What can I do to make a difference – if humanity is so challenged?

Are you concerned about the state of the world? Do you wonder what you can do to help humanity? Or does the prospect of making a difference seem overwhelming? Let’s take a moment to explore a fresh approach—one you can practice right now.

Starting Where You Are

When you think about humanity as a whole, what comes to mind? For most of us, it feels heavy—like watching news headlines scroll by, each one more troubling than the last. The chaos, confusion, and negativity seem to take up all the space. This is normal, and you’re not wrong to notice it.

But here’s something important: what you’re seeing is only the surface. Think of humanity like an ocean. When you stand on the shore during a storm, all you see are the waves crashing and churning. But beneath those waves, there’s a deeper current—calmer, steadier, more peaceful. The question isn’t whether that deeper current exists. It’s whether you can learn to sense it.

A Simple Truth About Attention

Before we go further, try this quick exercise:

PRACTICE 1: The Radio Dial Exercise

1. Close your eyes and take three slow breaths
2. Think about something that frustrates you about the world
3. Notice how your body feels—maybe tension in your chest, tightness in your shoulders
4. Now, imagine you have an internal radio dial in your heart
5. Gently turn that dial, as if you’re searching for a different station
6. Ask yourself: “Is there anything good happening in the world right now?”
7. Let an answer arise—maybe it’s small, like someone helping a neighbor, or a child laughing
8. Notice how your body feels when you tune into this thought

What happened? Your body probably felt different in steps 3 and 8. This is your first clue that attention is powerful—where you place it changes your inner experience.

Understanding the Spectrum

Everything vibrates. Your body vibrates. Your thoughts create subtle vibrations. Even emotions have a kind of energy signature you can learn to sense. When we talk about “humanity’s vibration,” we’re talking about the collective feeling-tone of all human beings together.

Here’s a helpful metaphor: Imagine humanity’s energy like a piano keyboard. The low notes on the left represent fear, anger, and confusion. The high notes on the right represent love, clarity, and peace. Most people, when they think about humanity, only hear the left side of the keyboard—the low, heavy notes.

But here’s the secret: the whole keyboard is always playing. You just have to learn to hear the higher notes.

Why the Negative Seems Louder

Have you ever noticed how one negative comment can erase ten compliments in your mind? Or how the news focuses almost entirely on problems? Our brains evolved to notice threats—it kept our ancestors alive. This means we naturally tune into the chaotic, negative frequencies first. They’re louder to our nervous system.

But that doesn’t mean the positive frequencies aren’t there. They’re just quieter, like a gentle melody underneath loud percussion. Learning to hear them takes practice, but it’s simpler than you might think.

The Practice: Sensing Below the Surface

Let’s try an experiential technique that helps you tune into humanity’s deeper, brighter potential:

PRACTICE 2: The Dive Beneath

Preparation (2 minutes):

1. Sit comfortably and place one hand on your heart
2. Take five slow breaths, feeling your hand rise and fall
3. With each exhale, imagine you’re settling down, like silt falling to the bottom of a pond
4. Let your attention drop from your head into your chest area

The Sensing (3-5 minutes):

1. Think of the phrase “all of humanity”
2. Notice what you feel first—probably heaviness or concern (this is normal)
3. Now, imagine you’re sinking below that surface feeling, like diving beneath choppy waves
4. Ask your heart: “What lies beneath this? What am I not seeing?”
5. Wait patiently, breathing slowly
6. You might sense, feel, or simply imagine a lighter quality—perhaps warmth, or softness, or a quiet brightness
7. Don’t worry if it seems like you’re making it up. Imagination is a real doorway.
8. Stay with this lighter feeling for a few breaths

What You’re Noticing: That lighter quality is humanity’s hidden potential—the love, creativity, and kindness that exist even amid the chaos. It’s not fantasy. It’s the deeper current beneath the waves.

How This Makes a Difference

Here’s where it gets interesting. When you bring your attention to something, you strengthen it. Think of attention like sunlight. Plants grow toward light. Whatever you shine your attention on gets more energy, more life force.

This works in two ways:

For yourself: When you tune into the brighter frequencies of humanity, something in you resonates with that brightness. It’s like tuning forks—strike one, and nearby tuning forks of the same note start vibrating too. You literally begin to embody more of that quality yourself.

For the collective: Consciousness is not as separate as we think. When you hold attention on humanity’s positive potential, you’re actually feeding that potential with your awareness. You become a small but real force for that positive trend. Multiply this by thousands of people doing the same practice, and you create a meaningful shift.

But What About Real Problems?

You might wonder: “Isn’t this just positive thinking? Am I ignoring real suffering?”

Not at all. Here’s the difference:

Denial says: “Everything is fine. There are no problems.”

This practice says: “Problems exist AND solutions exist. I’m choosing to include both in my awareness.”

Think of it like this: You’re not turning off the low notes on the piano. You’re learning to hear the high notes too, so you can hear the whole song. When you can hear the whole song, you discover something remarkable—you start to sense where the solutions might be.

Practical Integration: Daily Micro-Practices

You don’t need to meditate for hours. Try these simple moments throughout your day:

PRACTICE 3: The Morning Intention (30 seconds)

• Before getting out of bed, place both hands on your heart
• Take three breaths
• Silently say: “Today, I tune into what’s possible for humanity, including the good that’s already here”

PRACTICE 4: The News Counterbalance (1 minute)

• After reading or watching news, pause
• Place one hand on your belly, one on your heart
• Take five slow breaths
• Ask: “What’s also true? Where is kindness showing up today?”
• Let an answer come, even something small

PRACTICE 5: The Stoplight Practice (20 seconds)

• At red lights or in waiting moments, close your eyes briefly
• Drop your awareness into your chest
• Imagine a warm light in your heart
• Think: “I’m connecting to humanity’s deepest goodness”
• Open your eyes and continue your day

PRACTICE 6: The Bedtime Sensing (2 minutes)

• Lying in bed, place your hands on your heart
• Review your day, noticing both hard and good moments
• Ask your heart: “What good happened in the world today that I didn’t see?”
• Let impressions, images, or feelings arise
• Fall asleep connected to this awareness

How to Know It’s Working

You might feel subtle shifts:

• A little less heaviness when thinking about the world
• Unexpected ideas about how to help in your own circle
• A sense that you’re part of something larger and more positive
• More patience with yourself and others
• Spontaneous moments of hope or peace

These are signs you’re touching something real. Trust them.

The Permission to Start Small

This work doesn’t require perfection. You don’t need to feel constant bliss or hold positive thoughts every moment. You’re simply practicing a new kind of seeing—one that includes the fuller spectrum of what’s real.

Start with one practice. Do it for a week. Notice what shifts, even slightly. You’re not trying to fix humanity. You’re learning to sense its deeper nature and, by doing so, you become a living bridge between the problem and the possibility.

A Final Invitation

Right now, wherever you are, try this:

PRACTICE 7: This Moment, Right Now

1. Place one hand on your heart and one on your belly
2. Take a slow breath and feel both hands move
3. Say silently: “Right now, in this moment, I am okay”
4. Take another breath and say: “Right now, somewhere, someone is showing kindness”
5. Take one more breath and say: “I am part of humanity’s positive potential”
6. Notice how you feel in your body

That’s it. That simple moment just shifted something. You raised your vibration—made a subtle shift in your reality—and you did a good thing for the planet as well.

Yes, it’s subtle. But deeply meaningful, because you gently reinforced a positive trend that uplifts everyone, and you brought yourself into alignment with the world of positive possibilities.

The world needs you to do this. Not because you’re responsible for fixing everything, but because your attention, your awareness, and your heart matter more than you know.

Start today. Start with one practice. And remember: you’re not alone in this. Thousands of others are learning to sense beneath the surface too, finding the brightness that was always there, waiting to be noticed.

Joel Bruce Wallach