Do today’s headlines fill you with despair?

Do you feel overwhelmed with “bad news” and don’t know how we will ever be able to “fix things”

in the world today?

Currently I am  teaching a Current Events class to high school-age students.  Sometimes I will hear

the students say, “I hate the news.  There are too many problems.”  They are growing up in an age

where people do not trust government.  They see school shootings and wonder how they can protect

themselves, not to mention protect others.


The refugee crises in the world are painful to learn about,

Are there good people in the world?   Where are the solutions?   Why should they care?  Can the problems be

solved?.    Maybe it’s just too overwhelming.

When I talk to their parents about current events, I hear them say, “I try not to pay too much attention

to what is going on,” or “I don’t keep up with current events.  It’s too depressing, and I can’t do

anything about them.”

There is a feeling of despair. The problems are so complex, and there are so many of them!

Over and over, though, I teach my students  that it’s imperative that we must know about current

events.  We must see what is really happening, and understand why it is happening.  The reason I

believe this is important is that there are solutions.  But those solutions are only going to be seen if

we learn to understand emotions.

When we understand our emotions, we can put them into context, and look for meaning.
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Principle 2:  A feeling plus a thought equals an emotion.

An ancient prophet in the Book of Mormon saw great problems in the world too..  His name was Alma.

Alma 4:Yea, he saw great inequality among the people, some lifting themselves up with their pride,

despising others, turning their backs upon the aneedy and the naked and those who were hungry, and

those who were athirst, and those who were sick and afflicted.

There were so many problems, and awful things happening, that he was filled with sorrow.  Notice,

however, that he did not let that sorrow turn into despair.  Instead, he literally infused his feeling of

sorrow with joy.  

Is that really possible? The reality of what is happening can seem totally overwhelming.  Don’t we

have to fix the problems BEFORE we can find joy?

No.  That’s actually backwards, and the reason it’s backwards is that solutions come as we

understand our emotions.

Using the Principles, we see the situation, feel it, and then examine our thoughts. We could choose  

thoughts like these,

• I will just ignore the problems.  I can’t make a difference anyway.
• The problems are too overwhelming, so I will just do the best I can.  I won’t get involved in them, or try to make a difference, because you can’t fix them anyway.

Or, as Alma taught the people, we could choose different thoughts.

Yes, Alma saw the situation.  He saw people begin to persecute one another, and he saw how that

inequality caused great “iniquity.”

But he knew that emotions lead to action.  He knew that the first step is to understand emotions .

Begin with choosing a paradigm. That’s why it’s so important to know what we are thinking and what

we are feeling.    Instead of choosing a paradigm of hopelessness, and being “stuck” in the problem,

Alma taught the people to choose “belief,” and “trust” that the situation could be resolved.

That’s where other Principles of Emotions come in.

Principle 3:  Emotions lead to action.

Since our emotions do lead to action, Alma knew that despair would lead to “inactivity” or a spirit of

pessimism.  

Principle 4:  Re-solving emotions is possible.

Alma knew this too.  In order to re-solve emotions, though, we have to re-solve our paradigm. Instead

of believing in “problems,” we have to believe in “solutions.”  Alma knew that once the people believed

there were solutions, they would find hope.  True hope leads to a feeling of joy.  That joy doesn’t come

after problems are solved; that joy comes in the middle of the solution!

That’s Principle 5:  Peace in any circumstance is possible.

Here’s what Alma helped the people understand, and here’s what happened.  He taught them of

Christ, and of that Great Day when people will accept Christ as the Savior and Redeemer.  Alma’s

time was long before the birth and subsequent death of our Savior, but he knew about that, trusted

that it would happen, and knew of the salvation that brought.  The reality of that knowledge gave him

the ability to hope, to be full of faith, and to feel joy in the present moment. That paradigm also gives

us the strength to act, and to be led by the Spirit of the Lord in ways that will allow us to find solutions

to the problems that could seem overwhelming without that Spirit.    That same reality can be ours.  

The scripture talks about it this way:

Alma 4:14 "Looking forward to that day, thus retaining a remission of their sins; being filled with

great joy because of the resurrection of the dead, according to the will and power and deliverance of

Jesus Christ from the bands of death."

When we truly understand our emotions, and re-solve them,  we will feel peace.  That true peace

comes from God.