3Jack Kornfield – How to Find Peace Amidst COVID-19, How to Cultivate Calm in Chaos. If you do not know Jack Kornfield, he is a world-renown mindfulness teacher and best-selling author of numerous books about the topic. He is also my mindfulness teacher. I am half-way through the two-year teacher training that he does with Tara Brach, also a world renowned author and teacher. Recently, Jack was interviewed by Tim Ferris. Here are two calming meditations that he suggests. First meditation. Go outside and find a tree, stand next to it. Feel its roots going deep into the earth. Consider how the tree lives through winds and storms. Feel yourself reaching into the soil to stand the winds of change as well as outwardly being rooted, steady, yet flexible. Then, look inward to find these qualities inside yourself. Second meditation. Write your worries on a piece of paper. Allow yourself to feel the energy, emotion, and fears. Then, offer it all to your higher power — however, you define this for yourself — to hold them. Now instead of feeling fear, shift toward sensations of spaciousness, vastness, opening to steadiness, and calm. Either meditation is something you can revisit again and again as you feel emotionally compelled. (Thank you for sharing, Carole Landry from Toronto.)
4The Gifts of the Coronavirus: How to Find the Silver Lining in a Crisis. As someone who has spent years studying the art and science of happiness and mindfulness, I have been thinking about this a lot, what positive could possibly exist in this pandemic? I agree with the article that it will take a shift in perspective to see its beneficial by-products. With each passing day, you are seeing this shift not only happening, it is also growing and spreading throughout the world. Let there be a pandemic of compassion, love, and gratitude.
5A Reflection on These Times. This thought was one of my social media posts that I thought I would share here too. “Like many, I have been trying to make sense of this pandemic. I believe in an intelligent universe, so I keep asking myself, what is it that we are being told and not hearing? And I find myself going back to the same thought. We are only recently waking up to a Climate Change Crisis. The preservation of our wildlife is in crisis as well. Now, we have this, COVID-19. What is being told to us to do to stem the tide of the virus is quite simple. We hear and read it everywhere, wash your hands, keep six feet from others, and stay home. Now that you are home. Take this time to be still to know better what is in your heart. Take this time to connect via our amazing technology to family, friends, and others you have not spoken to in a long time. Take this time to assess how you want to be in this world from now on, the difference you want to make. What this moment in time is telling me is that there are a few simple things that we can each do to become better, both as an individual and as a collective. If we can manage this, we could genuinely save the world.” I am also sharing a video that sums up many of my feelings. (Thank you for sharing, Edward Oleschak from Los Angeles.)
6What Can the Coronavirus Teach Us? One is a realization that there are some genuine benefits to working remotely. I have thought this for years! Two, social distancing is already all too familiar to us. However, there could be positive change once this virus dissipates. How much more are you talking to friends and family on Zoom these days? Three, what matters in one place, matters everywhere else. We have already seen this to be true in the effects of climate change and the worldwide wildlife crisis. (Note: this was written on March 5th, and so much has already shifted.)
7Cooking, Cleaning, and Sewing Are the New ‘Wellness’. I like the subtitle for this article: “1950s housewife chores have been rebranded as meditation and self-care.” Since you are at home a lot more now, and there is so much emphasis on clean everything, you might appreciate a new way of looking at sterilizing the doorknobs and countertops in your home. I am also sharing this in the wake of recently realizing that I was finding making my bed, sweeping floors, ironing napkins, and doing dishes to be relaxing and soothing. In the mindfulness tradition, wisdom teacher Thich Nhat Hanh talks about a practice of just doing dishes. You are not ruminating, thinking about the past, nor thinking about the future. Instead, you are present to the sounds of the running water, its temperature, the feel of each dish and utensil. This article talks about how household chores are increasingly being practiced as a form of self-care — the repetitive actions helping one to feel in control.
Jim B.