Relearning Your 1, 2, 3’s
I totally expected this to pass quickly and with little discomfort or inconvenience to my life. I live in a small town, literally on a mountain top in Idaho, with a population of about 3,000 people. Locally, this time of year is known as “Mud Season” because of the massive amount of snow we receive every winter plus warmer temperatures….well it becomes very muddy. Businesses close for remodels or upgrades, the owners take their annual vacations and everything goes quiet.
The quiet before the tourism storm.
The town that I live in, McCall, is a destination town. It has 3 ski areas that people enjoy in the winter and 1 large lake with multiple rivers, more than a million acres of forest with hiking trails to explore, and every kind of holiday celebration you could desire. About 80% of the homes are second homes and there are no left turns beginning Memorial Day weekend and ending around Labor Day weekend.
It’s idealic in its beauty, size, and friendly charm.
Then Covid-19 arrived and everyone scurried for cover. Many people are wondering, much like everywhere else in the world, how they will pay their bills, maintain their health, or when they will receive their next hug from a friend, family member, or stranger. It is a time of great uncertainty and upheaval.
What are you to do at a time like this when you have no control, no assurance of a return to “normal”, and life is literally day-to-day in an unprecedented global pandemic?
You realize that the only thing you have control over is the very thing you have only ever truly had control over, you return to your 1, 2, 3’s. You return to the basics.
1. Spend one minute every day in gratitude.
When you wake up and your feet hit the floor, take that one minute to be grateful.
Do not take your first step into your day before you give yourself this minute.
Make the first thought and action of your day one of gratitude.
Be grateful that you and your loved ones are healthy, if you have health insurance and if you have a job that allows you to work from home. Realize that you already have so much abundance in your life and recognize its significance.
2. Take 2 minutes to breathe.
Box breathing: breathe in to a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, exhale to a count of 4, and hold for a count of 4. The number here doesn’t matter, its that you have control over this and this matters.
Sphere breathing: Hold your hands flat together, fingertips touching and breathe in while forming a ball with your hands and flatten your hands back together as you exhale.
Your sympathetic nervous system supports your fight-or-flight response. This response is triggered, and in many of us supported daily with shallow, quick breathing, and this is where our usual pace of life has most of us breathing. Here your body is in a stress condition. Your body and mind are looking for danger.
Your parasympathetic system, controls your rest, relax, and digest response. This is supported by deep, calm, cleansing breathing. Here your body is in a calm and healing condition. You want to heal and to stay healthy at this time. Support your body’s effort in doing this with this simple exercise.
You need these deep breaths to remind you that you are safe, all is well, and you are healthy. Here, you are in control.
3. Go outside and look at a tree.
We all work, live, and thrive in Nature.
Nature, at this time of everyone self-isolating, is getting an unprecedented break.
Nature is also still going about her business. The seasons will continue to advance and in that way we realize that the natural world is going forward as it always does, unaffected by our desires or need for any sense of control.
Now is a time to get outside and enjoy all that is happening regardless of our world feeling a tad chaotic. These are moments and nuance that we otherwise are too busy and our minds too cluttered to enjoy.
Work may very well slow down during this time…. Take a moment to appreciate that the temperatures are rising, your children or loved ones are home and healthy, and this is a truly rare and globally shared experience for us to reflect, to pause, to be present in….together.
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All acts of kindness are appreciated.