Sometimes its even a three-way collision between fear, self-contempt and victim-posture (the poor-me, powerless feeling that we are pathetically at the mercy of everything). In that case the hate virus defies intervention.

Yes, hatred is a small-brained, gnarly, contagious disease. It can be airborne or transferred through blood, bodily fluids or even sometimes through light touch. Often you can't see hatred coming until it's run you over, or infected your neighborhood, or stood silent in a place that used to be your safe room. Hatred can be leveled at individuals, groups, ethnicities, religions, outcasts, governments and social strata's. Like other cancers, the disease called hatred does not discriminate. It's victims are everywhere.

This morning a fellow stood in my living room to tell me: The U.S. was probably behind the killings in France; 9/11 was an inside job; Prince was murdered by people wanting to pilfer his product; OJ is innocent; we never landed on the moon; and evolution is a myth as we did not come from animals but were, in fact, created by God. Clearly this man is an extremist. But we all do it one way or the other: separate, insist, blame, speak definitively, and discriminate. We create safe-place barricades we can hunker down behind -- places to hide from what we see as a dangerous world full of horror and conspiracy. No one love us, really, we maintain. No one's on our side, really, we assert adamantly. Everyone's hiding from everyone, really, we proclaim resolutely. There's no trust, really, we contend firmly.

Yes, everywhere we look on the globe there are ripped corners scattered about. These pieces, torn from our Best-Life-Potential pages, leave us feeling heartbroken and exhausted.

We are indeed a ruptured world. But the question we want to ask ourselves is how are we contributing to the problem? Not who's to blame but what is the solution? How do we terrorize ourselves, for instance? How do we terrorize others?

That means (as usual) we must start with who and how we want to be today. We need to pull that pointing finger back in. We must remember humanity -- ours and theirs.

The entire planet is weeping. Constantly. Meanwhile, we in our own heads and beds are furious about miniscule matters that don't matter at all. We need to pick ourselves up and start reassembling all the shattered pieces. We need to remember trust and faith and become willing to embrace the bravery it takes to lead with an open heart.

Today have the courage to care about somebody besides yourself. See if you can give something - anything - back. Outstretch your hands. The world is waiting.