Items

• 2023-03-21

  My experience

  Since I am a homebody and like my solitude, the lockdown was not terrible for me, personally. I was thankfully able to work remotely, and used my sparetime, cooking, taking on line classes and learning about homeopathy which I use as my health path, but delved more deeply into it by taking on line classes. The meditation groups that I would attend in person, were able to convert classes to zoom, which was a truly wondrous thing. Other groups followed suit, and before I knew it, I was involved in groups all over the world by zoom - AMAZING! My cousins and I would meet every Sunday on Zoom to share experiences and catch up on "us". My mom who is now 95 was able to facetime with family several times a day (she was given an ipad by her grandson the year before) and it saved her from feeling isolated. Food deliveries were readily available, thanks to Pam Silvestri keeping us aware of the food community happenings. I realize many people had negative experiences, job losses, etc. or not able to cope, and I myself knew many people that passed during that time. I think this is a great idea to document the stories of the lockdowns and how it affected people in different ways. There is so much more to say, but I will keep it summarized and leave it here.
• 
  2021-07-23

  Boundaries Between Home and Office

  It’s difficult to work from home and maintain a boundary between home and office. When your personal life is conflated with your professional life, it can be a struggle to keep your professional life from intruding on your personal life and vice versa. My friends have developed various rituals to establish a break between their working life and their home life. One friend gets into her car each morning, as she did formerly when she went into the office, and drives around the block. She then enters her house and goes directly to her desk and begins work. At the end of her workday, she reverses the process. I have a ritual to begin and end my workdays that is aligned with my yoga practice. I do a specific yoga sequence that is different from sequences I do at other times of the day as well as do meditation. This clears my mind and signals to me on a subconscious level that it’s time to work. At the end of the day, I do another unique yoga sequence and meditation to dispel the work energy and switch my mind and feelings towards personal matters. I’ve heard colleagues mention other “tricks” they use to differentiate their work life from their home life. Some change their clothes when they start work and then change them again at the end of the workday. Others take a walk outside before and after the workday, take all their work supplies and computers and put them away in a closet so that you don’t see your work while you’re focusing on your personal details, or take a shower to both begin and end the workday. The importance of these rituals can’t be overstated. When you’re working, whether at home or in an office, you should approach the situation in a professional manner. When you’re not working, for the sake of your mental health and happiness as well as the quality of your relationships with your friends and families, you need to leave the work behind and focus on personal matters.
• 
  2021-03-22

  #JOTPYLesson from Michelle Wilson

  I have learned to breathe and meditate more. It’s okay to slow down! I’ve learned it’s okay to gain a few pounds (pandemic baking) I’ve learned to love myself more! 💛 #JOTPYlesson
• 
  2020-05-11

  Faith in a time of crisis

  Many people wonder about the benefits religion may or may not have during times of crisis. Is religion a crutch; or, is religion a legitimate way for people re-orient their lives and perspectives during times of crisis? This article from the American Psychology Association answers these questions. Depending on the person and their perspective of their religion, religion can be either positive or negative, perhaps even both at different times. As a result, the answer to the question is not a simple yes or no. However, even for the agnostic or the atheist, as the article describes, there are many religious and spiritual rituals one can engage with (e.g. yoga, meditation, etc.).
• 
  2020-11-18

  Meditation during the Pandemic

  Anxiety is something that is not fun to deal with especially during a pandemic when we have no one to talk to or can't really go out much. A way that helps me calm down is meditation whether it be turning off the lights and lighting up a scented candle or just going outside and take a breath of fresh air. These new creative ways that were taught to me by a Professor at St. Mary's University has helped me a lot in different situations. Lying down with a scented candle helps relieve your stress or anxiety by calming you down and not thinking about the situation that is happening around us. Doing this for ten minutes a day really does make a difference in your everyday life. Going outside for a breath a fresh air is also very calming because you would be outside your house and looking at nature really does help forget about the pandemic that we are dealing with. So whenever you are feeling anxious a candle or going outside can help relax your thoughts and body.
• 2020-03-15

  Covid changed my life positevly

  I could've write this in French, but i feel it would be way easier for you to get everything out of my story if i was writing it in english. When COVID started, it gave me a good reason to stay for long periods of time at my girlfriend's house, placing me away from my violent and alcoholic roomates and the insecure environnement i was in. Being away from them lowered my stress levels and this was the first step of my depression recovery. Then, when university went online and offered us to extend our projects due-dates to the end of the summer, i was more than happy to put my school work aside to focus on my mental health. Because of the situation, I was able to reach out to a university psychologist and we worked out memories and discovered i was a sexual assault victim when i was young. This information being brought up, she was able to testify for me to a gov. agency that helps criminal activity victims to get psychological help. So i got a weekly psychologist (uni. psy was short term only) and then i started digging deeper and deeper into my traumas. At the same time, i moved out to a student residence in a 1 and a half appartment on the campus. In this environnement, i had total control over everything and i started feeling safer and safer. I had no one to see phisically and i was able to determine the way i was to live my life in the daily matters (ex-roomates were sleeping until 2pm, hurting my freedom to just use my old appartment as i wanted to ) This situation made me understand how my well-being is inherently attached to my hability to control my environnement and to have the freedom to realise the person i am. I started meditating everysingle day, i started taking care of my appartment, of my body's health and i started performing way more in school. Being a ADHD person makes it that i find online classes better than offlines... i can pause, record, fast-foward, go back .... love it. I also started taking care of my spiritual sides, studying viking runes, their meanings, their wisdom and the way they could teach me about life. Covid saved me, made me realize i should take care of myself, it made me realise i have something to bring to the world. I didn't have any suicidal toughts since 2-3 months and it feels great.
• 
  2020-10-08

  In the times of a Pandemic

  The year of 2020 has been a difficult year for everyone. No matter if your young, old, rich, poor, a new born, or a high school student. Things has been pretty tough. The world introduced to a virus that could kill people known as the Corona Virus. Into the 4th month of the year, children were forced to stay home, and the working class unless they were an essential worker were moved to work from home. Who would have thought that big companies would have majority of their workers take advantage in the work from home program. Many Americans had found themselves taking on new challenges that they didn't think they were ready for. Children are no longer going to school, but instead they are learning through a virtual experience. Their parents are not only working from home, but also taking on a second role as teacher to help their children. This year has been a whirlwind for many, but through meditation and allowing our lungs to be filed with the air that we breath, everything takes a standstill. With this being said, I have found new hobbies and ways to help my well being in this chaotic year. I chose to highlight the Namaste photo because it represents the fact that we need to all take a deep breath and say everything is going to be okay. I hope that you can do the same by breathing in and out, and focusing on the good!
• 
  2020-04-06

  Plague Journal, Day 24: Using the 12-step toolkit

  I'm keeping a Covid-19 journal. Today's entry, with updates on The Girlfriend, face masks, the family, and a few 12-step kernels I'm finding useful in CoronaWorld.
• 
  2020-04-25

  Terrariums as Meditation

  Isabella Hurley, age 19, has found both a new hobby and a new means of coping through terrarium creation. When I spoke to her about it, she said "it's like building a little planet. I get so caught up in planning each detail and arranging them, that I am able to forget about all the stress around me. I especially like doing intricate ones because they're time consuming." She said this wasn't something she had imagined doing before the pandemic, but that with her new abundance of free time she's been able to find a hobby that really calls to her.
• 
  2020-03-29

  Quaker Virtual Silent Meeting

  Traditional Quaker meetings include a period of silent meditation followed by community contribution. The Pima Friends of Arizona organized a virtual meeting during the outbreak.