“Don’t just stand there, do something!” A clamor of panic-driven voices echoed behind me in the playground as I stood silently witnessing my third grade classmate as he stared in horror at his blood-drenched hands. The red dripping mass of wrinkled finger skin dangled like shredded surgeon’s gloves from the folds of his palms. Dave had just run them all the way through Mr. Hudson’s glass door running from a group of bullies on the playground.

“Don’t just stand there, do something!” Several kids yelled again. I wasn’t sure if they were yelling at me or at Dave. I don’t think they knew either. Dave wasn’t crying at first - he didn’t exactly know what happened to him. But, when he realized just how badly he was hurt, he started bawling.

As for me, I was doing something: I was being there for Dave. Even as a child, I intuitively knew that my aware presence helped to calm him, ground him, so that he could best take care of his injuries until help arrived. At eight years old, I wasn’t exactly versed in emergency medical care, but somehow my awareness of Dave as someone more than a hurt and scared little kid helped him to do the right thing. My willingness to see who he really was empowered his spirit-self and he was able to get past his terror.

“Do something!” is often one of the first thoughts we have when faced with a crisis, right after, “Oh, no!” And in fear, we often shoot first and ask questions after it’s too late. Fear demands that we jump in and take control first - even before we know what to do. It divides our doing from who we are. Yet, how can we expect to make the best choices and do the right thing if we aren’t being ourselves? Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita tells us, “It is better to do your own duty badly, than to perfectly do another’s; you are safe from harm when you do what you should be doing.”

I was deeply in contemplation over the glorious dessert menu with a friend when the Maitre d’ called out, “Is there a doctor in the house?” No one moved. My dinner companion pointed out the unconscious body of a young woman lying on the floor behind us and said, “Do you know CPR? You have to do something.”

Whether I was faced with my classmate’s hands going through the shredder of splintered glass or a woman flat-lining on the restaurant floor - or, even my close encounters with my own death - the very first thing I’ve done at the onset of a crisis was always the same: I stopped doing.

To be able to do the right thing when there’s no handbook outlining what that might be, I’ve learned that I had to first stop and disengage myself from whatever was going on in my mind. Especially in a crisis, we can’t afford to be divided with one part of us invested in one thing and the other part running amok in fear, confusion and doubt. We need to stop, even for just a moment, and put ourselves in the neutrality of spirit. Restoring ourselves to that oneness, the divisive chatter of the mind stills and our true knowing emerges: When we are willing to do what we know, we always know what to do.

On the final leg of our 16-day non-stop LA tour of giving seminars, radio and TV interviews, a 12-hour film shoot, business meetings, dinners, and a writers’ conference, my wife, Raphaelle, and I drove homeward through torrential rainstorms, hours of backed up traffic, sleet, and two snow-bound mountain passes. Four hours from home, midnight demanded that we hole up in a nice hotel for the night. Happily exhausted, Raphaelle and I fell fast asleep on the welcome bed. Six hours later, the hotel manager called to inform us that our SUV loaded with our laptops, recording equipment, store merchandise, gifts, and suitcases full of clothing had been broken into.

After hearing the disturbing news, while I jumped into my jeans, T-shirt and shoes, I grounded myself on earth and centered my awareness in spirit. Then, I had the clarity to decide that whatever had happened had already happened. There was absolutely no use in getting upset about it now. As the mind tried to conjure up images of all that might have been stolen, I disengaged myself from all the imaginings and decided once again that whatever was stolen was already stolen. I knew Raphaelle, in her wisdom, was making the same decision.

Next, I looked for some humor in this situation and found it when Raphaelle told me what the hotel manager said: “The hotel security guard noticed some suspicious activity around your vehicle on one of his rounds so he decided to go check on it an hour later. That’s when he found your car had been burglarized.” He’s joking, right? An hour later? It was actually funny - in that demented kind of way.

Just as I succeeded knocking myself on my funny bone and was heading out to the parking lot to inspect our damages and losses, I received an urgent text message from our office - that a former student, a friend and at one time a stepdad to my sons was brain dead but on life-support - please call. As they say, when it rains, it pours. I stopped once again to place myself in the eye of the hurricane before proceeding.

When I reached our car, I began to see as if I had in my mind’s eye multiple monitors like in a TV studio. On one screen appeared two Hispanic young men breaking the car window to get their hands on $14,000 worth of loot and on another, my friend in spirit, caught between this world and the life beyond. On the former screen, I could see, too, that the burglars weren’t hardened criminals, not yet anyway. In some ways, both of them were taking care of family and loved ones in their own limited, destructive ways. I could feel their fear, guilt, and rationalizations. Looking at the other screen, I saw a soul making his final decisions in this incarnation and seeking my assistance in carrying it out. He was done here, but, there’s often that tug to stay: I’m afraid, maybe I’m not finished yet, is it OK? Doubt can stalk us, even out of the body.

Amongst all that the thieves stole out of our car, there was not a thing that I would be taking with me when it was my time to exit this world. Jesus’ question to us, “What if a man gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” echoed in my mind. Without hesitation I forgave the two young, desperate souls looking for a way to make it through the challenges of this world. They truly knew not what they were doing. If they and their loved ones could somehow benefit from our equipment, clothing, and merchandise, that would be great. I asked that they be looked after and be given every opportunity and assistance for finding their true path and destiny. Perhaps, they would discover new abundance and more constructive ways of providing for their own. That was my prayer. I later learned that Raphaelle’s prayer was pretty much the same.

Parts of us lost in the darkness, in loneliness, confusion, fear and doubt, often cross our paths in the most unexpected manner in unlikely guises. On that morning, one set appeared as anonymous thieves driven by their attachment to worldly survival, whereas the other appeared to us as a friend in search of his true home in the final throes of shaking off the fetters tying him to this world. Whenever we first stop and disengage from the ramblings of our mind, pay attention, and choose kindness and compassion toward another, we end up recognizing ourselves in the other and find peace in even the worst of situations.

When we are in doubt we are mentally trying to separate from what we perceive to be the source of our pain, what we are afraid of. Yet, it is this intense desire to separate that causes us our suffering and self-defeating doubt. As long as we try to intellectually figure a way out of this mental morass, we cannot escape. Like the Chinese finger trap, the harder we pull to try to extricate ourselves from it, the tighter its weaves constrict around us.

Yet, when we make the simplest of choices, that of being kind, the clouds of doubt evaporate from our mind to reveal the sunlight of our heart. Kindness never strategizes or carries within it hidden agendas, it merely returns us to ourselves. You will discover that once you are willing to be kind, doubt lifts, and out from within you emerges the right doing. It never fails.

So, if you ever find yourself at a crossroads or facing a crisis and in a panic, ridden with doubt as to what to do, remember this: When in doubt, first be kind - right action will follow.

Michael Tamura awakens souls. With compassion, humor and wisdom, he guides people to their true destiny and life purpose. He is revered around the world as a master teacher, visionary, healer, clairvoyant, and pioneer of spiritual healing and psychic development. Michael offers innovative, inspirational seminars, programs and audio/video products of self-discovery, personal empowerment and spiritual healing. His celebrated, award-winning book, You Are The Answer, is available in bookstores and online. For more on his work, events calendar and products please go to http://www.michaeltamura.com or call his office: (530)926-2650.