Please note that guest blogs reflect the opinions and ideas of the author and should not be considered to reflect the opinions of HSCA. HSCA supports and invites content from all residents and we aim to provide a platform for the diverse and unique perspectives of our community members on our blog and monthly newsletter.
By Lisa. K
I love my neighborhood.
It reminds me of a small mountain village.
My neighbor is my friend.
I know numerous community members, store owners.
It is a hub of warmth and friendliness.
We are a family enclosed by a parameter of sidewalks.
I was born in Montreal, grew up in Calgary but was raised in the Kootenays by Gaia.
I spent many years of my life in the mountains.
The Earth Mother is my greatest teacher; she speaks in many silent tongues.
I abandoned the television when I was 18.
I did not have a "fancy phone" until I was 38; you know these smartphones that connect you to the whole world at a jarring and unhealthy pace.
This addictive "phone- world", or shall I say "phony world" of the internet and cellphones have benefits and setbacks.
From my point of view as a lifelong athlete, fitness, and yoga teacher, my concern is spinal health.
Our devices compound havoc on our entire spines, often unconsciously until one hits the point of injury.
Considering my brief relationship with our modern phones and the internet, you could say, I am an alien.
I am very 'new' to this 'earth', at least the majority of the human population, hardwired, in sync and collectively addicted or reliant on technology.
When I am getting to know someone I often make it clear that," I don't speak phone". It seems to sum it up well.
Not only is today's world highly technologically advanced compared to as little as 1000 years ago.
Certain researchers and historians such as Yuval Noah Harari claim that the human species is not only at the risk of extinction due to how our barbaric behavior has impacted the environment but are at the risk of being dominated by Artificial intelligence in the meantime.
We are headed to being completely consumed by computers.
Our jobs, our choices in life, virtually everything, will be automatized, even physicians.
All this being said, when the Pandemic mandates shut down Calgary, there were a rare few who took a reprieve in this communal quietude.
Of course, it is obviously a frightening situation and it is terrible that innocent people are sick and passing away.
Yet from the point of view of one who is vibrantly healthy, yearns for inner and outer silence, and is confused by today's society, wishing things were simpler, smaller, slower; a sense of total freedom dawned.
I was relieved, renewed, and energized.
A global crisis that causes everyone to stop.
Finally.
Everyone silences.
Turn off your 24/7 loudspeaker.
Your underground marketing gimmicks.
Close your stores, your empires.
Turn off your lights, stop draining our energy.
Mute your advertisement brigades.
Be quiet.
Perhaps we can all just be still?
Still and comfortable.
"Zen out"
No mechanical clock, in a sense...no rush, no multitasking, could we turn off all electronic devices too?
That would be revolutionary.
Also, very healthy for our minds, bodies, and mother nature!
Can you imagine
Wow.
That would be awesome!
I propose a no social media day, no phone or internet day.
A holy day.
Just like the olden days...when all stores were closed on Sundays
No technology day.
A sabbath.
Ram Dass says, "we are all god in drag".
Perhaps as the collective slowing down, self-isolation, and social distancing dissipate, it will give us a fresh slate to live in this way.
To honor all neighbors as the self.
To live with curiosity and generosity for all beings.
I often giggle when the loudspeaker at Safeway claims how "we are all in this together"; we were all together in the first place, we are just scared now.
These "tough times" have been prevalent in our climate for quite some time, and are getting worse.
Rather than panic at the sad facts and interesting implications of the Pandemic, can we learn from this situation rather than retract in fear, as we are programmed to.
Is the Pandemic indeed a Panacea, or as Arundhati Roy writes in the Pandemic as a Portal; A portal to a new awareness on earth?
This is a global wake up call and a shift in perspective.
Our magnificent technological devices delude our itsy bitsy egos from the reality of how small we are.
" Are you aware of how addicted we are to our devices?!?
To the 24/7 connectivity that has us always available and immediately responsive to everybody else, in fact, the whole world!
We clutch our phones as if they were our oxygen to life itself!
“In the process we lose more and more touch with the moment, so that, ironically, some of the most important connections of all, namely with our own deeper analog self, with our body, and with our present-moment experience, can be seriously eclipsed."~ Dr. Jon Kabat Zin
We are disconnected from nature and each other, so busy doing, compulsively doing, again to quote Mr. Kabat: "we lose track of who is doing the doing". Often, in the merry go round of habitual obsessions, we cling to yet another object to keep the cycle of mindlessness going.
Mindlessness; actually, neurosis.
Odd how "the norm" is indeed a neurosis. As Deepak Chopra says, "multi-tasking is not healthy for your brain", yet we are conditioned and habituated in this sympathetic nervous system overload.
My view on this Pandemic is that it is a collective lesson or shall I say, warp speed download in Anitya.
Anitya, is the Sanskrit word for impermanence.
The pandemic is also a lesson on how small we are despite how large our gadgets delude us to be.
Pan comes from the Latin word all.
Demos; People, or population.
Well, guess what little humans, or shall we say "humants". You are not the only beings here on earth.
There are 400,000 species of plants alone.
8.7 million species of animals.
200 million land animals are slaughtered for food each day.
Not to mention 1.2 trillion aquatic creatures per year.
Approximately 6000 species of mammals.
10 quintillion insects.
5 million trillion, or 5 X10 to the 30th power of Bacteria.
Viruses are even smaller than Bacteria.
For years man was waged war against each other for land, god, and sheer delusion.
Now the plethora of almost invisible viruses are saying, "Hey you humans, you are not the only ones on the planet!"
The Pandemic is a call from the earth to all beings.
For more information on these facts and this perspective see Dr. Zach's Interview on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RAtFBvKrVw&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1LXOZENlFwIxGWkHOOc7lMoRifjcpI62liewcTDg5cn4TnophDcFsEXho
"Human beings are in some sense, the autoimmune disease of the planet. We are both the cause of the Earth's distress and its victim. This does not need to continue"
~ Dr. Jon Kabat Zinn
If the branches of the pandemic do not cause you to re-evaluate your relationship with your self and your world no matter who you were or are, you are missing endless opportunities to grow, shift and evolve as a human-spirit in this life.
These opportunities are here in each moment, they always were, but there has been a collective shift, hopefully, an opportunity for more mindfulness and more community.
I noticed over the time of the pandemic, people got used to social distancing and self-isolation.
Many of my friends and acquaintances realized, how simple things became richer, began preferring and embracing a slower pace.
Again my teacher and author, Jon Kabat Zinn, said that "self-isolation" is an invitation to a meditation retreat.
You do not have to travel to a tropical paradise and pay someone thousands of dollars to find intimacy with stillness.
It is your birthright.
Social distancing is a metaphor because we were socially distanced, to begin with.
To busy to talk, to quick to judge, in our bubbles; with our iPhones, I must add.
Funny they are called iPhones, maybe we should rename them "I am a phone", and people might think twice about their behaviors.
There is so much more to this glorious planet and universe of ours than our isolated bubbles of me.
However pleasurable or successful they are perceived to be.
Step outside yourself more often, and leap into the unknown.
Seek the silence.
Extend your sense of community beyond your circle of friends, beyond the city, embracing all beings.
Moving out of reflexive judgment and embody the heart of compassion within us all.
In my walks during the peak of the pandemic and as the 'relaunch' continues to unfold, I have never felt more at peace in my home, with a very simple way of life.
Never have I felt more curious and supported by my neighbors, more connected to the local businesses, and more passionate to share my tools and skillsets with the others.
I feel to engage with people, I feel to congratulate the business owners I know that are reopening or who managed to stay open.
Change is the only constant; Anitya, that is a universal truth.
This truth can be translated in multiple ways; god, the divine, infinity, I prefer to think of the universal truth as Love.
Love, Peace, and the instability of perfect Beauty that is all we are.
May you all be happy. May you all be at peace.
Namaste.