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Category: RESILIENCE

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A Community Remembers – 11 November 2023

I had the privilege of attending the Hammonds Plains-Upper Hammonds Plains-Lucasville Remembrance Day ceremony today on the traditional “11th Month, 11th Day, 11th Hour” at the Hammonds Plains Cenotaph. I have attended Remembrance Day/Remembrance Sunday ceremonies around the world: Glace Bay, Wolfville, Royal Artillery Park Halifax, Bedford, Dartmouth in Nova Scotia; Base Lahr, West Germany; Base Petawawa, National War Memorial and Royal Canadian Artillery Memorial, Ottawa, Toronto, Base Trenton, Quinte West, and Frankford in Ontario; Base Gagetown, Fredericton, and Mactaquac, New Brunswick; Sonaguera, Colon, Honduras; Base Chilliwack, British Columbia; RAF St. Magwan in the United Kingdom (in a sleet storm so vicious that the Grade 4 Piper’s pipes squealed); Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (during a UN tour); and at shortly after dawn at the Commonwealth Graves Cemetery in Djibouti City, Djibouti due to the Al Shabab/Al-Qaeda terrorist threat to avoid being there at “the 11th Hour.” I have seen many, many variations on a theme with numerous nations – and today I was impressed.

Our mixed rural, suburban, and very dispersed Community, has been through significant traumatic events in the past 15 months with COVID-19, Hurricane Fiona, the Fires of June 2023, and the Floods of July 2023. The organizing committee orchestrated a moving, inclusive ceremony which recognized the contributions of service women, the Indigenous Mi’kmaq Community, the local Lucasville Black Nova Scotian Community, and serving CAF members, and Veterans. The formal parade was led by 3 Military Police Regiment, supported by 2632 Halifax-West Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps, and 250 Royal Canadian Air Cadet Corps. Our Member of Parliament, our Member of the (Provincial) Legislative Assembly, and our District 13 Councilor of the Halifax Regional Municipality attended as did senior leaders of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) Police Department and the HRM Fire and Emergency Services. Approximately 1000 Community members attended during a brisk, cold morning with occasional rain squalls. The ceremony began with thanks to the brave members of the First Responder Community which did so much in mitigating the effects of the devastating fires, floods, and hurricanes of the past year.

One of the most impressive aspects of the ceremony is the cenotaph (Memorial number 12005-013). Installed in 2006 and dedicated in 2016, the cenotaph’s design harkens back to the Canadian “Brooding Soldier” Memorial at Ypres, Belgium, which was erected following the First World War. The cenotaph also recognizes the contributions of the Canadian Army, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Merchant Navy, and Allied Forces. There are huge stones along a path adorned with plaques which recognize Nova Scotian winners of the Victoria Cross, Canadian Peacekeepers in Cyprus, and the Merchant Navy. The circle around the cenotaph is adorned at ground level with the names of local people who have served in war, conflict, and peacekeeping. What makes this cenotaph truly unique is that there are time capsules around the cenotaph containing soil from Vimy Ridge, France; Juno Beach, France; RAF Station Perranporth; Kapyong, Korea; Camp Julian, Afghanistan; salt water from the Atlantic Ocean; and a medicine bag from the Mi’kmak Community. “Lest We Forget” is displayed in English, French, and Mi’kmaq. The care and respect for all members of our Community for Veterans, past and present is evident. I feel proud to be a member of this Community.

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Remembrance Week 2023

Once again I have an opportunity to reflect more deeply on the nature of remembrance in my life. While I think about war and conflict on a daily basis as a defence consultant and as someone who lives with PTSD, my thoughts always become more focused in the last week of October and the first week of November. For most of my life, my thoughts focused on the Second World War service of my father, grandfather, and father-in-law. More recently, I think about the service of friends and colleagues who are starting to leave our Earthly experience with the passage of time and accumulated service-related injuries. This afternoon I will be attending the funeral services for a colleague who I served with in 1st Field Artillery Regiment in Halifax, Nova Scotia from 1988 to 1990. I was a relatively young Captain, and he was a middle-aged Warrant Officer. We were both members of the “Regular Force Cadre” (RFC) within this storied Primary Reserve unit. The RFC was expected to support the Reserve Commanding Officer in ensuring that his unit used the most up to date technical drills and tactics within the context of their resource challenges. The RFC was also expected to model professional behaviour. I inherited a rather challenging circumstance in which these lines were blurred in a unit wherein personal relationships often trumped rank. It could have been a miserable posting, but it turned out to be one of my favourites, in no small part due to the unflinching support and loyalty I had from my older colleague. I think of selflessness in service when I think of him. RIP Jerry, END OF MISSION, Good Shooting, STAND EASY, your example will remain with me for the rest of my life.

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RRB #8 – “NIGHTBIRDE HAS FLOWN”

The world has just lost a beautiful soul. America’s Got Talent (AGT) singer Jane Marczeswki – a.k.a. “Nightbirde,” died Sunday 20 February 2022 after a four-year battle with metastasizing breast cancer. Her last seven months were especially courageous, as she shared her fight with cancer with the world.

AGT

Nightbirde burst onto the world entertainment stage in July 2021 when she wowed the AGT judges with her original song “It’s Okay” about her struggle with cancer and her determination to live life to the fullest in whatever time she had left. Nightbirde won the hearts of the AGT judges and many viewers with her clear-eyed discussion of her condition, and her lack of self pity. She told the judges that she had a 2% chance of surviving, but added that “2% is not zero percent.” Jane gained further sympathy when she revealed that her husband of five years had divorced her in the middle of her treatments. When queried how she copes with the pain and the exhausting treatments she replied, “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore to decide to be happy.”

“It’s Okay”

Her rendition of her original song “It’s Okay” moved the judges to tears and earned her the “Golden Buzzer,” which guaranteed her passage to the Hollywood phase of the show. It was not to be. Jane withdrew from the show within a month as her cancer returned. She quipped, “I bet you never saw someone win so hard and lose so hard at the same time. This isn’t how the story was supposed to go.”

“Finding God on the Bathroom Floor”

Nightbirde caught my attention with her clear-eyed determination to not let the cancer dictate the remainder of her life. Her blog posts displayed exhaustion mixed with optimism. She once blogged of “finding God on the bathroom floor” as she spent the night alternately vomiting and sleeping with her head in the toilet.

YouTube Sensation

Jane continued to blog sporadically as her condition allowed, gaining ground, enjoying life, and then falling back as her aggressive cancer continued to advance. Her AGT audition video has had 39 million views on YouTube – and counting.

Yoga Mantras

I became a staunch fan, willing her to live as her roller-coaster journey continued. I began to play her music to end my yoga classes in Fall 2021. “It’s Okay” and “Fly” became my “go-to’s.” The first when I wanted to end the class on a contemplative note and the second to encourage my students to go grab life with both hands and never let go. Sometimes I would join her on the High C of “Fly.”

“Fly”

Fly high, Nightbirde, fly high. Soar to the Source. Save me a front row seat for your next concert.

I am not crying, you’re crying. Sniff…Courage always gets me.

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RRB #7 – Mark McMorris

The sports world – and most people – love an Olympic “hero overcomes adversity” story, and another Canadian snowboard team member – Mark McMorris fits the template perfectly.  

At Sochi 2014 Winter Games, McMorris won the Bronze Medal in the Olympic debut of snowboard slopestyle for Canada’s first medal of the Games. That came just two weeks after he had broken a rib at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado.  This was just the first major injury in a string of injuries that were to follow. 

In February 2016, he broke his right femur in a crash landing at a Big Air competition in Los Angeles. Off his snowboard for eight months, Mark had a fantastic  comeback in 2016-17,  including winning the Big Air World Cup – a test event for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics. Unfortunately in late March 2017 he sustained multiple injuries in a backcountry snowboarding accident, including fractures to his jaw, left arm, pelvis and ribs as well as a ruptured spleen and collapsed left lung.  Despite the severity of his injuries Mark made yet another comeback. He won the first competition he entered, a Big Air World Cup in Beijing in late November 2017. He went on to win his second straight slopestyle Bronze Medal in the PyeongChang 2018 Games, sharing the podium with Silver Medallist teammate Max Parrot.

Mark’s painful recovery continued after the 2018 Games. Among the various surgical procedures, he underwent  “hardware removal from my femur and my jaw.”  Mark observed that given all his injuries it has been a lot of work just to get moving some days. 

“Physically, I’m doing amazing, but it would be better if I didn’t break 17 bones four years ago,” McMorris said. “I’m so thankful to be where I am.”

Mark’s secret sauce – gratitude that he can bounce back – and win. His is the only Olympian to win three consecutive Bronze Medals in the same event.

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RRB #6 – Max Parrot

The sports world – and most people – love an Olympic hero overcomes adversity story. Canadian Max Parrot won gold in snowboard slopestyle on Monday 7 February at the Beijing Olympics, upgrading from the silver he won at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. In between his trips to podiums, Parrot, of Bromont, Que., was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which necessitated his missing the entire 2018-19 season. Now, just over three years later, he stood atop the Olympic podium with Canada’s first gold medal of these Beijing Games.

Parrot was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in late 2018, but in July 2019 announced he was cancer-free. After Parrot learned of his blood cancer, he underwent 12 rounds of chemotherapy over six months during which he said he shaved his head, developed an aversion to lattes and was generally taken out of training. Just two months after completing his chemotherapy later, he competed at the X Games in Norway at the end of August 2019 where he won gold in the big air. He followed that up in December with big air gold at the World Cup in Beijing and then in January 2020 with big air gold at the X Games in Aspen. In March 2020 he won slopestyle gold and big air silver at the X Games in Norway. In 2021, Parrot competed at his first FIS World Championships where he won silver in big air behind Canadian teammate Mark McMorris.

“So much went by in those last four years,” an emotional Parrot told BBC Sport. “The last time I was at the Olympics, in Pyeongchang, I got a silver medal, and then I had to go through cancer. It was a nightmare – it’s so hard to describe what I’ve been through.” It really just shows how anything is possible. Three years ago, I was laying down in a hospital bed. You have no cardio, you have no energy, you have no muscles.  To be back out here, at the Olympics, on a podium again but with a gold medal, it feels amazing.” 

As he had entered the slopestyle competition in tenth position, Parrot made a vow to “go big or go home,” throwing all caution to the wind – and landed three triple rotations.
“I laid down the best run of my entire life …. I’m so proud of every feature, how I was able to clear them, and I’m really stoked with my score.”

As he had entered the slopestyle competition in tenth position, Parrot made a vow to “go big or go home,” throwing all caution to the wind – and landed three triple rotations.
I laid down the best run of my entire life …. I’m so proud of every feature, how I
was able to clear them, and I’m really stoked with my score.

Perhaps Parrot’s secret is his gratitude for being able to beat a frequently fatal disease. “Every time I step on my snowboard, I smile twice as much as before and it just transplanted into my training.” 

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MINDFULNESS BASIC COURSE – CANCELLATION NOTICE

Unfortunately, I must cancel Koru Basic Mindfulness Course (IMA 5586) effective immediately. I have not received sufficient applications to officially conduct the course.

I intend to conduct subsequent courses oriented toward organizations vice canvassing for individual registrations, e.g. retirement home residents, Not-For-Profit organizations, schools, places of worship, service clubs, government agencies, and for private businesses. I may co-teach with an American colleague if they receive sufficient registrations. My tentative plan is to open another course for registration in mid-February, but this date is subject to change.

In the interim, the need for mindfulness and insight meditation remains for many people during “COVID Wave 5.” Here are some free guided-meditations to help people in their personal journeys:

https://student.korumindfulness.org/free-guided-meditations.html

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MINDFULNESS HERO OR MINDLESS A$$HOLE?

Marcus Tullius Cicero (3 January 106 B.C./BCE – 7 December 43 B.C./BCE) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher. He left behind a tremendous opus (trans. Lat. body of work) that includes treatises on rhetoric, philosophy and politics. Cicero is considered one of Rome’s greatest orators and authors. He wrote more than three-quarters of extant Latin literature that is known to have existed in his lifetime, and it has been said that all subsequent prose was either a reaction against or a return to his style, not only in Latin but in European languages up to the 19th century. The peak of Cicero’s prestige was during the 18th-century Enlightenment, during his impact on leading Enlightenment thinkers and political theorists such as John Locke, David Hume, Montesquieu and Edmund Burke was substantial. Cicero’s standing as one of the towering intellects of Western Civilization has lasted over 2000 years.

Cicero is remembered in mindfulness circles for his beautifully composed reminder to be grateful for whatever life brings us (trans.), “Gratitude is the principal virtue, and the prerequisite for all the others.” This phrase is available for download on numerous mindfulness, stoic, leadership, and resilience building sites. This beautifully worded quote is even available as an A4 Size Parchment Card Poster Quotation inspirational poster for college dorm rooms. One might think that he represented the flower of Roman civility and gentility. One would be wrong – Cicero was a lot more complicated than that.

Gifted with an agile brain, Cicero was able to eviscerate opponents in the law courts, in the Roman Senate, and in the public square. If he had limited himself to public life, he might have survived to influence Western Civilization through his writing and rhetoric for a decade or two more.

Cicero was also a cunning, occasionally cruel man who made enemies easily. Following the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C./BCE, his enmity against Caesar’s son Octavius and Caesar’s friend Mark Anthony created the circumstances that led to his death. This account is well known. The lesser-known causes of his demise are much less befitting of his noble stature.

One of Cicero’s enemies was the nobleman Clodius, who came to hate Cicero after Cicero had defended a young man in a breech of promise case brought to the courts by Clodius’ sister. Cicero won the case by shredding the young woman’s reputation in obscene and mocking terms. Cicero as able to circulate in society due to the protection of a debt collector turned muscleman named Milo and members of his protection gang. Cicero had Milo appointed as a Roman Senator for his services.

On 18 January 52 B.C./BCE there was an altercation between two large parties led by Milo and Clodius along the Appian Way. The altercation was fatal for Clodius, who was stabbed more than a dozen times by Milo’s men. Cicero defended Milo in court, and while he was convicted, Cicero’s eloquence led to banishment rather than a death sentence. Milo went on to enjoy the remainder of his days in Marseilles in Gaul, i.e. modern-day southern France.

Cicero’s past eventually caught up with him on 7 December 43 B.C./BCE. Two of Mark Anthony’s men, a centurion and a tribune cornered Cicero leaving his villa at Formia, heading to take a ship to Macedonia. Cicero did not resist arrest, and ever eloquent, his last words were “Ego vero consisto. Accede, veterane, et, si hoc saltim potes recte facere, incide cervicem.” (Trans. Lat. “I go no further: approach, veteran soldier, and, if you can at least do so much properly, sever this neck.”) The centurion not only severed Cicero’s head, he also severed his hands.

Cicero’s head was nailed to the rostra in the Forum in Rome. Legend has it that Clodius’s widow approached the head and stuck a needle in the tongue that had brought her family so much grief. (With apologies to Mark Anthony and his wife Fulvia, who is mentioned by other authors as the deliverer this ultimate after-death insult). (Fulvia is also the gleeful figure in the painting above, “Fulvia With The Head Of Cicero” by Pavel Svedomsky). 

So dear readers – your verdict – a Mindfulness Hero or a Mindless A$$hole?

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RRB #5 – MLK

17 January is Martin Luther King (MLK) Day in the United States of America. MLK Day is marked with tributes to the late Reverend Dr. King, and with reflections on the states of civil rights, i.e. minority group voting rights. This solemn anniversary has taken on greater importance in the past year with pending legislation to expand voting rights in the U.S.A., and with an active campaign to restrict such rights. Dr. King was assassinated 4 April 1968. Had he lived he would be 93 years old today.

MLK is best-known for his 28 August 1963 speech, “I Have a Dream,” delivered at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom Rally from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The speech was a rejuvenating moment for the Civil Rights Movement vitalizing tired campaign workers and gaining much sympathy for the plight of African Americans. MLK was named TIME Magazine Man of the Year in 1963 and he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He is regarded as a hero by many Americans and by many people around the World. Despite the respect which his name invokes today MLK had many enemies during his life, which led to his assassination. The question most pertinent for readers of this blog on resilience building might be “How did he stand the pressure?” and “Why Did He Succeed?”

There are numerous facets to resilience: knowing capabilities and limitations, knowing how to give meaning to your life by creating your existential projects, dealing with negative emotions, and knowing how to set emotional boundaries between yourself and your problems without isolating or ignoring them. Of course, self-confidence, the ability to balance one’s need for affection with the attitude of helping others, and a sense of humour also help to reframe difficulties as challenges rather than tragedies.

I offer that MLK’s greatest assets were Commitment: The ability to commit to values and to help others, and Morality and Ethics, i.e. maintaining coherence and unity between what you say and what you do, based on solid principles. Now in full transparency there are detractors who will mention marital infidelity on his part, however, the arena in which he led was civil rights, in which he truly did share the risks of his fellow Civil Rights organizers and his followers. MLK led the 385-day Montgomery Bus Boycott, he was the first President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC),he led the Birmingham Campaign in which water cannons and attack dogs were used by police, and he was instrumental in organizing the Great March on Washington at which he delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech.

I see MLK’s leadership style as being similar to those of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, in that he knew that armed resistance was futile in the face of superior numbers – and police firepower. He could have become a violent revolutionary in the style of Ché Guevara as a leader in the Black Panthers. His decision to take the non-violent moral path embarrassed the United States on the world stage and led to the eventual expansion of the franchise. His phrase, “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend” proved to be the way forward in establishing voting rights for minorities.

Let us hope that the contemporary trend in the U.S.A. to limit voting rights under the banner of “voter fraud’ is seen for the canard that it is.

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3 Upcoming Programs for 2022

Three exciting new programs starting this week:

1) Tuesday 18 January 2022, 08:30 to 09:15 AM – Yoga Fix 45 at Breathing Space Yoga Studio Tantallon:  https://www.breathingspaceyogastudio.ca/tantallon-schedule

2) Tuesday 18 January 2022, 07:30 to 08:30 PM –  Online “Vinyassa Yoga with Ian” at Tone &  Strengthen LLC of Furlong, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. : https://toneandstrengthen.com/events/vinyasa-yoga-with-ian/?occurrence=2022-01-18

3) Wednesday 19 January 2022, 07:00 to 08:15 PM – Online Koru Basic Mindfulness Course. Registration:  https://student.korumindfulness.org/course-detail.html?course_id=5875

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POST HOLIDAY HABIT HACKS

2021 was a tough, emotional roller coaster of a year as COVID-19 provided a Second, Third, and a Fourth Wave. Just when we thought it might be safe to resume our routines, the Fifth Wave – Omicron – arrived at the start of the 2021 Holiday Season. For many people, new disappointment compounds older disappointment. Key questions at year-end 2021/early 2022 might be “Where are we?” and “Where do we go from here?”

Why Environment Based Habits Often Fail

Trying to predict the COVID – driven availability of restaurants, schools, shopping malls, and gymnasiums is challenging, and will frequently lead to disappointment. If you cannot control the environment you must find new ways of perceiving your environment. For example, pandemic-related uncertainty makes New Year’s Resolutions such as more quality gym time difficult to maintain when the gym is closed, or it closes so frequently that you are reluctant to commit to a three, six, or twelve-month membership. The same might be said of starting a quilting class, a new language, a new relationship, or a new job. If we cannot depend on a stable external environment, how might we move ahead with healthy habits?

Healthy Responses to Losing the Old Environment

Habits are conditioned by the environment in which they are formed, and if the environment changes the habits can be lost. The loss of a favourite gym spin class, yoga studio, or pottery shop and quilt guild can be disorienting for many people. It is all too easy to dwell on what you have lost. Negative Thoughts can occupy your brain – so that you can feel sad, worried, angry, and anxious. This uncertain state is when unhealthy habits may embed, habits such as:

• Eating without prior planning because it feels good;
• Procrastinating because you are too overwhelmed to even get started;
• Lying in bed all day because you are “just too tired to do anything;”
• Surfing the Net or watching TV all day because you “just don’t feel like doing anything;”
•Using alcohol, marijuana, or other substances to “calm” or “stimulate” your brain;
• OR …. fill in the blank with whatever habit that doesn’t serve your best interests.

The Way Ahead – Develop a Future Focus

“Break old patterns that no longer serve you” is easy to say, but it is hard to do alone. You are more likely to succeed if you have a multi-layered strategy, including an “accountability coach,” and habit-building routines.

Accountability…find:

• AN EXPERT COACH. If possible, try person-to-person, with allowances for social distancing, masks, etc. However, COVID-19 has made using the Internet normal. You can easily find an:

o Online local gym, studio, or guild.
o YouTube has thousands of free videos on every subject under the sun.

• ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER(s):
o This might be your coach or your teacher, but it works better if you have a peer sharing the same experiences with you.
o Having one partner, or two, or ten helps keep you coming back for more sessions for social reasons. Nothing builds an accountability community better than having a chance to mutually gripe about the weather, if outside, or that perky teacher if in an online class.
o If you absolutely must, deputize a family member or friend that you respect enough to NOT rebel if they do call you to account.

Habit Building

• CREATE your own Micro-Environment. Create what ancient monks called the sanctum, sanctorum – “The Holy of Holies” – your private place, in which you find more space for your spirit to expand than you would outside. This may be your basement, your garage, your spare room – wherever you feel totally at home – and without distractions. Leave your phone outside your private space unless you are watching an instructional video.

• PUT MONEY where your mouth is:
o INVEST money in decorating your private space so you have financial “skin in the game,” and you want to make it worth your investment. Posters, workout charts, quilt photos, framed quotes from “thought leaders.”
o BUY that yoga mat, barbell, or sewing machine that you have being thinking about for months (or years).
o TACK the sales receipt where you can see it as a reminder of your commitment. (Lots of well-intentioned stationary bikes, yoga mats, and cross-country skis start to gather dust after a month of activity).

• THROW MUD on the Wall.
o DON’T WAIT to pick the ‘perfect time’ – it’s never going to happen.
o PUT your finger on the calendar and on a time slot – and just do it.
o ADJUST the day/precise time later if it proves to be unmanageable. Do NOT think that you have failed, MEASURE, ADJUST, MOVE ON.

• Time Based Habits. Routine is one of the best ways of controlling your perception of a situation. Knowing what is coming next is comforting, it facilitates planning, and it reduces mental stress.
• Eat with workouts or classes in mind.
• Fitness watches, such as a Fit-Bit or Apple Watch can help to keep you on schedule. Remember to turn the volume down at work or home to not disrupt others who may come to resent being reminded of your schedule.
• Sleep is the master-key. Same time to bed, same time to rise whenever possible.
o DISCONNECT from electronic devices 90 minutes before bed.
• When you get off schedule, DO NOT quit. The very essence of mindfulness is noting that you have drifted off your path. Simply get back on the path – without judgement and start again.
• BE PATIENT. Habit formation guidelines vary. You may read, 21, 45, 60, 90 days as the magic number. Just accept that it will take awhile and keep going. Consistency is the key.

Small Steps – Micro Habits Support Major Change

• Ambush your laziness with Visual Cues. Before bed – Put your sports, yoga mat, pottery kiln, quilting equipment where you can see it, even if you have to trip over it or step over it to remind yourself to just do it.
• Match the brain with the action. Turn off the Thinking Brain. Stop talking about it and do it. When you get up – don’t think, don’t talk, don’t check your email, just do one set of whatever – and then go pee.
• Pre-plan and PRACTICE your immediate actions (IA). If you feel yourself spinning off into “I am too tired” or “I am too busy,” etc. have an IA ready to go.
o PLAY your go-to psych up song.
o GO OUT for a 5 -minute walk.
o SPLASH cold water on your face.
o TAP the middle of your forehead with two fingers for 15-20 seconds until you disrupt your thoughts.
o DO one (or two) quick mental readiness routines, e.g. a 60 second Pilates flow, a Yoga Sun Salutation, your pre-run stretches, your singing warm-up, etc.
o The purpose of the IA is to get you “out of your head and into your body” long enough to break the mental spin-out, rationalizing, etc. Once you are into it your brain will likely say “Here we are let’s keep going.”
o PRACTICE your IAs so that they work when you really need them. “In case of emergency – break glass” seldom works. Your IAs are instinctive.

Summing up. COVID induced isolation needs more tools:
o BE FLEXIBLE. Mix and match whatever combination of micro-habits works for you.
o “RINSE, REPEAT” as necessary.
o REACH OUT. Lean on your accountability coach, partners, and routine when you need a brief break or a boost.

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