This post is a temporary escape mechanism for me as a relief to the dread that this coronavirus crisis brings.
What gets me are not so much the statistics but the stories of people who are in the frontline fighting this “war” for us. Our health care workers and other service personnel in the frontline don’t even have the right armor or artillery, but they go out anyway to face an invisible enemy. They are literally putting their lives on the line.
To help them, what is asked from those of us who have the luxury to sit it out at home is just to stay home, to practice social distancing.
We are lucky because there are those who don’t have a proper home, who despair about whether they can put food on the table, who are stranded, who are scared that they cannot provide for their families, who are losing their businesses, who are losing their jobs, who are separated from their families, who are sick and have nowhere to go…
We all have our different ways to keep our balance, and one of the ways that has served me well has been to visualize something positive.
If you feel the darkness, toxicity, and heaviness of seeing all the suffering that this virus has brought to the world, then this blog is a space where you hopefully can relax. It’s not an invitation to forget. Instead, it is an invitation to release whatever tension and stress you are carrying, so you can go back to the fray and fight a good fight.
Visualize Something Positive
Visualization is the creation of mental visual images. Make them more concrete by giving them a visible form.
My niece Yeka wrote this on her blog ‘It’s All About Love.’
In life, we gravitate towards what our mind focuses on. When we want to see opportunities, we see just that. In spite of the current challenging landscape. On the other hand, when we want to see threats, we see just that. In spite of the current booming landscape.
For our brains are intelligently wired to find answers to our questions just as missiles are strategically locked on to their targets.
A power thought to consider.
It takes intentionality to think more powerfully, creatively, productively, and proactively.
So, if you’re thinking along those lines of generally healthy ways that benefit your mind, heart, body, soul, and spirit, then keep that positive momentum.
…
For everything starts with the thought. Both the empowering thought and the disempowering thought.
And so, WE FOCUS ON OUR FOCUS.
Choose something that makes you happy.
For me, that is a dream beach home. The place I have in mind has a local vibe using good, old-fashioned local materials like wood, nipa, amakan, bamboo, rattan, stone, capiz shells.
The Beach
First of all, the beach. That’s the kind of beach I want, a place that throws you a come-hither look from a distance. When you get closer, it’s even better. This is definitely a keeper, which I will keep a secret. I still remember how clear the water was that you could see the sea bottom. Clouds were reflected on the water like a dollop of cream on a blue green sundae. Cool, white sand under the feet despite the noonday sun. Cool, crystal clear waters with a teeming underwater life, great for snorkeling.
Below are dream vignettes of my kind of beach life.
The Deck
Imagine sitting on that deck while watching the sunset? The sun keeps you warm while the breeze gently tousles your hair. And there you are just waiting for the sun to say goodbye as you sip buko juice from a long, tall glass now and then. Your other hand is busy shoveling perfectly fried bananas into your mouth.
The Bedroom
I love the wooden accordion doors that open wide to let the view and the breeze in. Kulambo is also very important. From experience, mosquitoes just love to bite me. I like the vaulted ceiling that slopes steeply. The higher it goes, the cooler the air inside the room.
The Shower
Bathroom 1 fits the style of my dream beach home better, but it would be nice to have a bath tub too like in Bathroom 2. Remembering those summer days of long ago, there’s something sensuously enjoyable about showering outdoors. Feeling the breeze as you bathe is quite pleasurable and somehow liberating.
The Hammock
Having a duyan by the sea under the trees is essential. This is a place to read a book, to meditate, to ruminate, or to think about existential questions. Once in a while you look up and gaze at the sea and see the horizon teeter as you swing lazily to and fro in the hammock. If your book is enthralling, you’ll make great progress and finish it quickly in the comfort of the shade. If you’re book is mildly interesting, you might slide peacefully into a deeply relaxing sleep. When you wake up, that’s when you think about having some fried bananas…again…always.
Lunch
Nothing beats the taste of fresh fish that’s just been grilled. Fresh fish tastes very sweet and the flesh is firm and juicy. Smothering it in sauce would be a sin. The best is to have maanghang na suka to dip it in.
Sunburn by Sansette
This dream got written because of this new song called Sunburn made by a young friend’s band.
Upon hearing it, I was brought back to those happy-go-lucky days of my youth when summer vacations were filled with laughter and fun as rambunctious, energetic cousins enjoyed the beach day after day. We had no awareness of skin cancer back then so sun screens were not in our list of things to bring. Going to the beach was always a simple matter of come-as-you-are.
Listen to this.
Thank you for triggering my happy thoughts, Sansette!
In the Time of COVID
Dreams like this keep me balanced. We all have different happy thoughts to get us through difficult times. What is yours?
Incorporate a daily visualization exercise during this quarantine. Dream new dreams or expand an existing one.
Don’t wait for darkness to encroach upon your mind and your heart. Visualize something that makes you happy. Hold that thought in your head, and expand it. Make stories about it. If it were a coloring book, choose bright and vibrant colors to make it more real.
If you need color inspiration, just visit the Color Trend website.
If you’d rather just watch beautiful things, you can always check out the links in Art Should Comfort the Quarantined. The portals to the most beautiful things that this world has to offer has opened…for free. Enrich yourself with what mankind has created in all the art forms.
I’ll leave you with this.
