How To Thrive In A Crisis

The new normal seems to be ongoing crises on every level of life, physical and emotional. How do we live, how to we breathe easily, in the midst of climate crisis, continual forest fires, pandemics, and all the craziness? Even previously stable democracies around the world are being tempted to degrade into dictatorships.

The good news is that our bodies evolved to deal with exactly this. How life on Earth started is a great mystery, but one thing we know is that every component of our bodies, from the individual cells, to the organs and tissues, nerves, senses, and our brains are the process of continual adaptation to total change.

Let’s Reinvent the Day

Consider a few small changes to your life, to the way you approach the day.

1. What if you just work 8 to 5, or 9 to 5:30, and never look at or answer emails or messages at any other time? What would happen?

2. What would it be like if you spend two hours a day just walking at an unhurried pace, looking at the world, smelling it, enjoying the contact of the breeze on your skin, the sunshine, the textures of it all?

3. What would it be like if you do not hurry at all, ever, except in the rare emergency?

4. What would the night’s sleep be like if you spend the hour before bed time being in your own sanctuary, with just the golden glow of a soft light, or candlelight, reading poetry or listening to beautiful music?

No matter the structure of your day, we all have things we can do, small changes that make a big difference.
I recommend reading this interview with Brunello Cucinelli, who started a company that makes cashmere clothes. He says, “I am a great supporter of memory. If I remember things, I do not need to go back and check and revise. In this company, you cannot send emails after 5:30 PM, when the company closes for the evening.” When they have meetings, he wants all the staff present to have memorized the relevant numbers, so they can be looking each other in the eye as they talk, and be more present. And no emails can be sent to more than two people, so that you don’t clutter everyone’s inboxes.

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