Random Thoughts on Random Words - Day 26 Zen State of Mind

   

We have come to the last day of the Blogchatter Challenge and to the last alphabet Z. As I pondered over the subject to end this series of 'Random words',  images of the havoc caused by the Corona virus all over the world popped up in my mind.  The deadly virus has been with us now for more than a year. In our own  country,  in the initial stages we thought that showing  lights and making a lot of noise by beating vessels would scare Corona  and it would run away for good. we followed it up with a 21 day lock down thinking "Now, all would be well". Unfortunately, this has not happened. On the contrary, the virus has come back with a bang, so much stronger in the second wave.  

After the first wave, we were feeling very proud that while the so called first world countries were struggling with the pandemic, we were in a much better position. Did this lead us to become complacent?  Complacent to the extent that we did not plan and order for the number of vaccines that a huge country like ours would need? Complacent enough to run around without masks, participate in  religious festivals like the Kumbh mela in large numbers ? If all this wasn't enough, we decided to hold elections involving congregation of huge numbers in election rallies! This meant our leaders who should have been focusing on planning to fight the pandemic by organizing hospital beds, ensuring sufficient availability of oxygen cylinders and PPEs for our hospital staff were running around the length and breath of the country shouting and howling at each other. 

The impact of the total failure of all the arms of administration of the nation viz legislature, executive,  judiciary, the so called fourth estate (Press) and the election commission (elections having been declared)  has been devastating. The mockery of the situation can be understood from the fact that high courts have made scathing censures on the election commission, (long after the voting / completion of  election process) for "not doing enough to ensure that political parties were following appropriate Covid protocols amid the surging second wave." The observation was similar to the situation in our Indian films, where  the police men come only at the end, after the villain has been beaten up by the hero. 

This is a time when we are all physically, mentally and emotionally shaken with reports of the death of a dear one, or one in our  social/ literary circles. The situation is expected to worsen in the days to come. Even if most TV channels try to play it down or the authentic figures of death and the conditions in hospitals are not revealed/ shared by them, you get some idea of the horror from pictures of mass cremations of the dead on the internet. The hospitals struggling for want of oxygen cylinders are asking the relatives of the patient to get them, who in turn are queuing up before oxygen manufacturing companies begging them for a cylinder. 

Apart from the problems that we discussed above, most people are reeling from the economic blows handed down by the pandemic. When it looked like things were getting better, many states like in Karnataka where I live, another lock down has been declared as the number of cases are rapidly increasing. In such a situation, what we need is a calming of our nerves, a respite from the thoughts of anxiety, fear and uncertainty. what we need is to experience a "Zen state of mind", a mind not fixed or occupied by thought or emotion. In the words of  D.T. Suzuki, scholar & Author " "being free from mind-attachment". 

According to the Merriam- Webster dictionary "Zen is a state of calm attentiveness in which one's actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort"- Like when you engage in the Zen of gardening, you become one with the plants, lost in the rhythm of the tasks at hand. It is not being suggested here that we need to  essentially adhere to only the teaching and practices of Zen developed by the  the Chan school of Mahayana Buddhism ( influenced by Taoist philosophy).  We are simply  looking for a "Zen state of mind" by any means that works for us  be it various types of meditation, mindfulness, pranayama, sudarshana kriya or laughter yoga. The said state of mind may also be evoked by being  present while listening to instrumental or classical music.  

Habits of calmness will help us in this journey towards a "Zen state of mind". This includes having a calm morning ritual involving meditation/ mindfulness, observing your response to stressful situations to learn from it, being grateful for the many things you already have in your life, not taking things personally, focusing on one task at a time and reducing the 'noise' in your life literally and in the form of thoughts. Practicing mindfulness involves use of breathing methods, guided imagery and other practices to relax the body and mind, and reduce stress. 

Some of the things we can do as we journey towards a "Zen state of mind" are (1) removing the physical clutter- get rid of all the things at your desk/space that you don't need. This includes getting rid of tasks ( Scrolling on social media) that no longer have any meaning, unsubscribing from newsletters to reduce clutter in Email.  (2) removing the mental clutter- disassociating from those who deliberately put you down or engage in mindless gossip (3) Thinking before you act is an important Zen principle which advises you to slow down before reacting (acting in anger) to a situation making a well thought out response possible (4) Taking a 10 minute break from your desk/whatever you are doing for deep refreshing breaths /having a few moments to yourself/ being in the present.   It is important to hit "Pause" button as we go through our day when things seem to be going topsy turvy and we feel tense/ irritated/ overwhelmed. we can resume activity after having recharged ourselves.

The journey during the blogchatter challenge was a great experience requiring intensity, love, discipline and commitment.The dedicated team of blogchatter and their constant support  has made this possible for us! I enjoyed reading the posts of friends, some old, some new who wrote  in various interesting genres. In fact, it is the support and encouragement that members gave to each other that  made it possible for us to successfully complete this exciting challenge. 

As a parting line, I would urge readers to reach for and retain a "Zen state of mind" at all times . This  would serve us very well as we negotiate through the traffic of life. In the demanding times that we live in, we need a "Zen state of mind" now as never before!  

NB: This is powered by Blog Chatter's # A2Z Challenge   Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2021