Marco lead DPX last Sunday with a meditation based on fear, anxiety and the Coronavirus. Describing our emotions as a tornado swirling around us that is not related to the truth. In the meditation we imagined that tornado of fear and anxiety outside of ourselves, not interacting with us. Leading the discussion, Marco shared a reading by the Dali Lama on how to fight the Coronavirus by triumphing over our minds to increase compassion and defeat anger and greed. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evolution-the-self/202004/the-dalai-lama-covid-19-compassion-the-best-weapon The Dali Lama said, angry doesn’t generate a plan. We need to transition from outrage to problem solving. Panic creates a need to dissociate or flee. We need to stay present and cope. We can’t let our emotions get the better of us. For this reason, we need emotional disarmament. We build happiness by serving others. What happens to one person effects every other being. Try to live and act from a higher principal, which overrides individual rights, sharing the responsibility and working together to save the greatest number of people from Covid 19 and to save the planet from global warming. In this way compassion and love are necessity not luxuries.
Our group talked about the difficulties people were having “opening back up” after Covid 19 and trying to switch from an overwhelming fear of Covid, to living with reduced fear but still remaining reasonably cautious of Covid 19. We create a bias when we get wrapped up in our feelings. Mike suggested we need to “Orient Towards Something.” Like a boat slowly turning it’s bow towards a different destination. Try orienting towards happiness, and move the attitude to point your mind that way. Marco reminded us that if you are going up wind, you have to tack back and forth. You might not know exactly when to tack. Maybe your destination has to change at some unplanned point and you need to switch course. All of us are feeling this confusion with Covid 19. The Buddhist teachings remind us to orient towards love and compassion at the very least.
It’s hard to make a long-term commitment during these times of Covid 19. We talked about doubt and wanting to look before you leap into a situation, be it a new job, a life goal or a partner. But at a certain point you need to jump in to feel and experience. New paths will open that will again give you more choices. If you don’t try it you might have regrets. It might be better to have disappointments than regrets. If it doesn’t work out for you, you might still learn. There is a potential growth from taking a risk. Although there could be just as much self-growth, by slowing down in order to carefully and compassionately look at your previous conditioning before making a move to re-orient the boat.
We all agreed that one of the great things about meditation is its portability. Wherever you are, you can orient towards your breath. You build security with familiarizing yourself with your breath. Meditation is building a comfortable home inside yourself. Oskar Wilde said “Home is where you go and they have to take you in.” With meditation, this quote always brings us back to self-acceptance and self-love.
