Art by Basia P., COVID-19
No more visitors in our empty, COVID-19 apartment, 2020
It
turned out that the workshop changed my life significantly. Now, years after
that, when we are prisoned at our houses due to COVID-19, I remind myself to
practice all seven pillars to stay calm, happy, and thankful for what I keep
receiving from life every day. I pass the knowledge to my daughter and husband
as well.
Remote Learning, March 2020
Spring break, 2020
Remote Learning, April 2020
Remote Learning, May 2020
Remote Learning, June 2020
The end of the school year 2019-2020
Summer, 2020
Back to Remote Learning, September 2020
Back to heavy-duty masks, Fall 2020
I will list the pillars that form the core of mindfulness and share my reflections.
- Non-judging: That’s fairly
easy. As an educator, I practice this every day with the families of my clients.
I cannot possibly know or even understand what each caregiver and child
experiences and how this affects the choices they make in their daily lives. My
starring role is to support and navigate them towards their goals, not to make
judgments about what they have accomplished.
- Patience: Nowadays everyone
needs to work on that one, especially when we are stacked in front of a computer for hours, losing an Internet connection, shooting technical difficulties,
missing the zoom meeting, kept on hold, dealing with household noise, smiling
to the camera, and so on, so on. I have to continue making more visible
progress in that area.
- Beginner’s mind: Is an attitude easy
for me to nurture. I am curious about my work and my life and love discovering
what each moment brings without preconception. I do find a miracle every day in
many things.
- Trust: This is tough especially
if it is related to my child's future education. Do I trust my mayor, governor,
Department of Education? I am so scared about my daughter’s new high school, new
admission criteria, whether she will get to a proper school. Nothing is certain
these days nether for me or my clients’ families. Nevertheless, mindfulness, particularly
our breathing teaches us that after every inhale comes an exhale. I can trust
in my breath, and then in my desire for assisting children, and my sense of
wonder, and the strength of our teamwork, and the love I have for my family and
clients.
- Non-striving: For the parents
of children with special needs, not striving for better, most effective
treatments and practices all the time is near impossible. But mindfulness
reminds us to focus instead on every moment as it is, without always thinking
about the next step. After all, even when my 13-year old daughter tells me I’m
wrong again and don’t know anything that she is doing, she is asserting me in her
independence, something I dream about when she was small, when in elementary
school. I will not strive so hard to be needed for a lifetime.
- Acceptance: Anything but
accept failure, a missed zoom meeting, hurt feelings, broken dish... Just to remember
that tomorrow is another day, hopefully, a better one.
- Letting go: This is the hardest part of the mindfulness training for me. Letting go of grief for a lost sister, a wave of anger for leaving the kids behind, bitterness, disappointment, and expectations are hard. It hurts because I hold onto them even though I know that if I cannot let go, I will not fully share this wonderful life with my family, incredible friends, or my patients. I just have to practice the song more and more: “Let It Go, Let It Go…”
