Care in the Time of Corona
A growing list of free resources to help us orient towards self-care and community-care at this transformative moment.
Updated 4/6/20
10 Mental Health Tips for Coronavirus Social Distancing
Use technology to connect widely; physical distancing does not mean emotional distancing
Establish clear routines and schedules
Exercise daily, if possible
Keep learning—books, reading, Coursera, limited internet
Counter fear with intentional friend/family time
Spend time alone—outside if possible
Meditate, relax, and stay present
Try to find a way to do the things you really enjoy doing
Limit exposure to TV and internet news; choose small windows and then find ways to cleanse yourself afterwards
Bathe daily, if possible
- adapted from Dr. Giuseppe (Bepi) Raviola
- @adamjk
10 Virtual Therapy and Mental Health Apps to Cope With Coronavirus Stress
211 is a free and confidential service available 24/7 that helps people across North America find local resources they need, including information and other help connected with the COVID-19 pandemic. Just dial 2-1-1 to get started.
UC Berkeley is offering free online art classes.
Yale University is offering a free course online, The Science of Well-Being, that teaches you how to be happier.
The 100 Day Project starts April 7!
“The world we know is dying. What is unsustainable cannot persist, by definition, and we are starting to see this play out.
What hope is there, then? There is the hope that breakdown will become, or coexist with, breakthrough. There is the hope that what is dying is the caterpillar of immature humanity in order that the metamorphosis yields a stunning emergence. That whatever survives this collective initiation process will be truer, more heart-connected, resilient and generative.”
- an extract from What if the Virus is the Medicine? by Jonathan Hadas Edwards & Julia Hartsell
“Though people will be so disproportionately impacted by this moment, we’re all going to be impacted by it. It may be one of the first things that I can think of that is directly impacting all of us. We’re all in it together. It’s sounds corny, but it’s true…
Like when have we been unified on anything across the world? And not to say ‘unified’ on some kumbaya shit, but like the fact that we’re all scared about the same thing at once is pretty amazing. I feel like it’s gonna hopefully set us up [to] get on the same page about other shit like climate change.“
- extracts from Revelations of This Moment by Melinda Alexander (@mumumuansion)
“This is a very powerful technique of lifting yourself out of that hole of that fear-based thought. Maybe the thought is something like:
“I’m going to get the coronavirus and I’m terrified.”
“I’m scared because somebody was coughing.”
“I can’t sleep because of these stories.”
Whatever the thought is, once you’ve witnessed it and forgiven it, you then want to reach for the next best-feeling thought. The best-feeling thought, in this case, can be something very simple, like:
“I’m healthy right now.”
“I’m taking proper precautions.”
“I have what I need in this moment.”
One by one, reach for the thoughts that make you feel better. Whatever it is that helps you to feel good, keep reaching for those thoughts and guide yourself out of the chaotic state.
If we keep perpetuating the fear-based story, what happens is that it builds up a lot of momentum. And frankly, it already has. It’s already built up a tremendous amount of momentum, and that momentum is just going to get stronger.
As people on a spiritual path, we have the ability to change it. We can undo the negative momentum and start to create momentum into a higher-vibration energetic state that feels better. We want to be seeking solutions rather than creating more momentum around problems. Let’s continue to bring positive energy to this issue.”
- an extract from Spiritual Tools to Relieve Anxiety About the Coronavirus by Gabby Bernstein
I dreamed that we are in timeout
Nature warned us
She warned us so many times
Were we just ignoring her, hoping she got sidetracked so that we didn’t have to stop what we were playing? If the neighbor kid jumped off a bridge would we do it too?
Don’t we know better?
Didn’t we hear her?
She sent so many messages and messengers!
Or have we forgotten how to listen?
The mothers are exhausted and sick of our shit
They just need a moment to lock themselves in the bathroom
Just a moment
To silently cry
To take a breath
To feed the earth
To clear the skies
To scream into a towel
To cleanse the waters
To sneak a hidden smoke
To make sure they don’t hit us
To drink their tea while it’s actually hot
Just a moment away from us
But we bang on the bathroom door
We scream about how unfair this is
We wail about the cruelty & wickedness
We accuse them of being evil & mean
We spit “If you loved us you wouldn’t be doing this”. Yet all of this is not being done in retribution or revenge or being used as a perverse punishment because we haven’t repented, this is not culling the herd or population control, this is a moment to slow down, to unlearn, to relearn, to disconnect and reconnect, to ground, to realize that anything we do to them we do to ourselves. This is coming from a fierce, all consuming and unconditional love.
Because we all know
deep down
That they have every right to throw us out
Coronavirus: Wisdom from a Social Justice Lens on the Healing Justice Podcast
“We are humans relearning to wash our hands.
Washing our hands is an act of love
Washing our hands is an act of care
Washing our hands is an act that puts the hypervigilant body at ease
Washing our hands helps us return to ourselves by washing away what does not serve.
Wash your hands
like you are washing the only teacup left that your great grandmother carried across the ocean, like you are washing the hair of a beloved who is dying, like you are washing the feet of Grace Lee Boggs, Beyonce, Jesus, your auntie, Audre Lorde, Mary Oliver- you get the picture.
Like this water is poured from a jug your best friend just carried for three miles from the spring they had to climb a mountain to reach.
Like water is a precious resource
made from time and miracle.”
- an extract from Wash Your Hands by Dori Midnight
- via @adriennemareebrown
Pandemic
What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.
And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives
are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.
Promise this world your love–
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live.
–Lynn Ungar
“The bad news is you’re falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is, there’s no ground.” — Chögyam Trungpa
