A bit of control....

As you have heard in the news, here in London the streets have lost control to looters and rioters.  I believe whatever the situation, it can only be worsened by out of control behaviour.  One of my motos I live by is "Behave better than you fell!"  If this were a universal concept, things like riots would not occur.  Unfortunately, not everyone on earth is looking to maintain peace, or even find it for themselves.  I know that practicing Yoga has definitely taught me the ability to control my mind and actions, no matter what happens. I can entlist that option.  That is not to say that firm and quick action is not needed in certain situation like the riots, but what is best to avoid is knee jerk reactions. 

I have learned mental control, side by side with physical control through my practice.

As the  Dalai Lama says:

"It is important to understand that counterproductive actions of body, speech and mind do not arise of their own accord, but spring up in dependence on our motivation. Faulty states of mind give rise to faulty actions. To control negative physical and verbal actions, we need to tame our minds."

If only that train of thought prevaded instead of what happened in London the last few days.

Even so, positive action has also been a wonderful thing to emerge from this mess.  So many people wanted to volunteer to clean up, the twitter, facebooks and other social networking sites set up for the purpose of helping were inundated, and some crashed from so many good people wanting to volunteer and help.  Many, many more than the looters involved in the unrest.

Keep the faith....human beings can be tame!