"One should become the master of one's mind rather than let one's mind master oneself." ––Nichiren Daishonin
A grandmother helped me see things in a new way. I had been trying to follow Nichiren's advice that we must master our minds or our minds will master us. But that dominator/obedience approach wasn't working. Buddhist activist scholar Joanna Macy urges us to focus on gratitude first, as we set out to change the world. But, the more I focused on gratitude, the more ungrateful (complaining, worrying) thoughts ran rampant in my disobedient mind. This COVID-19 situation is scary!
Then my Buddhist grandmother friend taught me that she calls those "disobedient" swirls of thoughts "creative." She sees them like her preschooler grandchildren who spend much time in her home. Enjoying the children's creative play, she lovingly distracts them if their creativity is leading towards harm.
Imagining my mind as a creative preschooler whom I dearly love helps me take a deep breath and relax a bit as we begin to play together during this pandemic quarantine.
Oh, that we may better learn to play with our inner (grand)child in a loving joyful way, even when she's freaking out and throwing a temper tantrum in these turbulent times.
The Great Turning is what buddhist activist scholar Joanna Macy calls a massive wake up call heard around the world. It is a time when we reconnect to each other, to Mother Earth, to life, and begin of a new way of living, a new way of structuring societies. Along those lines, an email I just received from her organization has personal tips for your health and happiness during the corona virus pandemic.
Remember gratitude for this moment, for the earth, the air, the water, the sun, our friends and family, the plants and animals with whom we share this gorgeous planet.
Stay informed but check only trustworthy sources and limit it to once or twice a day.
Practice self-care; nature connection, movement, spiritual practices, journalling, meditation, art-making. Reach out to give and receive community support.
Avoid putting yourself or others in situations where you can spread the infection. Cancel or postpone in-person events. Self-isolate. There is still no known prevention other than avoiding contact with those who may be infectious. There is no cure, other than what a healthy and strong immune system could provide.
Shift to online tools for communication
I especially love the "Remember gratitude" part. How about you? Here is Joanna Macy's longer description of the importance of gratitude in what she calls "the Spiral of the Work that Reconnects," which helps us usher in the Great Turning:
The truth of our inter-existence, made real to us by our pain for the world, helps us see with new eyes. It brings fresh understandings of who we are and how we are related to each other and the universe. We begin to comprehend our own power to change
By Dori Midnight
and heal. We strengthen by growing living connections with past and future generations, and our brother and sister species.
Then, ever again, we go forth into the action that calls us. With others whenever and wherever possible, we set a target, lay a plan, step out. We don’t wait for a blueprint or fail-proof scheme; for each step will be our teacher, bringing new perspectives and opportunities. Even when we don’t succeed in a given venture, we can be grateful for the chance we took and the lessons we learned. And the spiral begins again.
There are hard things to face in our world today, if we want to be of use. Gratitude, when it’s real, offers no blinders. On the contrary, in the face of devastation and tragedy it can ground us, especially when we’re scared. It can hold us steady for the work to be done.
The activist’s inner journey appears to me like a spiral, interconnecting four successive stages or movements that feed into each other. These four are:
opening to gratitude,
owning our pain for the world,
seeing with new eyes,
going forth.
The sequence repeats itself, as the spiral circles round, but ever in new ways. The spiral is fractal in nature: it can characterize a lifetime or a project, and it can also happen in a day or several times a day. The spiral begins with gratitude, because that quiets the frantic mind and brings us back to source. It reconnects us with our empathy and personal power. It helps us to be more fully present to our world. Grounded presence provides the psychic space for acknowledging the pain we carry for our world.
By Angella Gibbons
In owning this pain, and daring to experience it, we learn that our capacity to “suffer with” is the true meaning of compassion. We begin to know the immensity of our heart-mind, and how it helps us to move beyond fear. What had isolated us in private anguish now opens outward and delivers us into wider reaches of our world as lover, world as self.
Please email us at plan@berniesanders.com to let us know what your ideas are and what you’re experiencing — we are here, and we will be reading replies.
I don’t have to tell anyone that our country and the world are facing an unprecedented series of crises. We’re dealing with the coronavirus, we’re dealing with a growing economic meltdown that will impact tens of millions of workers in this country, and we’re dealing with a political crisis as well.
The main point to be made is that in this period of crisis it’s imperative that we stand together. Understand that right now throughout this country, there are so many of our people throughout this country wondering what’s going to happen to them.
What happens to people who lose their jobs? What happens to people who worry they have the coronavirus but don’t have the resources to get the test they need, or the treatment they need?
This is a moment that we have got to be working together and going forward together.
What I wanted to do is talk about a series of proposals that we are working on and that we will introduce to the Democratic leadership about how we can best go forward.
But it’s also important for me to hear your comments. We need to know what you are experiencing right now. It’s hard to write proper legislation if we are not familiar with the kinds of pain and problems that people across this country are facing.
We want to hear not only your ideas, but for you to talk about your experiences. In every state there is a different level of crisis, in every occupation there is a different level of concern. Please communicate with us by emailing us at plan@berniesanders.com so we can come up with effective remedies.
So here’s what I think we should do. Read on, give your support, and then let us know what’s happening with you.
Solving the Health Care Crisis
Let’s start with the basics.
We need to make certain that everybody in our country who needs to go to a doctor can get health care they need regardless of their income. In this crisis we must empower Medicare to cover all medical bills during this emergency.
This is not Medicare for All. We can’t pass that right now. But what this does say is if you are uninsured, underinsured, if you have high copayments, high deductibles, or out of pocket expenses, Medicare will cover those expenses so that everybody — regardless of their health care needs, and not just for coronavirus — will get the health care they need. That is what we should be doing in this moment of crisis.
We need to make sure that hospitals have all of the ICU units and ventilators that are needed to respond to this crisis. What the fear is, is that there will be a surge of patients coming into the hospitals and we will not have equipment we need to deal with it. The federal government must work aggressively with the private sector to make sure that this equipment is available to hospitals and the medical community. The government needs to tell the private sector that this is a major priority and to get the job done.
We must also:
Increase provider capacity. During this crisis, we need to mobilize medical residents, retired medical professionals, and other medical personnel to help us deal with this crisis.
Implement successful testing models. Our testing capacity and process has been woefully inadequate. We must massively increase the availability of test kits for the coronavirus and the speed at which the tests are processed.
Use the Defense Production Act to mobilize resources. Under this proposal, we will use existing emergency authority to dramatically scale up production in the United States of critical supplies such as masks, ventilators, and protective equipment for health care workers.
Utilize the National Guard, the Army Corp of Engineers and other military resources to build mobile hospitals and testing facilities, assist providers, reopen hospitals that have been shut down and expand our health care capacity in at-risk areas.
Dramatically expand community health centers. Pass emergency funding to dramatically expand access to community health centers which provide primary, dental, and mental health care, as well as low-cost prescription drugs, to nearly 30 million Americans, 63 percent of whom are racial and ethnic minorities.
Keep health care workers safe. We need to make sure that doctors, nurses and medical professionals have the instructions and personal protective equipment that they need.
Solving the Economic Crisis
We must also respond to the global economic crisis that this pandemic is causing right now.
First and foremost, we must make sure that anyone who has a job right now receives the paychecks they need and does not lose their income. Think about the millions of workers who are being laid off in the tourism industry, the fast food industry, the restaurant industry, the transportation industry.
These are folks that don’t have a lot of money, as you know. Some 40% of the people in this country cannot afford a $400 emergency. So people are sitting out there thinking, "What am I going to do? How am I going to take care of my family?"
That has got to be the major economic priority we address: how do we take care of the working families of this country?
Small and medium sized businesses, especially those in severely impacted industries such as restaurants, bars, and local retail need immediate relief. We must tell these businesses, who are being forced to lay off their entire staff or possibly even shut down through no fault of their own, that we will not allow them to go out of business. The federal government will work with affected businesses to provide direct payroll costs for small and medium sized businesses to keep workers employed until this crisis has passed.
We must provide direct, emergency $2,000 cash payments to every person in America every month for the duration of the crisis. We are likely already in a recession. Workers are losing income while their bills pile up. We must begin issuing cash payments of $2,000 a month for every person in America to provide households with the assistance they need to pay their bills and take care of their families.
It is key that we get this money out and to families as soon as possible, which means we must make the payments universal with little bureaucracy. For those who will not need their payments, we will partner with organizations to take donations from patriotic families who can contribute their payments to fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
We must also do the following to solve the economic crisis we’re facing:
Expand Unemployment Insurance. We must provide emergency unemployment assistance to anyone who loses their job through no fault of their own. Under this proposal, everyone who loses a job must qualify for unemployment compensation at 100 percent of their prior salary with a cap of $75,000 a year.
Protect non-traditional workers. In addition, those who depend on tips, gig workers, domestic workers, freelancers, and independent contractors shall also qualify for Unemployment Insurance to make up for the income that they lose during this crisis.
Guarantee that no one goes hungry. We need to make sure that seniors, people with disabilities and families with children have access to nutritious food. That means expanding the Meals on Wheels program, the school meals programs, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) so that no one goes hungry during this crisis and everyone who cannot leave their home can receive nutritious meals delivered directly to where they live.
Place an immediate moratorium on evictions, foreclosures, and utility shut-offs, and suspend payment on mortgage loans for primary residencies and utility bills. No one should lose their home during this crisis and everyone must have access to clean water, electricity, heat and air conditioning. And we must restore utility services to any customers who have had their utilities shut off. We must also provide funding for states and localities to provide rental assistance for the duration of the crisis.
Waive all student loan payments for the duration of the emergency. More than 45 million Americans struggle with $1.6 trillion in student debt. We must lift this burden during the crisis and for one month after. Long-term, we must cancel all student debt and make public colleges, universities, and trade schools tuition free and debt free.
Construct emergency shelter and utilize empty or vacant lodging. We must ensure the homeless, survivors of domestic violence and college students quarantined off campus are able to receive the shelter, the health care and the nutrition they need and connect those individuals with social services to ensure nobody is left behind. We must also utilize empty hotel beds and other vacant properties to ensure everyone is safely housed during this crisis.
Use the power of the Federal Reserve to support state and local governments. Through the power granted under section 14(2)(b) of the Federal Reserve Act, the Fed will buy short-term municipal debt securities. This will help stabilize state government finances and provide states and localities the financial support they need to address this health and economic crisis.
Protect farmers. Suspend all Farm Service Agency loan payments to protect farmers during this crisis, extend crop insurance and emergency loans to all affected farmers, extend rural development loans, and expand the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) to both help alleviate hunger throughout the country and support our farmers during this crisis.
Making Sure Our Response is Not a Money-Making Opportunity for Corporate America
Our response to this health and economic crisis cannot be another money-making opportunity for corporate America and Wall Street. We need to ensure no one is profiting off of the economic pain and suffering of our people in crisis.
Bail out working people, not corporate executives. Any emergency credit extensions or loans to insolvent companies or industries as a result of this crisis must come with strict protections and benefits for workers, unions, and customers, not no-strings-attached handouts for executives. During this crisis, we will ban stock buybacks and bonuses for executives. We will put conditions on this financial assistance to make sure that any corporation in America that benefits from emergency aid does not lay off workers, pays workers a livable wage, provides equity to the government, puts workers on corporate boards, and does not rip-off consumers.
Prevent price gouging by pharmaceutical companies. As soon as a coronavirus vaccine is developed it must be sold for free. Further, all prescription drugs that are developed with taxpayer dollars must be sold at a reasonable price. This agency shall use the federal government’s authority to take away patents from pharmaceutical companies that are gouging consumers and allow generic companies to manufacture prescription drugs at a substantially reduced cost. The pharmaceutical industry must be told in no uncertain terms that the medicines that they manufacture for this crisis will be sold at cost. This is not the time for profiteering or price gouging.
Investigate and prosecute price-gougers and corrupt dealings. This agency will have the authority to crack down and prosecute illegal price gouging and corruption. It shall also conduct an independent and transparent audit of all of the emergency financing programs to make sure that American taxpayer dollars are not wasted.
We Are All In This Together
What this country is experiencing right now is something that we have not experienced in the modern history of this country: a pandemic and an economic crisis, threatening the lives and income of millions of people.
I have the strong belief that if we work together, that if we do not turn to fear and panic, but if we understand that the way we solve this is by going forward as one people, remembering those that are hurting tonight and those that will be hurting in the future.
This is the richest country in the history of the world. This is a country with unbelievable energy, unbelievable talent, and with incredible resources. We can address this crisis and minimize the pain.
Again, I look forward to hearing from you as well. Please email us at plan@berniesanders.com to let us know what your ideas are and what you’re experiencing — we are here, and we will be reading replies.
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan (China) after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi (Italy)
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighborhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbors in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again,
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
In terms of potential deaths and the impact on our economy, the crisis we face from coronavirus is on the scale of a major war, and we must act accordingly. We must begin thinking on a scale comparable to the threat, and make sure that we are protecting working people, low-income people, and the most vulnerable communities, not just giant corporations and Wall Street.
Details
1. Empower Medicare to Lead Health Care Response
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will receive all the federal funding necessary to ensure universal emergency health care coverage for all, regardless of income or immigration status. CMS will work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), other federal agencies, and the private sector to centralize information about what’s needed and direct resources to ensure that all health care needs are met at no charge for the duration of this crisis.
Cover all health care treatment for free, including coronavirus testing, treatment, and the eventual vaccine. Under this proposal, Medicare will ensure that everyone in America, regardless of existing coverage, can receive the health care they need during this crisis. We cannot live in a nation where if you have the money you get the treatment you need to survive, but if you’re working class or poor you get to the end of the line. That is morally unacceptable.
Greatly increase our health care capacity to handle a surge in cases. There is a major shortage of ICU units and ventilators that are needed to respond to this crisis. The federal government must work aggressively with the private sector to make sure that this equipment is available to hospitals and the rest of the medical community.
Increase provider capacity. Our current health care system does not have the doctors and nurses we currently need. We are understaffed. During this crisis, we need to mobilize medical residents, retired medical professionals, and other medical personnel to help us deal with this crisis.
Implement successful testing models. Our testing capacity and process has been woefully inadequate. We must massively increase the availability of test kits for the coronavirus and the speed at which the tests are processed. We must look to successful coronavirus testing models in other countries and implement best practices here.
Use the Defense Production Act to mobilize resources. Under this proposal, we will use existing emergency authority to dramatically scale up production in the United States of critical supplies such as masks, ventilators, and protective equipment for health care workers.
Utilize the National Guard, the Army Corp of Engineers and other military resources. Several governors have already called in state National Guard forces. Our armed forces are trained for emergency response and must be immediately activated to build mobile hospitals and testing facilities, assist providers, reopen hospitals that have been shut down and expand our health care capacity in at-risk areas.
Dramatically expand community health centers. Pass emergency funding to dramatically expand access to community health centers which provide primary, dental, and mental health care, as well as low-cost prescription drugs, to nearly 30 million Americans, 63 percent of whom are racial and ethnic minorities. We need to greatly expand our primary health care capabilities in this country, and that includes expanding community health care centers.
Keep health care workers safe. We need to make sure that doctors, nurses and medical professionals have the instructions and personal protective equipment that they need
Ensure federal funding parity for the territories and tribes for any and all health care relief programs.
2. Establish an Emergency Economic Crisis Finance Agency to manage the economic crisis
This emergency agency, modeled after the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, will be empowered to cover affected businesses’ payroll, make zero percent loans and loan guarantees to businesses, finance new construction of factories, emergency shelters, and production of emergency supplies such as masks and ventilators, and create new jobs and economic development. This agency will provide all the necessary funding for fighting this economic crisis.
Keep workers on payroll. Small and medium sized businesses, especially those in severely impacted industries such as restaurants, bars, and local retail need immediate relief. We must tell these businesses, who are being forced to lay off their entire staff or possibly even shut down through no fault of their own, that we will not allow them to go out of business. The federal government will work with affected businesses to provide direct payroll costs for small and medium sized businesses to keep workers employed until this crisis has passed.
We will provide all necessary assistance, including tax deferrals, utility payment suspension, rental assistance, affordable loans, and eviction protection for struggling businesses. When this crisis passes, we will be ready to start our economy up again without the risk of losing the stores and restaurants integral to our communities. None of this financial assistance shall be used for executive bonuses, stock buybacks or profiteering.
Provide direct, emergency $2,000 cash payments to every person in America every month for the duration of the crisis. We are likely already in a recession. Workers are losing income while their bills pile up. We must begin issuing cash payments of $2,000 a month for every person in America to provide households with the assistance they need to pay their bills and take care of their families.
Under this plan, the IRS, the Social Security Administration, the Treasury Department, credit unions, community banks and other financial institutions will work together to make sure this assistance reaches every American as quickly as possible. Millions of Americans are unbanked or underbanked, and hundreds of thousands have no permanent address. We must make sure we are getting this money into the hands of the most vulnerable.
It is key that we get this money out and to families as soon as possible, which means we must make the payments universal with little bureaucracy. For those who will not need their payments, we will partner with organizations to take donations from patriotic families who can contribute their payments to fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
Expand Unemployment Insurance. We must provide emergency unemployment assistance to anyone who loses their job through no fault of their own. Under this proposal, everyone who loses a job must qualify for unemployment compensation at 100 percent of their prior salary with a cap of $75,000 a year.
Protect non-traditional workers. In addition, those who depend on tips, gig workers, domestic workers, freelancers, and independent contractors shall also qualify for Unemployment Insurance to make up for the income that they lose during this crisis.
Guarantee that no one goes hungry. We need to make sure that seniors, people with disabilities and families with children have access to nutritious food. That means expanding the Meals on Wheels program, the school meals programs, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) so that no one goes hungry during this crisis and everyone who cannot leave their home can receive nutritious meals delivered directly to where they live.
Place an immediate moratorium on evictions, foreclosures, and utility shut-offs, and suspend payment on mortgage loans for primary residencies and utility bills. No one should lose their home during this crisis and everyone must have access to clean water, electricity, heat and air conditioning. And we must restore utility services to any customers who have had their utilities shut off. We must also provide funding for states and localities to provide rental assistance for the duration of the crisis.
Waive all student loan payments for the duration of the emergency. More than 45 million Americans struggle with $1.6 trillion in student debt. We must lift this burden during the crisis and for one month after. Long-term, we must cancel all student debt and make public colleges, universities, and trade schools tuition free and debt free.
Construct emergency shelter and utilize empty or vacant lodging. We must ensure the homeless, survivors of domestic violence and college students quarantined off campus are able to receive the shelter, the health care and the nutrition they need and connect those individuals with social services to ensure nobody is left behind. We must also utilize empty hotel beds and other vacant properties to ensure everyone is safely housed during this crisis.
Use the power of the Federal Reserve to support state and local governments. Through the power granted under section 14(2)(b) of the Federal Reserve Act, the Fed will buy short-term municipal debt securities. This will help stabilize state government finances and provide states and localities the financial support they need to address this health and economic crisis.
Protect farmers. Suspend all Farm Service Agency loan payments to protect farmers during this crisis, extend crop insurance and emergency loans to all affected farmers, extend rural development loans, and expand the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) to both help alleviate hunger throughout the country and support our farmers during this crisis.
Ensure federal funding parity for the territories and tribes for any and all economic relief programs.
3. Create an Oversight Agency to Fight Corporate Corruption and Price-Gouging
Our response to this health and economic crisis cannot be another money-making opportunity for corporate America and Wall Street. We need to establish an oversight agency to ensure no one is profiting off of the economic pain and suffering of our people in crisis.
Bail out working people, not corporate executives. Any emergency credit extensions or loans to insolvent companies or industries as a result of this crisis must come with strict protections and benefits for workers, unions, and customers, not no-strings-attached handouts for executives. During this crisis, we will ban stock buybacks and bonuses for executives. We will put conditions on this financial assistance to make sure that any corporation in America that benefits from emergency aid does not lay off workers, pays workers a livable wage, provides equity to the government, puts workers on corporate boards, and does not rip-off consumers.
Prevent price gouging by pharmaceutical companies. As soon as a coronavirus vaccine is developed it must be sold for free. Further, all prescription drugs that are developed with taxpayer dollars must be sold at a reasonable price. This agency shall use the federal government’s authority to take away patents from pharmaceutical companies that are gouging consumers and allow generic companies to manufacture prescription drugs at a substantially reduced cost. The pharmaceutical industry must be told in no uncertain terms that the medicines that they manufacture for this crisis will be sold at cost. This is not the time for profiteering or price gouging.
Investigate and prosecute price-gougers and corrupt dealings. This agency will have the authority to crack down and prosecute illegal price gouging and corruption. It shall also conduct an independent and transparent audit of all of the emergency financing programs to make sure that American taxpayer dollars are not wasted.
To maintain and even improve your health in this viral pandemic,
we need to be aware of some important things. This is an opportunity to raise
consciousness on truly staying healthy. The allopathic medical system has its
focus eliminating and destroying the “invaders” with tactics for fighting
pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites. They can only offer a
vaccine which is not available for this COVID-19 virus.
Naturopathic philosophy gives us something deeper, wiser, tried
and true:support the organism.People who get very sick and sometimes die are
those whose immunity is challenged or not fully functioning, as in infants and
young children. Their immune systems are often not completely developed.
As humans age, poor immune response occurs as this system
declines, becoming less robust to resist the attacks of viruses and other
pathogens. In persons with chronic illness commonly seen over the age of 50-60,
immune defense is busy dealing with that disease. Additionally, decreased good nutrition
will contribute to poor immune response; the body has less ability to ward off
or moderate a disease like the flu.
What I offer here is a more
complete approach to not only good hand washing and other hygienic practices,
but a full approach for increasing immune function. Here are my naturopathic
suggestions for enhancing health.
1. Sleep well. It is the most important practice to promote
healing. The body
heals itself while we sleep. Many
studies have verified this fact. Don’t cheat on sleepand do make up for lost sleep if it happens.
2. Reduce all SUGARS. This means all simple carbohydrates (white
bread, cookies, candy, cakes, ice cream, etc.) Almost all packaged/processed foods contain ingredients unfavorable to health.
3. Moderate stress. Our western culture is very stressful,
offering little to no recovery
time. Animals in the wild are great teachers of relaxation after a stressful
event. Take time to meditate, walk in nature, laugh, socialize and find joy. These are essential keys for wellness.
4. Hydration:and make it onlywater. Dehydration or caffeinated drinksaddto the stress on the immune
cells.
5. Reduce alcohol. Alcohol is dehydrating; it contains sugars and
burdens the liver,
which processesthe toxins found alcohol.
6. Nutrition is essential. Eat many fresh fruits and vegetables,and the more colorful the better. All berries
are excellent; colorful veggies like red and orange peppers, purple potatoes
and carrots of all colors, all dark greens and red tomatoes are just a few of
many choices. Try adding in colorful yellow/orange squashes.
7. Fermented foods. Foods that are fermented directly support
immunity. Immune cells line the entire Gastro-intestinal tract (called Secretory
IgA). These cells help eliminate the threatening pathogens found in foods or
anything we put into our mouth. Examples of fermented foods: yogurt (watch out
for highly sugared yogurts), sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, miso, are the most
available items. Taking a well formulated pro-biotic at least 50 billion a day
is helpful. The body has a microbiome (all gut bacteria) that is also part of
immune function.
8. Vitamin D is really a hormone, and needed for immune function.
Get your level checked and take 2-5,000 IU’s a day. Here is a site where you
can do your own testing: https://www.grassrootshealth.net
9. Zinc is an essential mineral for immunity, take 20-30 mg a day.
10. Vitamin C 1,000 mg time release with bioflavonoids daily.
11. Mushroom Immune Formula that has several mushrooms, 2-3 times
a week
12. Elderberry (Sambucas nigra) one teaspoon syrup daily
Don’t doubt that the body is resilient and can heal.
NOTE ABOUT DISINFECTANTS: There are other substances that are also
effective in eliminating bacteria and viruses. Repeated use of toxic chemical
can be a problem. One such agent is
thymol oil. It comes from the thyme plant and it has been shown to be quite
effective in green cleaning and disinfection.
Historically, health and disease control has evolved from improved hygiene via
public health measures. Hence the great importance of hand washing. Just do it
more often in this pandemic. Anti-bacterial soaps are not more effective, just do 20 seconds of vigorous
hand rubbing with soap under running water.
What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.
And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives
are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.
Promise this world your love--
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live.
Lynette Yetter (Quiniapac) makes Music, Movies, Books and Art to inspire you.
Lynette played panpipes on the Academy Award Nominated documentary, "Recycled Life."
According to Northeast Intune Magazine, "If you can imagine what air, water, fire, and earth sound like in music notes, then you can imagine what Lynette Yetter’s songs sound like. ... spiritual in nature and have a worldly richness ... makes humans one with nature through the vibrations echoing in the bamboo reeds ... Her music gives nature its own expressive sound."
One song she turned into an award winning music video - Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. The video shot up to #1 on a viewer requested television playlist.
Lynette has recorded two CDs (in Los Angeles and in Bolivia) - "Music of the Andes and More...," and "Inka Spirit".
You can get inspired with her novel, "Lucy Plays Panpipes for Peace", her creative nonfiction book "72 Money Saving Tips for the 99%", and her PEN Award for Poetry in Translation finalist bilingual book "Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose"
