Life & Lockdown – Understanding The Relationship Better

‘Life’ as Atharva Veda describes it, is not merely a sequence of events from birth to death, but also a culmination of various emotions, feelings and frames of mind and a time travel from the cuddling arms of the parents to the burning arms to the funeral pyre! ‘Lockdown’ on the other hand, if interpreted wisely, is not an act of being imprisoned but a long period of discipline and social responsibility towards the Nation. It’s a test of mindset wherein we can serve our nation by only staying back at home!

‘Life in a Lockdown’ has taught us how fragile life can be that a mere microbe can knock it off! Me, being a health care professional feel my collars raised seeing that the entire nation is acting as a healthcare system today. This is a time to shift our temperament from professional to more of a personal arena thinking about ourselves, parents, family, hobbies, our health and allow these aspects to rejuvenate us! One of the most renowned spiritual scholars, Sadhguru of Isha Foundation has brilliantly quoted that experience of onself is the most beautiful experience one can have. Not what we have or we have become today, but what we actually are. An act of learning to be in ‘ease’ and not in ‘dis’ease. He even mentions that our lockdown life experience can be enriched if we pick lessons from Lord Rama’s exile. The most important lesson is that we worship him, not because he was a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu but because he set an example of maintaining an absolute balance within himself despite the external imbalances of his life. People today complaining of boredom and lethargy, should also learn from Rama that we haven’t been asked to fight a battle or stay in a forest! So why to bear the grunt in our hearts? If we suffer our own company so much, we should be compassionate about the world which suffers us everyday! The problem with this strata of society is not about a situation but about their mind. When we have no external pressures in the form of freaking and fretting demands of workload today, we need to learn to transform our inner selves.

Gaur Gopal Das, a former Hewlett Packard engineer turned Indian lifestyle coach in one of his testimonials on lockdown once said that we are bestowed with two divine faculties viz, a vivid sense of memory and a fantastic sense of imagination. He urged humanity to not let our memory and imagination suffer. Living an exuberant life is possible only when we are able to dance upon the uncertainties of our lives. What life throws at us is not always our choice, but, what we do or make out of it is all in our hands. It is this choice that we all should be exercising during these lockdown days.

Our (author’s) own personal experience these days is based on all the aforesaid principles we came across. We are engaging in activities which show vivid signs of pampering, something we never did before and often got scolded for by our parents! We are learning to be more organised, trying to get back to basics, perpetuate the ecstasy of being human, grabbing the values of family and relationships better as well as praying for wellbeing and solidarity of ourselves and the nation. Besides this, our families have also made a small contribution to the ‘PM CARES Fund’ for the needy and those who depend on daily wages. In fact that gave us the utmost satisfaction of having served various families in the crisis situation.

The United Nations with the help of its tributaries has laid forward various tips as time spending options during the lockdown. As per UNICEF, school shutdown is a chance to make better relationships with our children and teenagers. One on one time makes children feel more loved and secured and also show them that they are important. UNESCO on the other hand has come up with the ideology of Distance Learning Solutions and recommendations! In addition to these, WHO recommends one hundred and fifty minutes of moderate intensity and seventy five minutes of intense physical activities per week or a combination of both.

Last but not the least, in situations like these, where in we are totally left to ourselves, the best act would be the act of kindness towards the poor and more importantly, towards animals. Secondly, understanding our duties towards one’s own self, society and the nation! Such situations also gift us an open space for our mind and personality to grow and become more broad minded. It is probably the first time since Mahatma Gandhi’s quest for independence that the entire nation has risen unitedly for one single cause- Eradication of the Viral Pandemic! It reminds me of ‘a letter from a Frenchman’ that was recently published where he states that “Every morning I wake up thinking how surreal the situation is! By the end of the day, I am telling my neighbour over a text message that I have gotten used to it. She types back saying its like the movie, ‘The Groundhog Day’!”

Disclaimer – The intentions, views and opinions expressed in this article are that of the author alone and does not necessarily reflect the official policy of DentalReach.