I need to take the news in small doses. Years ago, I stopped getting the newspaper. I no longer watch the news at night. There are plenty of good things happening in the world, but the news tends to focus on the bad—it's what sells. I find that my heart is too heavy when I open myself up to unlimited news. I still keep in touch—hearing the highlights from my husband, my friends, the radio, and the internet. I know enough of what I need to know.

When the earthquake and resulting tsunami first hit Japan, my husband and I watched it on the news. But while he sat glued to the television, I had to stop watching. I knew that eventually I would see the images and read the stories. It just had to be on my own time. What is happening there is just unreal. First, Japan gets hit with a 9.0 earthquake on March 11, being the world's fourth biggest earthquake since 1900. As if this weren't enough to contend with, a tsunami results from the shaken earth—rippling throughout the world. And on top of all this, Japan is now facing radioactive steam leakage from one of its nuclear power plants. Furthermore, with all of this happening in the winter, temperatures are hitting below freezing. The latest toll as of today is 5,429 people dead and 9,594 others unaccounted.

Whether you are like me and take the news in small doses or someone who watches it full on, one thing is clear. There is no there. It's all here. What happens 5,000 miles away, like what is happening in Japan right now, may seem like something that is happening "there". However, it is impacting every "here" in the world. We truly are all interconnected in so many ways. The world's financial markets are impacted, as seen by the drop in the stock market. Coastal lands thousands of miles away are impacted as seen by the tsunami waves hitting the shores of northwestern Canada, the western U.S., Mexico and more. One person even died in the U.S. from the tsunami. A quick Google search pops up many examples of our interconnectedness.

• "Japan quake likely to affect Alaska trade"
  
• "How Japan's earthquake affects U.S. housing"
  
• "World may struggle to make up for lost Japanese exports" 
• "Japanese fallout may hit treasuries"
• "Japan's earthquake could affect gas prices in the United States"
• "Quake may affect tech industry for months"

The list goes on. And, the impact is not just limited to external things like drops in the financial market and waves hitting our coastal shores. It also hits us internally. Seeing abandoned animals, shell-shocked people, and annihilated property affects us. We feel it in our hearts and minds.

I put off writing this blog even though I've known I've wanted to write it for days. I had to do it on my time—when I was ready to fully open up to the devastation without it paralyzing me. I have now seen the videos and photos. It's truly unbelievable. It seems completely surreal. Cars swept up by the waves as if they are toy versions of themselves. Thousands of displaced people. Houses on fire and collapsed. Boats turned on their sides. Roads cracked down the middle. Brave rescue workers helping however they can, especially those who are trying to prevent the full meltdown of the nuclear facility. I think of cars, boats, houses, and roads as pretty strong. For them to be tossed around like they are paper thin shows the tremendous force of the earthquake and tsunami. It's crazy.

I am writing this blog under the Relationships quadrant because what happens to people 5,000 miles away is happening to each and every one of us all over the world. As Thich Nhat Hanh says, "The pain of one part of humankind is the pain of the whole of humankind. And the human species and the planet Earth are one body. What happens to one part of the body happens to the whole body. An event such as this reminds us of the impermanent nature of our lives. It helps us remember that what's most important is to love each other, to be there for each other, and to treasure each moment we have that we are alive. This is the best that we can do for those who have died: we can live in such a way that they continue, beautifully, in us."

I couldn't agree more. What I realize is that no matter how sad the news has made me over the years, feeling it so deeply has guided me to live my best life. I know that life is short and can be altered in an instance, with no warning. We've seen this in the footage of what is happening now in Japan. We saw it during 9/11 in 2001. We saw it again in Hurricane Katrina's devastation on New Orleans in 2005. Then there was the Haiti earthquake in 2010. These are just a few of the examples that have happened in the past decade.

I plan to honor those in Japan by continuing to live my best life and create the life that I want. For me, this means seeking out meaning and being happy (Mind), living healthy (Body), surrounding myself with people who love me (Relationships), and nurturing the world around me (Environment). It means living mindfully, appreciating life, and sharing this journey with others.

How will you live your best life to honor the interconnectedness of humankind?