Anticipating a better tomorrow - “THIS TOO SHALL PASS”
This too shall pass: the four magical words that compel a joyful person to forget his/her glee and a grief-stricken person to forget his/her grief.
Be a perceiver as life comes and goes. Happiness and sorrow also come and go. Just like every season of hard times, this one will pass too. We won’t be locked down forever. COVID-19 will be a landmark in history. This would be a landmark in our personal journey too. Personally, we all have evolved, as life is not about the things that happen to us, it is about how we react to them. Grief is the fundamental reality of life and so the choice is ours. Both Ram and Raavan suffered grief but their reactions were different so their lives were a complete contrast. We should always be full of gratitude and positivity as these are the two essential aspects of our life. It is encouraging to see so much creativity happening around during this pandemic. People are adapting in awesome ways.
Earlier people used to prefer technology: phones, laptops, television, and other electronic gadgets over their relationships. They were not having meaningful family time and now when we have been lead to this technology life then we realized that we need to be more humanly connected.
We are getting connected to the mother earth (nature) and our self as we have started re-thinking, re-evaluating, re-creating, and re-living our lives. We have connected back to our passion for cooking, reading, painting, dancing, music, meditation, etc, and doing something that makes us happy from within. Meditation has helped evolve human self-consciousness. You will never feel isolated if you love spending time with your self.
We have also realized that very limited things are required for leading a happy and satisfied life. We need to learn to be happy from within; consumerism (buying expensive materials like branded stuff, outside food, movies, etc) will never give you eternal happiness. We need to balance consumerism with some spirituality and meditation.
We also need to maintain a balance between the head and heart by being mindful of what we use and how much we use. We need to be more practical and pragmatic to live a stable life.
People are also finding new ways to make money/get business that they didn’t have before like a local workout studio is now renting out their equipments and selling clothing online. They have also started with paid live stream workout classes. They are finding new ways to make money/get business that they didn’t have before.
Online classes are easily available on the internet in various domains like cooking classes by restaurants, art classes by artists, etc.
People are finding various ways to adapt and use technology to run their businesses and earn out of it.
Many lasting changes that were considered impossible earlier would be visible there in the post-COVID-19 world. The virus and state-imposed lockdowns have wrought few permanent changes. They will change the world as we have known it most of our lives. We need to learn from the lessons already arising from the disease and shutdowns and adopt changes that will lead us to a better tomorrow.
ADAPT NOW…WE WILL EARN MORE LATER
IS COVID-19 GOING TO BE A LEARNING EXPERIENCE?
A few of the very interesting questions that now arise are:” What the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic would be like?”Once we get over this crisis, would it be so easy for us to go back to lead a normal life? Will we even want to go back to normal life? Or what are the important learning experiences from COVID-19?
It is not always fair to say that crises only bring the forces of regression and paranoia to the fore; greater solidarity can also be created by them. As we have witnessed many times over in the past; the unity of people can make miracles happen. This pandemic should motivate us to reflect on the power of our collective will.
First and the most important lesson: COVID-19 has revealed the need to be better prepared for the future epidemic.
As the frontline COVID-warriors: nurses, doctors, firefighters, policemen, garbage cleaners, social workers, etc have suffered high fatality due to the highest risk of exposure to the virus. In the post-COVID world, we need to protect and insulate health workers by creating better healthcare systems.
The shutdown has helped create a good air quality index and a reduction in respiratory diseases too. This also resulted in the visibility of the snow-clad Dhauladhar mountain range of the Himalayas from Jalandhar. We must rethink and recreate better ways to help protect nature when the shutdowns end. We can help reduce traffic pollution and congestion through work-from-home strategies, and by using technologies to hold virtual meetings to avoid unnecessary commuting and air travel.
Few of the worker categories like housemaids, drivers construction workers, and many others can't function online so new technologies should be developed to enable manual workers to work with equipment that allows social distancing.
This shutdown experience will certainly push corporate India to find innovative ways to cut travel, office space, meetings, and other activities. Given the increasing concern about our planet and the disastrous effects of global warming, we really don't need all this commuting, all this air travel! Hence the need for expensive commercial space, airlines, cabs, train journeys, and hours of commuting time will be reduced.
This would not only result in cost-cutting, improved efficiency, and lowered prices but will surely yield major social benefits, one of them being the environment. Lesser commuting would lead to a huge saving of fuel and reduction of pollutants. We should nurse and preserve our planet for future generations.
Covid-19 has forced the education system to move online. Although the sudden leap from traditional classroom teaching to online session has affected the quality of learning for the time being. But if this continues for a few more months, then the quality of online sessions will definitely overpower the traditional classroom teaching.
College students will be empowered to save on food, rent, transport, and other living costs through online university education. Also, it would provide them an opportunity to study in a comfortable and safe home environment.
Using technology effectively by live-streaming daily prayers and providing online one-on-one services from the highest places of worship like Tirupati and Vaishno Devi to their devotees can reduce mass gatherings in temples, gurudwaras, mosques, and churches.
All industry sectors have been affected categorically by technology and it has emerged out as a supreme tool to fight against COVID-19. For instance, Artificial Intelligence has developed, expanded, and played a crucial role in this anti-virus battle. Tech industry could change cities; countries in a major way and the present era of globalization may die.
The post-COVID economy will contribute to putting several jobs in the category of “not essential”. However it will create a huge demand for online training courses on how to use online portals to provide the best services to clients, whether these are religious or medical or education-related services. COVID has taught us the virtues of virtual space. Let us pledge to reduce pollution and shield against the succeeding epidemic.
USE THIS TIME TO EVALUATE YOURSELF AND YOUR LONG-TERM GOALS FOR MOTIVATION FOR CHILDREN AND PARENTS
Quarantining might feel like a cocoon, you can make it your goal to emerge in a new form just like it works out pretty well for butterflies. Dreams and aspirations do not come with a deadline so in adverse situations, switch to plan B rather changing your goal.
Set SMART Goals: Focus and stick to two or three key areas that you want to work on as everything cannot be achieved altogether. Then you need to develop SMART (Specified, Manageable, Authentic, Realizable, and Timely) goals.
Choose a ritual to let go by making amends in relationships, overcoming self-limiting beliefs, clearing out unwanted things that are not in use anymore, de-cluttering your life, etc.
During the lockdown, you can create a 'success jar' for yourself with colored chits. Set small goals and note down your accomplishments in the colored chits and keep dropping them in the success jar. So when you open the jar after the lockdown, it will boost your confidence and will remind you of all that you have achieved or accomplished during the lockdown. Create memories to help for motivation for children and parents.
Focus on all good things. Each word you speak and think has frequency and energy so positively takes this crisis/failure.
This lockdown could also play an essential role as a pause/reset button for many of us. Few people might be dissatisfied with their job, and now a layoff or furlough is giving them time and space to reflect on why.
Reflect on what job you would find interesting, challenging, and fulfilling. This crisis can be a chance to hone your learning skills for a dream career that was always there in the back of your mind. There might be no better moment for preparing your launch into a job that you always desired rather than the one you settled in.
We cannot ignore the fact that life may never return to exactly how it was before. Maybe in the future, a lot of businesses will recover, but some won’t. Few industries will find it difficult to recover like travel, cruise, hotels, etc. Many new companies will emerge with solutions to the problems that were never thought about before.
How to Mark a New Beginning?
Hopefully, a cure to coronavirus will be found soon. The way we respond to this pandemic will cause a gigantic effect on the future of humankind. It is an invitation to create progressive transmutation to the economy, our communal conduct, and the role of administration in our lives.
Human life doesn’t thrive in isolation. For good mental health, being social is an essential subsistence for us. As we live in an interconnected world, it is an utmost priority to develop a “glocal” outlook - think globally and act locally.
The Chinese word for crisis has the dual meaning of risk and opportunity. So sit calmly and re-evaluate your own life first. This too will pass. Think of the moments of joy, success, sorrow, and failure in your life. Now let's scratch our head to find the answer to this: “Are they all permanent?” No… they all come and pass away. Life just passes away. There is nothing permanent in this world. The law of change will remain eternal and constant: “Every little thing in our entity is under constant change and they don’t remain the same.” The obstacles in our ways today, they too will be gone because nothing remains forever. Think over it from your perspective. Joy and sorrow; both will pass away as they are the two sides of the same coin (life). You are just a witness of change so encounter it, accept it, and cherish the present moment - this too shall pass.