21 DAY LOCKDOWN GOAL TO A NEW YOU
COVID19 arrival is an open invitation to humanity stating- do as you will, act as you will and live as ‘I’ desire. It has locked us for 21 days inside our homes giving us a master opportunity to explore our inner selves and do things which have been pending for years. Remember days when we all were totally tuned to complaint mode about numerous matters like too much traffic, boss leaving us with no time, its late to work out, no time to cook, pressure on children, excessive homework, spouse is busy, staff and employees underperformance. Well overnight universe wanted humans to take a breather and has changed our world upside down. All these issues have no meaning. What meant existence, repetitive behavior and daily chores have rung the bells of irrelevance. We all are just waiting for ‘godot’ and the wait is governed by the virus.
We human beings are unaware masters at the art of distraction. These 21 days is a Window opportunity to disrupt it. Majority of our days go in maintenance of physical selves and physical spaces we live in and rest remaining hours belong to to our committed selves to reach a target for the day or month may be. How many of us are able to think long term and live days for our passion or ultimate goals? To do one thing at a time, there is no time because we are so full of next to-do lists. As a result, we applause ourselves of doing multi-tasking, perhaps which is the largest cause of distractions and not being able to focus on one thing. This viral attack has reduced all task lists to atoms now. When we play chess with family, we must totally focus on the game. We attempt to cook leisurely since no one is in a rush. When absorb books playfully with a free mind. We must allow Mindfulness to take on us. That will improve concentration and reduce our mastery over distractions.
What we intend to ignore most has become our daily chore now. A healthy diet and physical fitness have got the bells ringing. Even in a 21 day lockdown period, if you have no time to do pranayama or few asanas online with any yoga guru, then one is deemed to be unfit and highly indolent by aptitude. A renowned Bollywood fitness trainer at a conference recently said that a 10 minute work-out in a room can get your adrenalin rush going and blood pumping. Time is not a scarcity anymore, its vastness and spread is humongous and we must divide it analytically to split an exercise routine which benefits our mind, body and soul. Since all health services were availed through human beings and not robots, human touch eradication should not be an intrusion to us achieving our optimum health.
It is a striking phase for exploring your passion and letting the seeds sow for a strong foundation before the lockdown opens into a world of planned chaos again. Come to think of it- this the first time in the history of mankind, humans have space, time, energy all conserved for themselves only. The energy you create with this compulsive pandemic rest can be channelized in the correct direction only if one wishes. Reflect on your passion, set aside two hours of the day to practice it. 21 days of repetitive practice will get your neurons running to completion of a goal. The happiness and excitement you will witness by allowing your real self to drench into your passion will be immense. Let go off every day set patterns.
This is the best time for natural expression with your family members. Long lost conversations can now be out on the tables and 21 days is just a perfect calculation for resolving past pending matters. Every member of the family has a pretense runner mode on to achieve an illusionary target which constantly runs away from us. Now is the time when illusions are dropped, targets are pointless, no one has a chance to say I am busy- so come out of your comfort zones to discuss with your father how much you love him, tell your brother that he is an important part of your life, sit with grandparents and give them their due time and also notice how thankful they are to covid19 for allowing them to be with you at home, drop your grievances and give way to heartfelt conversations with long lost friends and feel your energy flow.
Decluttering has been on our mind for years. We do it partially but it never seems to reach optimum completion. 21 days if split day wise and task wise for you’re to do list of a total declutter of the house can work wonders. Imagine having an only essentials house at the end of lockdown with all unnecessary given away. Mind is what you see around. Already an anxiety factor is prevalent due to constant virus news and reminders and the overloading stuff stocked before our eyes makes our mind even heavier. Let us remove the unwanted, discard the never used, throw away the stocked up items for years, feel the clean sanitized surface of your homes. A declutter detox can generate outstanding positivity in your living environment.
But in order to implement the above actions, we must be on a digital detox on which I will focus in my next column. If your notifications drive every minute of your day and an update is must to watch and reply even while eating food, then perhaps a revival to a new you over the lockdown period will be a restricted zone with no individual growth. If technology consumes you to socially feel better, that rise in endorphins will be momentary and will lead to a more tampered lethargic you at the end of 21 days.
A new ‘we’ can be born only if we learn to control minds by showing discipline and patience. Somewhere down the line, mother earth shall forgive humanity for converting to beast like behavior over the years in partial fragments though. Meanwhile, it’s time for us to be wise, rise and shine.
