03/17/2020
Foothold #1
Transforming Anxiety into Compassion
As we are all grappling with how to cope with the COVID-19 situation, I thought it might be useful to share with the New Prairie community any insights I am finding from the resources that come my way. Maybe these bits of wisdom can be footholds of sorts to help us navigate our stress with a stronger footing.
This first one comes from the work of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, a Buddhist monk. When we are feeling anxiety over the virus outbreak, what if we were to connect that difficult emotion to a sense of compassion for others?
When you are feeling anxiety, try opening warmly to that anxiety instead of fighting it, and then opening your awareness, in a spirit of compassion and love, to the worry that so many others are feeling. Try meditating on a phrase such as, “May my worry be the representation of all beings’ worry”. Think of your own anxiety as an act of caring toward all other people who are currently feeling anxiety. Care for the whole world through your worry. This is not something we can just consider intellectually, we must actively try it to see if it bears fruit in our own minds.
You could also let your anxiety become a wish of loving kindness. For example, “May all beings be free from anxiety and suffering from this virus.” While you repeat this phrase in your mind think of those you know personally, those you know tangentially in your life, and even all the people you don’t know at all.
This morning, in my own meditation, I noticed anxiety specific to the impending feeling that I am going to come down with the virus and I feel like a sitting duck. As someone who has never experienced something like a cancer diagnosis or similarly significant medical problem, I was reminded that this is the same feeling that one must go through when first learning of their diagnosis. The waiting. In that moment I used my own anxiety to cultivate a sense of compassion for all who have suffered such things that I have not, for all who have felt the fear of waiting for ill health to befall them, and for all who are now feeling that same sense of foreboding. This not only helped my body to relax, but also to feel connected to many others in a warm, loving way. In that moment my anxiety was, indeed, transformed into compassion and connectedness.
May you find refuge in this foothold for yourself and may you be safe and healthy.
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