This is hard. But we can do it.
It’s not yet been two full weeks since I stopped going to stores, appointments, or getting together with friends or family. And it seems like forever already!
I don’t know about you, but I find myself more short-tempered and impatient than usual. Jon and I have been married for 42 years. Usually we get along very well. But lately I’ve become snappy, impatient, and grouchy with Jon. It’s not anything he’s doing or not doing. It’s just that this isolation and uncertainty is wearing on me.
But I’ve found amazing inspirational resources to help me regain my equilibrium. I don’t want to be a smart-ass (well maybe I do) but there’s an app for that!
What I want to talk about today is the plethora of online resources and free helpful talks, meditations, inspirations that I see released every day. It is truly amazing and wondrous the creative ways that people are finding to help everyone cope with this crisis.
I’ll start with this…
Six Questions That Help Me Chill
- What am I GRATEFUL for today?
- Who am I CHECKING IN ON or CONNECTING WITH today?
- What expectations of “normal” am I LETTING GO of today?
- How am I GETTING OUTSIDE today?
- How am I MOVING MY BODY today?
- What BEAUTY am I creating, cultivating, or letting in today?
Note, these questions are from a post by Brooke Anderson on Greater Good Magazine. I found it very interesting that these questions closely match intentions that I have set for myself for each day during this time of social distancing.
Be Your Own Life Guard
It helps me to focus on being grateful, intentionally connect with someone, let go of expectations of normal, go outside for a walk, and focus on seeing and creating beauty. Committing to posting a photo of beauty each day and writing a bit in my blog helps me feel like I’m doing something to help.
Online Connection
I know that connecting online is not the same as in person, but it’s pretty darn nice. And available everywhere it seems.
Church services and meetings are online, my physical therapist is doing online mat Pilates classes, my yoga teacher is doing online soma yoga classes, an herbalist from Minnesota (Matthew Woods) recently offered a free online class on herbs to use for covid-19. It’s an amazing world full of resources available freely through your online device!
Remembering How the Online World Started
In the 1990’s I was working for a small software company in Minneapolis. We were working with IBM to create an easy-to-use diskette that would give schools and teachers easy access to email in the days of dial-up internet access and no world wide web. Creating this tool for schools made me learn a lot about setting up email, connecting via modem, and other useful tools for internet access.
I still remember the first time I sent an email to a teacher in Europe and got an answer within minutes. It was mind-boggling for me, a computer engineer! As all things internet began to take off and the world wide web emerged, I offered to teach a class at Open U on using the internet. The woman at Open U I talked with about the class asked me, “This internet thing. Is it going to be big?” And I answered, “Yes, we can’t imagine yet how big it will be.”
And now look at where we are! In a world unimaginable less than 30 years ago.
We Are Living Through Another Massive Change Now
We cannot imagine what our world will look like when we get to the other side of this. But we can imagine the world we would like to create and work towards positive changes that will help the earth and everyone on it.
Through these uncertain times I look for the helpers and notice all of the good in the world.
I try to notice when I’m worrying or feeling anxious and to compassionately let go of the worry by focusing on being in the present moment. Sometimes I’m successful, other times, not so much. But I keep working at it.
Other things I’m doing to calm myself are a vagus nerve activation exercise (described in this blog post) and soft belly breathing at least twice a day.
What’s your favorite way to chill? And who are you listening to or watching online that helps you stay calm and confident?
May you walk in beauty.
Two gulls chillin’ on Medicine Lake
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