Hope you and yours are staying safe, well and resilient in these challenging times.
This week:
- Reframing COVID-19
- An Imagined Letter from Covid-19 to Humans
- A Real Message from Bill Gates
- This is the Exercise Your Body Needs During this Outbreak
- Mental Comfort Food: 4 Ways Nutritional Psychiatry Can Help Alleviate Anxiety
- Magnify the Positives – Shrink the Negatives!
- The Power of Music- Neil Diamond’s Coronavirus-era Remake of ‘Sweet Caroline’ is What We Need Right Now
- The Power of Humor- Watch the Italian Politicians Dealing with Self Quarantining
While it might be harder than ever to remain positive right now, here a few ways to do just that.
Adversity doesn’t breed character, it reveals it and we owe it to ourselves and our loved ones to show up in the best way possible, especially in high stress times.
To a large degree, we can’t control external events, but we do have some semblance of control about how we respond to what happens out there, in here.
Can we use this as a wakeup call and turn this existential threat into an opportunity to recalibrate what is most meaningful and purposeful in our lives in this moment?Suspend your disbelief for a few minutes and give it a go…
An Imagined Letter from Covid-19 to Humans
This is making the rounds and it is pretty powerful!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-SyZiwXKs0
A Real Message from Bill Gates
What is the Corona/ Covid-19 Virus Really Teaching us?
I’m a strong believer that there is a spiritual purpose behind everything that happens, whether that is what we perceive as being good or being bad.
As I meditate upon this, I want to share with you what I feel the Corona/ Covid-19 virus is really doing to us:
1) It is reminding us that we are all equal, regardless of our culture, religion, occupation, financial situation or how famous we are. This disease treats us all equally, perhaps we should to. If you don’t believe me,
just ask Tom Hanks.
2) It is reminding us that we are all connected and something that affects one person has an effect on another. It is reminding us that the false borders that we have put up have little value as this virus does not need a passport. It is reminding us, by oppressing us for a short time, of those in this world whose whole life is spent in oppression.
3) It is reminding us of how precious our health is and how we have moved to neglect it through eating nutrient poor manufactured food and drinking water that is contaminated with chemicals upon chemicals. If we don’t look after our health, we will, of course, get sick.
4) It is reminding us of the shortness of life and of what is most important for us to do, which is to help each other, especially those who are old or sick. Our purpose is not to buy toilet roll.
5) It is reminding us of how materialistic our society has become and how, when in times of difficulty, we remember that it’s the essentials that we need (food, water, medicine) as opposed to the luxuries that we sometimes unnecessarily give value to.
6) It is reminding us of how important our family and home life is and how much we have neglected this. It is forcing us back into our houses so we can rebuild them into our home and to strengthen our family unit.
7) It is reminding us that our true work is not our job, that is what we do, not what we were created to do. Our true work is to look after each other, to protect each other and to be of benefit to one another.
8) It is reminding us to keep our egos in check. It is reminding us that no matter how great we think we are or how great others think we are, a virus can bring our world to a standstill.
9) It is reminding us that the power of freewill is in our hands. We can choose to cooperate and help each other, to share, to give, to help and to support each other or we can choose to be selfish, to hoard, to look after only our self. Indeed, it is difficulties that bring out our true colors.
10) It is reminding us that we can be patient, or we can panic. We can either understand that this type of situation has happened many times before in history and will pass, or we can panic and see it as the end of the world and, consequently, cause ourselves more harm than good.
11) It is reminding us that this can either be an end or a new beginning. This can be a time of reflection and understanding, where we learn from our mistakes, or it can be the start of a cycle which will continue until we finally learn the lesson we are meant to.
12) It is reminding us that this Earth is sick. It is reminding us that we need to look at the rate of deforestation just as urgently as we look at the speed at which toilet rolls are disappearing off of shelves. We are sick because our home is sick.
13) It is reminding us that after every difficulty, there is always ease. Life is cyclical, and this is just a phase in this great cycle. We do not need to panic; this too shall pass.
14) Whereas many see the Corona/ Covid-19 virus as a great disaster, I prefer to see it as a *great corrector*
It is sent to remind us of the important lessons that we seem to have forgotten and it is up to us if we will learn them or not.
The Importance of Exercise- This Is the Exercise Your Body Needs During the Coronavirus Outbreak:
How to stay safe and ensure that your workout boosts, rather than suppresses, your immune system. Even for elite athletes, now is a time to think more about your health than your fitness.
“Our data show that physically active people have a 40-50% reduction in the number of days they’re ill with acute respiratory infections.”
https://elemental.medium.com/this-is-the-exercise-your-body-needs-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak-8b924c92e861
Mental Comfort Food: 4 Ways Nutritional Psychiatry Can Help Alleviate Anxiety:
Here are four ways to eat the nutritional psychiatry way, in order to help alleviate anxiety—because even after COVID-19 is behind us, optimizing our mental health still matters
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/4-ways-nutritional-psychiatry-can-help-alleviate-anxiety?mbg_mcid=777:5e7917d4102e510b037ba5d6:ot:5e5449265b099ce02fbdd88d:1&mbg_hash=ec91f68b02f1af9e815059343f09654d&utm_source=mbg&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_v2_20200324
Magnify the Positives – Shrink the Negatives! With JSJ
Every day we are all likely to experience positive things and people, as well as negative things and people. What we focus on, is a choice we all get to make.
You can choose to magnify the negatives and allow yourself to get stressed out by your problems and challenges. When you choose this route, you will attract more negatives.
It seems as if you have a black cloud over your head if you choose to focus on the negatives.
Whenever you magnify the negatives in your life, you also shrink the positives. Or as motivational speaker Les Brown once said, “If you argue for your limitations you get to keep them.”
Don’t become blind to the good stuff, simply because you are focusing on all the crap! Remember, you can choose to magnify the positives and feed your spirit with great optimism and an energy force that will attract more of the good stuff into your life. It’s a choice we all get to make every moment of everyday.
Have you ever noticed how lucky some people seem to be? ”The harder you work, the luckier you will become!”
Experience tells me there is a lot of truth to this statement.
People that work hard at achieving pre-determined worthwhile goals and objectives, tend to focus on what they want in their lives. And are generally happier because of their excitement toward their goals. They soon begin to attract the people, situations and opportunities that bring the luck they need to become successful achievers. By focusing on positive personal growth, we tend to knock down our life goals accidentally as if by magic. The truth is however is there are no coincidences when it comes to becoming a world class achiever.
A good exercise for you to improve on in this area for the next seven days is to focus only on the positives in your life. Positive people, events, activities, language and positive actions. This may seem impossible during the Covid-19 situation but anything is possible to the willing mind.
OQP stands for Only Quality People. You will notice that quality people tend to focus on the positives. Negative people focus on the negative.
Like everything…Perfect Practice makes perfect!
I was doing some good reading the other day and the message the author was sharing was “Anger is your Enemy“. This message appears to be one that many on Facebook need to learn!
I am very observant with a few years-experience under my belt…and I do see many people, especially on what little time I spend on Facebook (almost none actually) that are letting their negative emotions get the best of them.
Between the Federation, the Foundation, the Healing Warrior Society, and my coaching business, I have a pretty good eye for what’s going on. Whether it is amongst our highest ranking members, in the training hall, and or in our communities…I am concerned for the amount of negativity that is shared via Facebook and via email. I am also amazed at the amount of “look at me” that is going on. I am not sure what happened to humility but it appears it has gone the way of the Edsel.
I am encouraged however that not all have chosen to focus on negativity or what I call the “dark side”. I am also encouraged that sometimes just a bit of awareness is all people need to realize they may be letting the negatives sink deep into their subconscious where it can do the most damage for the long haul. Guard the temples of your mind my dear friends as the peddlers of doom and gloom are never far away!
Here’s some more food for thought. EVERYTHING IS ENERGY. Anger is hate actually turned inwards. Our martial way symbol or Moo Do represents stopping the sword.
The sword cuts both ways. We stop the sword to stop inner and outer conflict.
The root of anger includes self-pride and the root of self-pride is EGO.
Did you ever hear the best way to win an argument? Don’t get in one!
Choose not to participate…walk away come back another day.
Would you rather be right or be happy? Remember, there are three roads you can walk. The low road, the middle road, or the high road. I choose to walk the high road!
I’d rather be happy, which is why I usually concede to those who argue and must be right no matter what. I see the EGO for what it is which is Eternally Guaranteed Obsolescence! There is a great Chinese proverb that goes, “If there is no enemy within there is no enemy without.” The EGO is the enemy within and it prevents us from experiencing peace of mind. If you want more peace of mind and to reduce inner and outer conflict, let go of your ego. It is that easy and that hard.
I think you would agree that’s it’s so much more fun to smile, laugh and live life in a happy way.:-) Which is why I remind everyone that listens…
“Every day we train is a great day…which is why we train every day and please understand that training starts with the heart and goes through the mind before it gets to the body!” Lead from the heart first as that is where you center truly is. Then use your leadership or peak performance lessons to guide you to a higher level and then train the brain to make it automatic. If you are just training your body you become just another earthen vessel or “crack pot” who misses the bigger picture in my humble opinion. As we are all cracked as part of our human condition, it is our mind and spirit that helps keep it all together. For this reason alone, I encourage you to consider the mind, body, and spirit when you train and especially now during the Covid-19 pandemic.
There is no better workout for the mind, body, and spirit than emptying your cup, stilling your mind, and doing some serious hyung or kata practice. That is why I train hard and train often.
Want to feel better, look better, and become better than you were yesterday? Train your brain, your body, and your spirit every day and do remember to magnify the positives and shrink the negatives.
The Power of Music- Neil Diamond’s coronavirus-era remake of ‘Sweet Caroline’ is what we need right now:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/23/entertainment/neil-diamond-sweet-caroline-coronavirus-trnd/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial
The Power of Humor-
Hotheaded Italian Mayors and Regional Presidents Losing It at People Violating Quarantine:
Here’s an English subtitled compilation. “I hear you wanna throw graduation parties. I’m gonna send the police over. With flamethrowers.”
https://twitter.com/protectheflames/status/1241403715036291072
Thanks this week go to Mikel B, Bill G, JSJ, Neil D, Dan L, and especially to Cathy J for helping me get this missive out every week come hell or high water!
Pay it forward please. The world needs you now more than ever.
Love,
Neville
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NevilleB108
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nbillimoria
“LOVE is our Soul Purpose”
Happy Soul Food Friday! 