The night was terrible. A result of watching too many videos which predict doom and movies like '93 Days' which give out superb visuals of how these epidemics can pan out. So I had a restless night bordering on panic - visuals flashing in my mind, wondering what's the right thing to do, how much care to take etc and an increasing headache - until I slept off at 5 am after a fully terrorised night.
Decided few things immediately - cut out these scary movies which are no help, pay less focus on the virus and more on the good parts of life, do more good energy stuff like listening to movies, watching feel-good movies, having conversations with those who make me laugh, unlike a couple that I had the other day where they painted doom again and mostly, avoid the WhatsApp forwards of my sadistic school friends who only seem to pick up and share the worst, fake news. Once the plan was made I felt much better and shut off phone. Decided to check it only once or twice during the day.
Made a few calls again - Milind, Pooja, Vasu. And I sat and wrote a gratitude chart - a simple idea. Take a normal sized chart and write the names of all the people who played some part in your life, people who in one way or another helped you become who you are. The last time I did this I found 300 people on my list and today I filled in half the chart (didn't count - tomorrow I'll complete it and share). But I suspect it has some 200 plus names already - a long exercise that took about an hour and a half. Made me feel tired and happy to know how many people helped me become the person I am, still hold me up with their thoughts and love.
Dozed off into a deep afternoon sleep - caught up on the balance sleep from last night. Woke up, did the day's meditation with Shobha and Anjali, a short one of just 6 minutes. Played music again, read a bit of Being You' by Dane Heer which is turning out to be a very interesting read.
A thought goes out to all the people who are suffering symptoms and are awaiting tests, all those who tested positive and are in quarantine, all those who are just under quarantine and self-isolation, all those on the frontline like doctors, ambulance drivers, nurses, technicians, paramedics, policemen, grocery shop owners, their staff, all those older people, single moms, students, young professionals, construction workers. My heart goes out to those who have begun walking back to their hometowns due to lack of any transport and support, with little money, food and perhaps will die of reasons other than the virus. And so many more who are out there providing services to keep the world going for the rest of us.
And then I see the panic in my colony where apartment blocks have locked their gates to keep the virus out, look at new people suspiciously, and wonder how they will treat any person who may test positive. I hope they will have some compassion.
On the positive side, there's music, there's sunshine, there's laughter, books, movies. There's time to spend and talk with family -- we have managed to increase actual talk time between us to about an hour I think. Otherwise its all about the phones, computers, or TV. Enjoying these conversations.
Got a few messages from concerned friends and replied to them. Mony, Mahender, Kavya, Rohini were some of the unexpected ones. Feels much better today minus the phone, the WhatsApp horror shows. However, I feel I could do better on a couple of fronts - up my physical exercise, spend more time in meditation, write my cricket stories and head to completion by the end of this period. Looking forward to some nice romedy to watch now. Keep your phones off, don't watch the news, don't talk to people whose job is to scare you. You are good where you are, in your house with all the comforts - not exposed like the frontline people, not on the roads like the workers who are walking 600 km and braving lathis from police while trying to shield their loved ones, not hungry like those who have no money to buy and feed their kids. You are safe and secure, so instead of panicking about what will happen to you (like I did last night), send out a prayer to those who need it.
Smile.
 |
| Nature - there's a beautiful world out there - Pic Satish Nargundkar |
Made a few calls again - Milind, Pooja, Vasu. And I sat and wrote a gratitude chart - a simple idea. Take a normal sized chart and write the names of all the people who played some part in your life, people who in one way or another helped you become who you are. The last time I did this I found 300 people on my list and today I filled in half the chart (didn't count - tomorrow I'll complete it and share). But I suspect it has some 200 plus names already - a long exercise that took about an hour and a half. Made me feel tired and happy to know how many people helped me become the person I am, still hold me up with their thoughts and love.
Dozed off into a deep afternoon sleep - caught up on the balance sleep from last night. Woke up, did the day's meditation with Shobha and Anjali, a short one of just 6 minutes. Played music again, read a bit of Being You' by Dane Heer which is turning out to be a very interesting read.
A thought goes out to all the people who are suffering symptoms and are awaiting tests, all those who tested positive and are in quarantine, all those who are just under quarantine and self-isolation, all those on the frontline like doctors, ambulance drivers, nurses, technicians, paramedics, policemen, grocery shop owners, their staff, all those older people, single moms, students, young professionals, construction workers. My heart goes out to those who have begun walking back to their hometowns due to lack of any transport and support, with little money, food and perhaps will die of reasons other than the virus. And so many more who are out there providing services to keep the world going for the rest of us.
And then I see the panic in my colony where apartment blocks have locked their gates to keep the virus out, look at new people suspiciously, and wonder how they will treat any person who may test positive. I hope they will have some compassion.
On the positive side, there's music, there's sunshine, there's laughter, books, movies. There's time to spend and talk with family -- we have managed to increase actual talk time between us to about an hour I think. Otherwise its all about the phones, computers, or TV. Enjoying these conversations.
Got a few messages from concerned friends and replied to them. Mony, Mahender, Kavya, Rohini were some of the unexpected ones. Feels much better today minus the phone, the WhatsApp horror shows. However, I feel I could do better on a couple of fronts - up my physical exercise, spend more time in meditation, write my cricket stories and head to completion by the end of this period. Looking forward to some nice romedy to watch now. Keep your phones off, don't watch the news, don't talk to people whose job is to scare you. You are good where you are, in your house with all the comforts - not exposed like the frontline people, not on the roads like the workers who are walking 600 km and braving lathis from police while trying to shield their loved ones, not hungry like those who have no money to buy and feed their kids. You are safe and secure, so instead of panicking about what will happen to you (like I did last night), send out a prayer to those who need it.
Smile.
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