Namaste at Home...A Collective Journey Towards STRONGER. KINDER. WISER.

Aside from the literal orbit and spin of our planet, I feel like the world has stopped. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed every part of life as we know it and at dizzying speeds. It seems like a dream that less than a month ago I was watching Rickie Fowler at The Player's Championship at 11am. By 12pm, it was announced that the tournament was 'spectator only.' And by 9pm the entire tournament was cancelled. Everything has been like a domino effect after that. Coronavirus is not just a headline anymore...it has a direct and indirect threat to every human being and business around the world. 

Ironically, my last journal entry before all this I wrote, “I'm really trying to cherish this time in my life. I've realized that most people, including myself, are just go-go-go all the time. I feel we don’t have any time to be contemplative and just BE..."

I’m curious if anyone else felt that the world was moving at such a fast pace, it felt almost impossible to keep up?

This increase in pace has been happening invisibly. A study done by the University of Hertfordshire found that the walking speed of pedestrians in 34 cities around the world increased by 10 percent between 1995 to 2005.

Since the Industrial Revolution, the focus of our culture has been on speed, efficiency, money, and hyper-connectivity but now, the frightening COVID-19 pandemic has put everything we’ve thrived on to a screeching and scary halt.

In the past we've been swept along by the rushing tide of prosperity and speed in the modern world, but now we finally have a moment to pay attention to the magic we’ve been too busy to see, be grateful for the little things, and reflect on rebuilding our world intentionally.

While I do not want to downplay the economic impact of closed businesses and canceled events and services, let alone the impact on vulnerable populations who may find themselves isolated, I wanted to share my top 3 mindset shifts that have helped me embrace “the new normal” during this tumultuous time. 

1. REST is a Virtue.

Many spiritual traditions, including most major world religions, observe the Sabbath, which can be thought of as a sacred day of rest and refreshment for the body and blessing to the soul. Sabbath is derived from the verb sabat, meaning to stop, to cease, or to keep. Though a weekly day of rest dates back thousands of years, the Sabbath remains a useful answer to our modern problem of busyness and the endless demands we face day and night.

In a culture that rewards busyness and hustle, I was convinced I always had to be doing something, and if I did press pause on the constant flow of activity to take a breather, I would essentially be wasting time or thought of as lazy. I don’t think I am alone. Perhaps collectively our spirits were crying for quiet and got some 'involuntary reflection' on something that’s bigger than our daily lives as a cure?

As Thich Naht Han wrote, “Maybe we too are living like dead people. We move about life in our own corpse because we are not touching life, with lots of depth. We live a kind of artificial life, with lots of plans, lots of worries and anger. Never are we able to establish ourselves in the here and now and live our lives deeply. We have to wake up! We have to make it possible for the moment of awareness to manifest. This is the practice that will save us — this is the revolution.” 

Don’t waste this time thinking about how you wish life was the way it used to be. I hate to say it. It’s not.. And don’t waste this time wondering when it is going to end. Appreciate this slowness as an opportunity to rest within yourself and with your family.

The first 2 weeks of quarantine I’d give myself a 1 on a scale from 1-10 (I totally sucked at WFH life), but now I’m adopting the mindset that I am living in the LUXURY of Solitude. I will NEVER get this back. And I love seeing the explosion of creativity in the world with less stress. Amidst the forced slowdown and isolation in our society, there is not only opportunity for revitalization and creativity, but also I see such a blossoming of connection...

2. We Are Members of A Global Community, Not Atomized Actors

A pandemic, terrible though it is, highlights our mutual interdependence in a way that only a shared struggle can. We have wandered into the wilderness of ‘separation,’ but now there’s a common invisible enemy facing humanity. While some of us may fare better because of our age or health, the microbes themselves are impartial. It does not know if it just crossed a border. It does not know what race you are. It does not know what religion you are. It just knows that you are a human, and to it-you are a manufacturing machine that can make it famous. Whether we like it or not, we all have the ability to make an impact for better or worse and we should see ourselves as members of a community, not as atomized actors. 

This is a hard pill for America to swallow. Growing up in a culture that is built on individualism, convenience, and freedom, I initially was ‘losing my mind,’ but am starting to come to terms realizing that risk is much more than an individual calculation. It’s no longer about my health, it’s about not being a vector for spreading the disease to the people I care about + helping to alleviate the lives of the healthcare workers that are risking their own lives and the health of their families they come home to.

I believe COVID-19 is opening our eyes to the vision of civic belonging, universality, and compassion. As much as living in a 4-bedroom house alone can seem lonely, I feel more connected to the world around me than I ever have. A pandemic simply foregrounds what’s already true of our condition. Suffering is universal. We’re all in it together...so go make someones’ day today. Period.  

3. Be Grateful for the Little Things. 

If you wake up and suck in air this morning, that air is energizing something you have left. Do not waste it. Somebody else died last night wishing they had the breath you woke up with. Think about Victor Frankl, one of the famous writers and survivors of the holocaust. He wrote, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

So...What are you going to choose today? 

Strong people bring about strong change. If we learn these lessons now, in a moment of crisis, we’ll all be better off on the other side of it. Out of this moment can come a new sense of freedom. We can choose how we want to relate, what we value in life, and how we want to support each other globally. Our existential crisis is pregnant with potential, and if we are awake at this turning point in time, I truly believe we will make it out of this better than before!

Sending you all happiness, health, safety and sanity!

PS- Sorry for all the selfies...I really DO need a dog

Jillian

Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/coronavirus-is-changing-habits-of-mind/609181/