I have this intuitive feeling that that being congruent with your deepest knowing is one of the most important things to be doing right now. What I mean by that is walking your talk. Making sure your private and public lives are in alignment. I tried this exercise myself and found there was definitely some room for improvement especially in the upper left and right quadrants. Hardly surprising. Lockdown has taken its toll on our stress-quotients. The quadrants deal with the interior and exterior realities of the individual and the collective like so.

For example, in the upper left quadrant I know I’ve been spending too much time in my discursive head and not enough time in my contemplative heart. Hardly surprising considering the levels of analysis and confusion out there. It’s easy to lose one’s peace. So paying attention to practices I know can help like Centering and yoga are actually bringing back the balance.

In the lower left, it’s been better. My friends and family are all looking after each other. We all seem to get it that connection is vital and there have been plenty phone calls, and zoom type meetings. Plenty of shared meaning making, swapping of perspectives, stories and bonding sessions and buoying each other up when necessary. Social media was a blessing especially at first when people were ever aware of their mortality and there were so many unknowns. But in the long run it’s not that conducive to mental or physical health!

The lower right quadrant deals with how we cope with systems and organisational systemic changes. In the beginning of lockdown there were the inevitable concerns about how we would cope with the changes thrust upon us by the virus itself, one would cope with the restrictions to freedom, how effective safety procedure would prove but it’s amazing how a deadly virus can focus the mind. There was no need to ask myself “How big is your ‘We?’ Once the procedures became familiar they were easy to implement and I have found the added structure in my life helpful. I will never go back to shopping more than once a week and can’t think why I ever thought it a good idea.

The upper right quadrant has come in to focus sharply. This is hardly surprising since Covid has such a random effect on the body and no-one knows how it will affect them till they succumb. However, like a lot of other people, there was a subconscious urge to over indulge. We lost a lot of freedoms. We have been forced to stay at home. There has been much uncertainty and fear, so I guess it’s not surprising that a lot of people have been overdoing comfort substances. But gladly I’m coming out the other end now. Time to mitigate the effects of a potential infection. From now on I will do better. My new goal for the next 3 months is to lose the weight I’ve gained, reduce my waist size, get moving at pace to improve lung function and have a better chance of coping with an infection if the next wave is to be, as expected worse than the first. Long term of course its just a very good idea to be healthier so anything that occurs to me to do to boost the immune system has become a goal.