Taking the Fear Out of Coronavirus and time to show up and re-invent ‘Me’

♥LOVE NOTE – Monday March 23, 2020

Hello ♡Friends,

Unbelievable! Truly. Totally didn’t see it coming, or plan it, or have it on my To Do List. Just Wow.

The absolutely last thing I thought I would be doing when I sat down at my computer tonight to write a post for our Institute for Relationship Development Facebook page was that I would come on over to my beloved Susies♡heartpathblog and write and share here as well.

Hence effectively restarting my posting here that has been dormant and inactive since…

Since…

I am intrigued to find out how many days it has been. Many of you past faithful readers will remember a ritual I started Post Fire [P.F] which was to count the days and weeks since it (the Bushfire) happened. I can’t fully remember why I did that, but it was somewhat calming and comforting……encouraging and ♡heartening…

OK, my last post was Sunday December 6th, 2015. Lots of days. It has been a verrrrry long time. And lots of significant days.

4 and 1/4 years of days.

I have thought so so many times over that span to write. Significant times that my logical brain worked out would be good to begin again. Times that would just come up and then just like that, they would go…

Times like the beginning of the new decade on 1 January 2020 or any of the New Years, like various anniversary times, like my birthdays, the anniversaries of The BushFire, the anniversaries of us living at our new home here at ♡Heartland, many times of much significance and meaning…

And I actually have started posts and didn’t finish them or just ending up posting what I wrote on our Facebook page…or filed it away somewhere…

And to be totally truthful my blog hasn’t been completley dormant and inactive as I do visit my blog very regularly as have many others. It has amazed and touched me how many posts continue to be viewed and referred on.

And right here, right now I am chuffed you are here reading and I hope my writing serves and nourishes you. I have evolved Post Fire [P.F] as has what interests me and what is important.

I turn 70 in 10 days and as well as all that is going on in the world right now that feels like a significant occasion. It is to me. And it will be an interesting out-of-the-ordinary birthday in many different ways as we have been physically isolating for the past two weeks and will continue to do so…

I do have lots to write about and am very excited I could go on writing and writing….. but I want to honour that sharing the information below was what motivated me to show up here tonight.

And it feels good to note that I have been led here by something deep in me and not just by my rational and logical mind…

A part of me has felt very fearful of what is happening around our beautiful world right now…And at the same time I am grateful at the huge amount of resources and tools that I have and the teachers I have learned from over the years that support my well-being and physical and mental health and ability to respond and manage stress and grief and pain. I have been feeling like I want to reach out and share about them in a systematic way with the faith it will assist others as well.

So I am thrilled to start with sharing the work of ♡Joan Borysenko, PhD and her ♡heart-warming, soothing wisdom that I love. I remember listening to CD’s by ♡Joan and especially one on Resilience after the 2014 Bushfire (that destroyed our home and property). Her work really helped me immensely to reduce the extreme stress and pain and stay as grounded as I could when my world felt so shaky and scary and out of control. She became both a strong and gentle anchor for me….

I highly recommend making your favourite cuppa and taking some time to yourself and checking out her simple but well researched tips in the link below. I am sipping my newest favourite – pukka’s Elderberry and Echinacea with half a lemon.

Among her many credentials ♡Joan is a medical scientist and is one of the pioneers in the field of psychoneuroimmunology – how the mind affects immunity.

In the 8-min video and the text below it, “you’ll find some valuable tips about how to reduce stress, stay optimistic and maintain wellbeing” at this challenging time. Agreeing with her, we can all benefit from “investing in rewiring our brain and nervous system for calm and healing which then optimizes our immune system”.

View here:  https://www.joanborysenko.com/2020/03/taking-the-fear-out-of-coronavirus/

Among the many TIPS from ♡Joan, these pieces stand out for me:

• “Mindful activities elicit the relaxation response, the body’s counterbalance to the stress response. The fight or flight response won’t help you out run the virus. But when you relax, the parasympathetic nervous system comes online. It creates a “rest and digest” response, which invites the body’s self-healing systems to ramp up. This helps to create resilience to the virus………and remember that 80-90% of illness is caused or worsened by stress…”
• The human brain is hard-wired for negativity which is a survival strategy that causes us to be more affected by the bad than the good. Her good friend, psychologist ♡Rick Hanson describes the good stuff as like Teflon and the bad stuff like Velcro. [He researches and writes about the Neuroscience of lasting Happiness – see his popular book – ‘Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence’]

We can counteract this bias by taking time to savour and be grateful for the little good things that happen every day: the songs of birds; your favourite pieces of music or songs; the laughter of children, the taste of your favourite fruit; the look and smell of a beautiful flower or tree; the kindnesses we are reading and hearing about around the world..…

Enjoying and being grateful for sensations of warmth, goodness, beauty and ♡LOVE in our body for 10-20 seconds actually results in the formation of new, more positive neural networks. And every time we savour and are grateful for something good we actually begin to rewire our brain for happiness and resilience.

• ♡Joan’s TIP #2: “Gearshift Breathing” technique is so amazingly simple yet many times over the years has been a saviour for me and has very quickly brought me out of some pretty harrowing and anxious times. Adding this one technique to your Go-To resources can be life-changing over time.
• I also underline her reminder – “Stress is largely perception”.  How huge a topic Perception is. To be continued…….

I’m interested to read what pieces stand out for you, especially ones that you will have a go at doing, or are already doing. Please do share.

With just 10 days off turning the grand age of 70 I so miss the Me Before Fire [B.F.].…the Me who felt safety and trust in the world….who felt JoY and lightness…the Me that could feel carefree and untroubled…and had lasting optimism…and was hopeful…and had a safe refuge…

Strange that now feels like the time to find that Me…..or to maybe it’s to re-invent a new Me. To set upright once again my world and life that has felt uncertain and ‘upside down’….

Ending with a reminder at this time it’s best to physically isolate and stay home…. if you have to go out seriously follow physical distancing guidelines…….and please don’t do non-essential travel…….let’s flatten the curve…..safety comes first…….we are all in this together ♡

Sending Blessings and ♡LOVE, stay well and be grateful, Susie ♥