Getting Friendly with the Unknown
The enormity of this global moment hits when we learn that in Jerusalem, the church of the Holy Sepulchre (above) had to close its doors due to a pandemic for the second time ever this week. The first time it was locked for this reason – using the same key – was in 1349, during the Bubonic Plague.
A full surrender is the key to fully accepting this global crisis. It requires a molting, a shedding of expectations. It’s a forced stay-in-the-moment experience. I know many people are experiencing horrific loss and fear about the future. The only remedy we have is to fully accept what is. Look around. We are a lot less fragile than we think. Once we accept, we have to name our feelings and it may be grief for all that is lost. We are forced to reckon with not knowing much of anything. It is heartbreaking and there is no way around it. Here are eight ideas:
- Name and allow feelings: A primal scream, ugly cry, whack the bed with the tennis racquet, and/or talk to a good listener- it we don’t own how we feel, the feelings own us and often come out sideways.
- Take on-line yoga classes:
- Watch an interview with Dr. Viktor Frankl on the freedom of choice. This is not to diminish what you are going through, but to hear how he got through indescribable hardship.
- Learn how to regulate your thoughts: Meditation in an emergency: Why we need to regulate our minds- and what we allow to grow by my favorite meditation teacher
- Experiment: Intermittent fasting, plant-based eating, a creative project, work up to 100 push-ups a day, 30 minutes of news a day, etc.
- Endlessly fun distraction: Quarantine Karaoke: Everything that is good and funny as America sings in their pajamas. The diversity is spellbinding. Can’t get enough.
- Consider a free workshop for your team/work-group from the School of Wellness:
Speaking with people all over the country this week, it’s clear that no one has been able to escape the difficulty and uncertainty stemming from our current global crisis. If anybody could use a skilled coach to enter your team, classroom or work-group, send me an email with a phone number to discuss the situation and how we can customize the session(s) to help your team We are offering our services via ZOOM for no charge to any group that might benefit. Topics could include:
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- How to manage your anxiety (or the anxiety of others)
- How to take care of the self during confinement
- How to run a household on lockdown
- Check out my favorite podcasts and documentaries.
Stay well, and kind and wash your hands like your life depends on it, Eileen
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Dear Eileen,
I appreciated your newsletter so much especially at this time! Thank you for guiding us through this crisis! Your suggestions and links are so helpful. Please post this on FB and I’ll share with my community. Be safe my friend.
Thank you Mimi- this is a strange time- a crisis for some of s life and death fear just going to work, and for others, huge expanses of time. Appreciate you so much my friend!
Thank you for this sound advise, Eileen. You are always looking for ways to help others. Love you!
Thank you- It looks like we are in this for the long haul. and I feel so powerless. I know this cant be easy for you. chin up! Huge elbow bump to you. Eileen
Loved this blog, Eileen. Thank you for the resources. Hope you and your family are well! Sandra
Hi Sandra- so far so good, the 20 yr old had symptoms but he is improved he gets his covid test results tomorrow, 10 days after specimen was collected!! We have a long way to go on the testing issues. I hope you and the family are holding it together too. Smiles, Eileen
Hi Eileen! Thank you for this great blog post! I have been reading Sapiens and thinking about how looking at the long arc of history puts our current crisis and fear into perspective, and I just loved seeing your photo and opening to your post. I believe through our resilience, creativity, compassion and surrendering our pretenses and norms we will make it through. We are ready for new norms and practices, we just don’t know it! Your wonderful site and resources are so helpful — I will share. With love.
Thank you Rayne- that book captivated me too- I listen to every interview I can find on him, a truly interesting long view. Thank you.