When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
~Viktor Frankl
If you’re anything like me you’ve been glued to your phone this past week, mesmerized by what’s going on in the world. I’ve been swiping right (to get to the news) forty to fifty times per day, probably more, and it’s been making me crazy.
Many of us are now in isolation from a virus that is changing the world at an incredible speed. With no immediate end in sight my question to you is this - how do you plan to use your time? Are you going to be glued to your phone like I’ve been or are you going to use this time to your advantage?
There’s a story about two lumberjacks. They were out chopping down trees when one of them said, “I’m going to take a break and go sharpen my axe.” The other said, “I don’t have time to do that. I’ve got too much work to do.” So he kept chopping. The first man went and sharpened his axed. He came back three hours later and chopped down twice as many trees as the man with the dull axe, and he did it in half the time.
Sometimes we need to take a break and “sharpen our axe,” so to speak. In other words, take this time to sharpen your skills, increase your ability, and invest in developing your gifts and talents. To help do this I suggest you spend a little less time on your phone.
Yep, you heard me correctly. Less time. Even if it’s just ten minutes less per day.
Now more than ever it’s important to spend time doing something that’s grounded in reality rather than fear and panic. I’m not saying that what’s happening isn’t real, it’s very real, but a lot of us are getting over amplified by the ridiculous amount of information at our finger tips and it’s taking us to a place of extreme panic and fear.
That’s why I want to encourage you to mediate for the next fourteen days. Why? Because meditation is grounded in reality.
It’s just breathing. Breathing in and out like the waves of the ocean.
It’s you experiencing your thoughts for what they are, just thoughts, and then coming back to your breath. It’s you taking a break from the craziness of what’s going on in the world and getting centered.
I know a lot of us have been affected in one way or another. Heck, I just found out that a job I was suppose to start last week has been pushed back indefinitely. That’s money that my family was counting on.
I can get angry and I can scream and shout but what good is that going to do me. It is what it is.
Instead, I can meditate. However scary it may be out there we all have this beautiful opportunity to check in with ourselves and rise.
I’m not saying don’t inform yourself but at the same time you don’t need to be glued to your phone. We have to remember to put the oxygen mask on ourselves first. Then others.
Hence meditation. Take this time for you. Just ten minutes a day.
Put down your phone. Don’t swipe right and get sucked up into the news like I’ve been doing. Don’t turn on the TV and check out for an hour or two.
Use this time, which we all have, to check in with yourself. It’s going to make you a better father, a better mother, a better husband, a better wife, a better son or daughter, and a better friend.
Imagine a world where all of us do this. Where we ground ourselves in reality, checking in with our bodies, and we breath and let our bodies send safety messages to our minds rather than our minds hijacking our bodies with fear. This is the vision that kept me up most last night.
Meditate and let your body remind you that everything is okay. Breath in and breath out knowing that right here, right now, just for this moment, everything is okay.
Remember, we are full organisms. Everything that we are thinking and think we are feeling has an associated physiological response. Sit with the knowing that despite whatever your mind is trying to tell you or whatever life stresses are coming your way that you are completely safe in this moment right here in your body.
If you need a meditation resource or want assistance please ask me. I’m happy to help.
Lastly, I’ve never asked this before but I’m asking it now. Please send this to someone you know or share it on social media. I believe this is important for all of us right now.
Wishing you health, safety, and sanity.
Love,
Zachary