SELF PSYCHOANALYSIS IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

I’m finding that sheltering in place provides many opportunities for self psychoanalysis & I’ve been doing quite a bit of that lately. Back in the 1970’s, I met a brilliant man who became a great friend & teacher & he helped me understand the value of taking one’s time & considering all options before taking action.

From what I can tell, there is something in most of us, particularly males, that has us want to engage in words & deeds & make things happen. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with behaving this way, it offer ignores other possibilities that might be available. Basically, we get locked into perceiving life situations in certain ways & responding to those situations in ways that we develop over time. It turns out that cognitive dissonance & the unwillingness to accept new & better information is much stronger than I would have ever imagined.

My brilliant friend called this part of the contemplative process as “taking inventory” & he’d start by finding one thing in his life for which he was grateful. Once he found the 1st one, he’d keep adding to it until he felt much more gratitude for his entire life.

At times like this, I re-examine some of those truths to see how they are standing the test of time. Years ago, I decided I wanted to find out everything I could about love & much to my amazement, I have been unable to find anything more powerful, interesting, exciting & wonderful than love. I have also learned that acting in anger usually produces unfortunate results, so I do my absolute best to avoid doing that.

I’ve also come to recognize that, over the last few weeks, I’ve sunk into something of a creative funk, a time when it’s been difficult to write & to get other things done. Usually, around 7:00 pm, I feel surprisingly tired & grateful to kick back in a warm bed.

I also recognize that we are all living in a time of rapidly changing realities & living in that state of being can be totally exhausting & confusing. Part of the ongoing problem is that, as far as we know, nobody seems to have a clue regarding if & when this set of circumstances might change for the better.

My favorite burger joint is about a 10 minute walk from where I live & they have a killer happy hour & very pretty waitresses. When I think about going there in the near future, the thought of seeing everybody in masks does nothing for me at all. In fact, the whole thing with rushing people back to schools, restaurants, churches, etc. seems like an action that’s going to spread the disease to many more people.

Here’s hoping that everybody is doing well & staying healthy! Much love!