http://thepathofforgiveness.com/
As news mounts daily about the coronavirus, unfortunately many people are being thrown into panic. It feels like there is a secondary epidemic – of fear.
In short, there is a huge opportunity right now to be swallowed up by fear.
Or Not.
I’m reminded of these lines from Kipling’s famous poem (which I’ve included below):
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs . . . . (1)
I was talking about this earlier today with my friend and colleague Dr. Gwendolyn McClure who points out the role emotional contagion plays in situations like this, wherein one person’s emotions trigger the same emotions in another. . .
How are you doing with all of this?
On a scale of 0-10, where is your fear level?
If you are in fear, can you take a step back and observe yourself being in fear?
I know we have many “good reasons” for fear. There always are. At the same time, can you see that you have a choice in the matter? We have been conditioned to live in fear and worry. For many of us, it’s become our default setting.
But does it serve us?
I’m not aware of any evidence that people who panic fare better than those who stay calm and collected? On the other hand, there is tons of evidence that fear and stress deplete our immune system, which is what we need to strengthen, not diminish.
What if we trusted ourselves to educate ourselves about the virus and use that information to take care of ourselves?
What if we could leave fear behind?
And take one day at a time. One breath at a time.
Take heart my friends, and fear NOT.
Blessings,
Eileen
Footnotes
(1)
If—
BY RUDYARD KIPLING
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.