pandemic practices
04 Apr 2020i love that bruce lee quote: “Under duress, we do not rise to our expectations – we fall to the level of our training.”
another similiar quote from lee: “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
and earlier this week, bernice shared with me this quote from sujin lee (which came to her as a result of practice with the legendary strategist, norma wong).
in these pandemic days i am infinitely curious about people’s practices. lama rod owens and rev. angel kyodo williams often cite the classic buddhist principle: all we have is our practice.
yesterday, i had a lovely phone call with my dear friend (and friend of many), rachel plattus. while both walking many states apart, we talked about what practices had been holding us and here are a few that have been holding me lately:
- listening to Spirit and being with my ancestors via morning tarot (one card for my inner life, one card for my outer life)
- being with my breath via pranayama
- being with my body via asanas
- creating focused work sessions by virtual coworking with folks i love (and using pomodoros)
- getting extra sleep (i normally sleep about 6h and during pandemic i have been sleeping 7-8.5h)
- releasing all generalizations of how i am doing. the question “how are you these days?” gets reframed to “in this moment i am…”. i have noticed that when i try to give a zoomed out assessment of my state, my response is often heavy or negative. there are many good and beautiful moments that i flatten out when i summarize. my answering only how i am in the moment, i am more likely to share a positive experience. i think that’s particularly important in times of crisis.
- reflecting via writing: 1-sentence journaling on my physical health (since i started coughing on march 10), sci-fi and other reflections via this blog
what are you practicing these days?
ps - i am also interested in practices that people are moving with in formations/organizations. if you see/hear anything interesting (including if you are the one leading it), let me know!
words / writing / post-processing
339w / 15min / 10min