Alicia Castillo Holley

I’ve been watching the Japanese disaster with great sadness. This tragedy brings back sad memories of an earthquake when I was a child, and two large mudslide decades apart. In both cases, I was close to the devastation and grief of family and friends.

Too many of us have been captured by the horror stories in the media. For those who already know about the mechanisms of pain and joy, we cling on any image of pain, because biologically, pain and the fear of pain was critical to our survival.  Nowadays, however those images can lock in a feeling of despair that has no scape.

One of the key messages of our program is to learn to deal with sadness and despair. Watching the news might make us share it with others – tweet – blog – resend – call. I’ve gotten emails from all over the world. We can’t but feel compassion for those directly affected.

But those neurons are palpitating with pain in one way or the other, and we tend to either feel depressed or frustrated, or get numb. Neither is a healthy alternative. The problem becomes more complicated because we get used to see tragedy without doing anything.

To keep a healthy pain mechanism we need to put pain to use. We don’t need to learn to be immune to other’s tragedies, nor feel the tragedy ourselves. It is healthier to feel that we can do something about it… not only for the victims but to feel that we too are important.

So, here are the things we can do to help:

• Pray. Religious or not, praying is a spiritual state of mind, and you can ask something larger than yourself – nature, God, Allah, Buda, life – to protect victims. Find a way to say a prayer, invent one, share one.  Don’t ask for reasons, ask for solutions. Japanese people are in a lot of trouble, economic meltdown, immense recovery cost and efforts, paramount pain, nuclear contamination. To know that someone somewhere is praying for you, is better than to know that nobody cares. You can make a difference. Send your spiritual blessings. It counts.

Here is Emperor Akihito in a tv. Give feedback, share and let them know. Here is the link to the video of Emperor Akihito:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8xL2yNmZAg

Give thumbs up for the leaders who are facing incredible pressure. It must be so hard for them! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-16/japan-s-government-bonds-may-advance-as-record-yen-dims-recovery-prospects.html

• Buy yens. WAIT! watch before you buy* The Japanese currency is collapsing. Here you have a real opportunity to show you care. The Japanese central bank is buying back currency and notes to manage the economic collapse, they should be using that money to recover the damages. Japanese will recover, you will be able to sell your yens back in the future. And here is the real power of many people. If two million people buy $10 in yens, there is 20 million of dollars that the Central Bank does not have to buy back. The easiest way? Go to your bank.

• Invest in Japanese companies. The stock market is slowly recuperating. Japan has been in recession for some decades now, but with the low currency value and the devastation of some areas, it will take them time to recover. Talk to your financial planner and hedge –insure- your investment. Again, this is the power of small in large quantities. (see more info here http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-16/japan-s-government-bonds-may-advance-as-record-yen-dims-recovery-prospects.html )

• Direct help. Contact your local Japanese Chamber of Commerce and ask how you could help. In some areas, they will be able to channel donations. They might also be able to put you in touch with companies that will welcome a respite.

• Donate. There are MANY organizations that are receiving donations. It makes sense to ask how they use those funds (sometimes, 50% or more goes to the marketing organization that receives the donations). Paypal has set up a page to accept donations that goes directly to the organizations. You can also ask your chamber of commerce. https://www.paypal-donations.com/pp-charity/web.us/campaign.jsp?cid=-12

• Share. Put your comments on our blog www.aliciacastilloholley.com/helping-japan

Japan will recuperate,I hope we can have a social experiment where we, as a global community, can help accelerate it. We could do this with so many disasters…  Let me know what do you think and let’s start sharing it.

Related articles

• Donate to Japan Flickr Group (6 pics) (mymodernmet.com)
• Heartbreaker for Japan, relief project. (laurante.wordpress.com)
• Please Think about Japan and Donate (mudroast.wordpress.com)
• We Need Japan. Let’s Help Them (11mar11.wordpress.com)
• Praying for Japan (mattsurber.wordpress.com)
• Recovery for Japan  http://www.bnet.com/blog/harvard/be-optimistic-about-a-quick-recovery-in-japan/10635
• Harvard  on Japan Crisis http://www.hbs.edu/news/releases/japancrisis031511.html

*Watch before you buy. Japanese are pouring fund back into the country… as a result the yen has reached record highs! Smart and good move for them!

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Alicia Castillo Holley is an international speaker on entrepreneurship, innovation, and venture capital.  Alicia Castillo Holley is an international speaker and researcher on innovation, entrepreneurship, and venture capital. Read more from this author

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