"This too shall pass"

“This Too Shall Pass”

I would like to share with you this Parable that caught my eye while doing meditation and researching about the challenging times we are facing.

There was a King and he once said to his court sages. “I have a ring which has one of the finest diamonds in the world. I want to hide a message under the stone so it will be useful in times of despair. I will give this ring to my heirs as I want to serve them faithfully. I urge you to come up with a message to be inscribed under the diamond. It must be short so it will fit under the ring”.

The sages knew how to write papers but could not express themselves in one short sentence. They tried hard but could not come up with any idea.

The King complained about the failure of his venture to a faithful old servant who had raised him since infancy and was part of the family. The old man said to him: “I am not a sage, I am not educated, but I know of such a message. During the many years I lived in the palace I met a lot of people. Once, I served a visiting Mystic whom your father invited, and he passed me this message. Just do not read it, put it inside the ring and read it at the time when there is no way out at all”

The King listened to the old servant.

After some time, the enemies attacked the country and the King lost the war. He fled on his horse and his enemies pursued him. He was alone, they were many. He drove to the end of the road, where there was a big cliff standing before him. If he fell, it would be the end. But he could not go back, as the enemies were approaching, he could hear the clatter of their horses’ hooves. He had no way out; he was in complete despair.

Then he remembered the ring. He opened it, and under the stone, found an inscription of three words: “This too Shall Pass”.

After reading the message he realized that everything was quiet. Apparently, the pursuers were lost and proceeded in the wrong direction, their horses no longer heard.

The King was filled with gratitude to the servant and the unknown mystic. Words were powerful. He closed the ring and hit the road. Again, he gathered his army and reconquered his estate.

As he returned to the Palace, his servants arranged a lavish welcoming for him – a feast for the whole country. People loved their King; he was happy and proud.

The old servant came up to him and softly said: “Even this moment will pass. Look at the message again” “Now I am a winner,” the King said, “People are celebrating my return; I am not in despair”

“Listen to the old servant”, the man answered, “it works not only in bad times, but also in good”. The King opened the ring and read: “This too Shall Pass”.

Again, a deep silence fell all around him, although he was in the midst of a noisy dancing crowd. Every feeling of pride and entitlement disappeared. The King understood the message. He was a wise man. And then the old servant said, “Do you remember everything that happened to you? Nothing is permanent. No feeling stays. As night changes day, moments of joy and despair replace one another. Accept them as the nature of things, as part of life”

* * * * *

Over the past four months, we have experienced cascading fears about the pandemic. We are rightly scared for our health, our families, our communities, our livelihoods, and our financial future. There is little we can do to combat this threat, save the mundane tasks of washing hands, using masks, sanitizing and self-quarantining. The full impact on our daily lives and the economy are still to be determined.

Knowing that our society has survived the depths of affliction (wars, terrorism, recessions, and other pandemics), should give us some solace…” this too shall pass”.

With every challenge comes incredible opportunities for growth and this is how I encourage you to look at this situation. It can be very tempting to let fear, worry, and anxiety control our mind.

I am guilty of this myself…If I catch myself checking the news too often or being glued to social media… I notice an energy of panic all over my body.

In times like this I try and step back, watch my thoughts, feel my emotions, and breathe. This helps me put my body, mind, and spirit in a state of Trust, knowing that “this too shall pass”.

Viruses, pathogens, and bacteria have and always will be part of our human experience.

Nature is nature…

Inside us and all around us, friendly and unfriendly microbes will always exist. We as humans need to come across these microbes to grow well...we need them to build immunity, this is “how” we build immunity.

When our body encounters foreign substances, learns how to defend himself; therefore a virus free environment is not only unnatural to us humans but also counterproductive for our survival. If we continue to over sanitize our daily life, we are going to be killing beneficial bacteria too, and as a result, our immune system will get weaker, lowering our ability to fight infection.

By this I do not mean to go out carelessly and mingle with large crowds or live against the rules imposed by our local authorities. I do think we need to social distance, wear masks when entering larger and unknown areas. We need to use our common sense. We need to take care of ourselves, to be able to take care of others.

Our children need to go back to School, be with their teachers and friends, we cannot isolate them to avoid “contracting the virus”. They need this interaction, and we as parents also need our space to grow and continue with our life that has been placed on hold four months ago. They will get sick and get a cold, after all they are children. It is the way of life, so instead of isolating them, we need to focus on better ways to live in harmony with this “new normal”.

We need to build a stronger immune system, this is not difficult, and as I always say “when our immune system is working the way it should be …we will be able to stay healthy and protect ourselves against whatever life throws our way”

We need to focus on:

Diet

The healthier the intestinal tract is, the more controlled the inflammatory response will be. Healthy fiber is the best way to achieve this. Have your family eat as many vegetables, greens, fruits, as possible. Onions and garlic not only have amazing antibacterial and anti-viral properties, cook with them. but they are also the best prebiotic foods around. Use ginger root and turmeric root, both have proven amazing anti-inflammatory qualities, try adding them into your diet during this time of stress to help give your immune system a little boost. Add them to soups, smoothies, tea.

Sleep

Getting quality rest is one of the best ways to boost your immune system. During sleep, the body heals and repairs itself. Not allowing your body this much-needed restoration can significantly impact the body’s ability to fight off infection.

Water

Water helps to carry oxygen to your body cells, which results in properly functioning systems. It also works in removing toxins from the body, so drinking more (68 oz. or 2 litter per day) water could help prevent toxins from building up and having a negative impact on your immune system. I highly recommend drinking first time in the morning a full glass of 16 oz. water with a squeezed lemon. It will help our liver flush the toxins collected through the night, and gives it the hydration needed to begin our day ( you can add a teaspoon if raw honey and ginger if you wish).

Exercise

Physical activity helps flush bacteria out of the lungs and airways. This may reduce your chance of getting a cold, flu, or other illness. Exercise causes change in antibodies and white blood cells. White blood cells are the body's immune system army to fight disease.

Go for a walk around your house, swim (if you can get to a safe pool), go and bike, go for a short run. Move your body.

Sun

Regular sun exposure is one of the most robust ways to up active Vitamin-D levels in our body, it can help boost up your immune system as well. Getting early morning sun and evening sun is a great way to do this. It also helps to regulate your circadian rhythm… so your daytime and nighttime hormones will be more balanced. This will help you sleep better and boost your immunity.

Breathe

Perhaps most important of all is that we create a state of peace within our body. One of the best ways to do this is through mindful breathing. The more stressed we are the weaker our immune system will be. The calmer and more relaxed we are the stronger our immune system will be.

Just remember to breath, when we are frightened, scared, or stressed we forget to breath and this accumulates toxins in our blood system. Just remember to breath.

Connection

One of the biggest challenges we are already facing is “social distancing.” This means we cannot hug each other or even interact face to face like we’re used to. We are social and emotional creatures who are hardwired for connection. “We are meant to be in tribes and living life together”.

It is important that we still connect with the people we love and communities that lift us up. Please use technology with platforms such as Zoom, Facetime,… to help cultivate connection. We must stick together and not completely isolate ourselves.

Like the Parable at the beginning always remember “This too Shall Pass”