Love & Perspective in a Time of Coronavirus

There are plenty of photos that I can put here, but here’s one that leaves me feeling calm, in awe of the beauty of nature, and appreciative of perspective.

It’s Tuesday, March 18th, 2020. My family and I are in a voluntary “shelter-in-place” in New York City even though our mayor and governor have not yet decided to take such a step. Like you, wherever you are in the world, you are probably experiencing a different world than just a few weeks or months ago now that the novel coronavirus COVID-19 is here.

My hope is that you and your families are all safe and making the best out of a challenging situation. At the same time, I want to acknowledge that you might be going through a roller-coaster of emotions. I know I certainly did/am, and wanted to share my evolution as well as a brief channeling about how to best approach the fact that we are experiencing a global pandemic unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetime.

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A month ago, I was looking forward to warmer springtime weather, and using the month of March as a way for my family to go outside and explore before our baby #2 comes in April. As someone who’s Chinese- American, the month after giving birth is a month-long “sit” period when I am supposed to stay at home to recover and not go outside except for important things, like our baby’s doctor’s appointments. There are certain recommendations and restrictions on what I can/can’t eat, how to shower and regardless, I was already viewing April and May as my time “inside.”

With the pandemic, I felt a loss of freedom. I am the kind of person that loves going outside, exploring and discovering new things (even if it’s just the latest bargain at Marshall’s) and my two-year-old son loves going outside to play and see construction vehicles on the street too. I love breathing fresh air, seeing the sun and feeling the breeze, and taking advantage of the warmer weather to be with my family and (finally) meet up with friends. I was also looking forward to holding a live podcast recording event on March 10th to interview the co-directors of the Yale COPE Project, where we would talk about psychic intuition, mental health and spirituality. It was a get-together that was literally years in the making.

Things, of course, are now completely different. We made the decision to cancel the live event long before NYC started banning large events. We bought food and essential products bit by bit over the past month when the outbreak was starting to grow in China (and my mom would follow this news from her daily Chinese newspaper). It wasn’t until it arrived in NYC in full swing did we start seeing empty Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods shelves, empty streets, and empty playgrounds when the trees were just starting to blossom.

I felt sad for the horrible accounts of what people in China went through (and what Italy and other places are now going through). I felt unsafe going outside because of the discrimination happening in certain incidents and wanted my husband with me when we commuted to my prenatal doctor’s appointments. I felt scared of other people and also scared of meeting asymptomatic carriers (or potentially being one). I felt annoyed when I thought other people were either over-reacting or not taking it seriously enough. I felt nervous about cancelling non-urgent prenatal appointments or doctor’s appointments that are meant to make sure I’m all ready for when the baby comes. I hated wearing the mask outside because it fogged up my glasses, made it even harder for a pregnant lady to breathe, and because Asian people were attacked both for wearing a mask and for not wearing a mask in NYC.

These emotions are very real. I also felt joy at appreciating the few times I did go outside and breathed in fresh air. I felt the rush of awe of seeing empty supermarket shelves, of a different way of living in such a short period of time. During one trip to Trader Joe’s, a cashier was so friendly in the midst of scanning our canned tunafish, asking how we were doing and offering big smiles. It was remarkable what that point of connection did to our spirits even at a point when we’re wondering whether it’s okay that we’re nervously braving the crowded supermarket lines and that other people are touching all the emergency products we’re buying anyway.

I read about people singing from their balconies in Italy, people helping others, doctors from China helping those in Italy, and all those moments that show a level of humanity in the time of crisis. These are the moments that I think we’re meant to cherish and strive for.

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I did a reading in the Akashic Records asking about the highest guidance for how we should approach this pandemic — for me personally, given all the things on my mind as a mom, wife and daughter, and also for all of us. I hope you will understand the excerpt and find it helpful in giving you something to think about, something to hopefully widen your perspective. From what everyone says, the worst is yet to come in the U.S. and I pray that God gives us the strength, love and faith to keep going.

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This is an excerpt from my reading, which in the beginning is directed at me personally, talking about shifting perspectives to see that there is something to be gained even in a time of fear or loss of freedom. Then, it expands to direct the guidance to all of you.

"….Perspective means you can see both [sides] and you can appreciate both sides and the LESSONS that they give you. That is all it’s about. So, everything that has happened - cancelling the [podcast in-person] event, taking other people’s health and needs into consideration when it comes to your own actions -- that is all perspective. 

When you see everyone as connected, you lose the attachment and you can see all sides as neutral. Only then can you ask yourself, what do you want? You want health and peace for you and your family, for everyone in the world. You want freedom - freedom for fresh air, for movement, for enjoying the beauty of spring. You want people to love and to be safe. These are all things you want, and you can put it out there. Because that is then what your vibration draws in. When you are pissed off about not being able to do XYZ, or that your birth plan has changed or that you are inconvenienced by this, then it is an unsettlingly negative vibration. Instead, see this as a way for God to spread love. It is a hard way to do it, but SEE the love that can be there. See the BEAUTY that can be. See the CONNECTION that can be there even with social and physical distancing. That is how NEW perspectives are made.

For [others reading this], we recommend also viewing [your] own lives from this notion of PERSPECTIVE. What is in [your] lives that [you] need to change [your] view about, but that [your] ego has been resisting? What opportunities is this situation allowing for? Perhaps that there is humanity in all of us, no matter the country or boundary. Perhaps that some people will be more affected than others and isn’t this a time to see what WE can do for OTHERS to help or contribute as opposed to hunkering down as our own little selves or our own unit or class or city or country? There are going to be examples of people lending that hand when really they didn’t have to. Those are the moments that then cause a STIR, an opening for more meaning, for more hope, for more OPPORTUNITY and POSSIBILITY for humanity to pour out. It’s like viewing the heart as shuttered and then with one crack, the light can pour in. It is that one crack that is needed to even allow for light to heal and to multiply, the brighten the corners or crevices that have not seen light for a long time. 

From that perspective, think about how you can contribute to what’s going on. How can you help someone? How can you bring a smile to someone’s otherwise worry-filled day? Like that cashier from Trader Joe’s - sometimes you can see humanity and open up to it more when things like this happen.

To protect yourself, visualize the white light around you and your family, your house, your neighborhood, and be in that vibration as many times as you remember in a day. See even wearing a mask as connecting with others, and not fearing others or fearing a virus. There is a lesson to be learned in everything, and the world is learning it on the micro and macro levels, with each lesson a reflection of love, GREATER love, service, and greater good. Yes, there will be deaths, and yes there will be suffering and anxiety and all that comes with it. But on the other side of the coin, there will be hope, healing, a coming together, and a connection - a broad shifting of perspective that only things like this can engender.”

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Of course, please follow all the guidelines about washing your hands, practicing physical distancing from other people, and flattening the curve, being mindful that young or old, we all have a responsibility to make sure we minimize the number of people we come into contact with, especially since some people can be asymptomatic — in addition to the present-moment intention of visualizing white light.

With this reading, I feel connected, in service to others, and grateful for what we have, especially those little moments of connection and humanity. I hope this is helpful for you. Please share your thoughts in the comments and may you have peace, health and love!

Aetna, a Congressman, and mindfulness? Wisdom 2.0 Recap

I spent a fantastic week in the San Francisco area in February to attend the Wisdom 2.0 conference, a gathering of 3,000 people enthusiastic about mindfulness, meditation, inner wisdom, business and tech. 

I'll be sharing a series of posts from that trip alone, which was infused daily with so much serendipity that I came back with even greater confidence that my work with purpose and inner empowerment is much-needed and necessary for the modern soul. 

Among the many highlights was a panel on Mindfulness & Medicine: The Future of Healthcare with Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna, Tim Ryan, Congressperson of Ohio (D), and Jon Kabat-Zinn, the father of evidence-based mindfulness-based stress-reduction (MBSR). 

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(L to R): Congressman Tim Ryan, CEO of Aetna, Mark Bertolini, and Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of MBSR - mindfulness-based stress reduction.

As someone who worked in the healthcare technology field for a few years, creating initiatives that link startups with hospitals seeking to pilot technologies with patients, I kept coming back to the fact that tech can be nice, but sometimes we were never really treating the root of the underlying problem.

And, as a patient of this medical system myself who believes that my inability to counter stress for years plus diet/nutrition issues from social pressures led in part to full-blown medical issues, I was literally sitting at the edge of my seat with this star panel, hanging onto every word. 

They talked about: 

• how an Uber-for-nurses could revolutionalize how we receive preventative care and promote community economic development (entrepreneurs - JUMP on this idea!)
   
• how government needs to align their spending to things that actually work to promote health, creating better living and working conditions and healthy environments
   
• how Bertolini used mindfulness and yoga to ease his constant pain after a horrific, near-fatal ski accident
   
• how Aetna has a Chief Mindfulness Officer(!), and gave its employees FREE meditation, mindfulness and yoga, and even did a study showing the decrease in healthcare costs, decrease in stress (cortisol levels) and increase in productivity. 
   
• how schools across the country are seeing the incredible effects of mindfulness on lowering student suspension rates and cortisol (stress) levels, while increasing focus

The private Q&A afterwards was even better -- clinicians, dentists, patients, teachers, and parents all talked about how stress relates to mental health, physical health, and how more can be done to advance how institutions are providing health-care as opposed to disease-care. 

This, of course, needs cooperation with federal and state governments in relation to billing and reimbursements and what types of providers and practitioners are allowed to offer service.

In addition, we need new public or private sources to fund rigorous clinical studies. Aetna published the results of their own study in the Journal of Occupational Health and is investing its own funds via the Aetna Foundation on related research and programs. (See a New York Times article here and a PBS segment interviewing Bertolini for more resources). 

I came away, first of all, excited that these leaders are being the pioneers to integrate inner empowerment with everyday life in the corporate world. We all know that people need to lower stress and it takes time and guts for people to stand up for something that works, that may not be "conventional." 

At the 2015 Integrative Health Conference, I remember that physicians talked about how effective and inexpensive alternative treatments are, including acupuncture, and how misunderstood they were for decades (and to some extent, still misunderstood). In fact, the Department of Defense had pioneered research and field studies in acupuncture and other forms of pain management years before it entered mainstream medicine. 

Secondly, I came away inspired that people in the audience are all interested in seeing more advancement of integrative therapies and alternative therapies in their lifetime.  The conference made it clear that just a few years ago, CEOs and leaders of our country used to be afraid to talk about mindfulness, meditation, or yoga, and now they are more likely to speak openly about it. Now it takes cooperation, cross-sector movement, and apparently organizing people to petition their congressperson to promote more opportunities in health and integrative medicine. 

My third, and greatest takeaway, is that the more we have actual dialogue about inner empowerment and its role in everyday life, and the more people can experience its effects in lowering stress, the better. 

Anyone interested in continuing the conversation in New York City? I'd love to start or be a part of these types of dialogues. Only with open conversation can we create anything truly inspired and game-changing.