Today you are creating the future - will you like it?

Know it or not, you are creating a future world with every decision you make today.

Eventually, this virus will go away, and we will have to go on living with the world that we created during this time.

We, humans, tend to be short-sighted when it comes to decisions and daily routines. During this epidemic, I would like to mindfully nudge you towards taking a breath and taking a long term perspective on two issues pertinent in our current situation.

1. As a consumer, you are forming the future economy, and how cities will look and feel in the year 2023.

2. We are also formulating the structure of our society and the network of our friendships

I will try to do the impossible for me, and keep things short, sweet, and to the point. 😉

Enjoying social distancing, or as I like to call it, loving nature and solitude

1.) It is not about supporting small businesses; it is, How do you want to live once this is all over?

What would you like cities to look like in the future? What businesses would you enjoy visiting?

As a small business owner, I get emails often about “supporting small business.” Don’t get me wrong, I love the gesture, and I am touched. But sometimes my students are caught up in a decision whether to “support a business” that they currently don’t use because online yoga just does not work for them. I always have to take a big breath before answering these emails. I don’t feel that ethically it is my job to guide consumers on how to spend their money. What I ask my students who are stuck in this question is; First, do you have a secure income? And if the answer is yes, would you like to take yoga in a studio in the year 2023?

Business owners are amazingly resilient and flexible. I know, I started my own business because I wanted to work hard, but also wanted to be flexible, to create without the limitations from a large company or governmental bureaucracy. If I find that a building lease is not necessary for teaching yoga, no problem – I will “tack my sails” and change the orientation of my business. Sure it would be hard to give up space; it holds a lot of memories, but change is natural, and if the consumer wants the space to be online, well, then that is where I will go.

The problem is, as I talk to my students, I am 100% sure that that is not what we want… We want to mingle; we can’t wait to hug, and be in the same space, to breathe the same air as we do yoga. We miss the brick and mortar. So don’t think of it as supporting a small business, think of it as supporting your future quality of life.

Or maybe I needed to add bikini shots to make sure that people will click on this blog on social media... :-)

2.) Reach out and CALL someone.

I have many students who are mental health counselors, and they have one thing in common; they never make a class. You know why? Because there are that many emergency calls. I receive many emails from them, “sorry, tried to make it to zoom class, but had another call, maybe next time.”

Do you know what this means? Despite all the pretty pictures that folks are posting on social media about their camping trips and fun in social distancing, many of us are struggling.

I get it, we are overwhelmed, so we turn inwards to our immediate family and try to push through and work out the daily difficulties.

But if we don’t start reaching out to expend our social network, we will atrophy these relationships. People will remember who were the ones who remembered to check-in during times of struggle, and there are consequences to long silences; conscious or not, it leaves a memory trace.

So – Open your Rolodex (oh god I am getting old) or wherever you keep your contacts and make an effort to reach out. No, I don’t mean, leave a comment on their Facebook feed, I mean pick up that darn phone and actually talk to the person. Make a connection, check-in! It is a win-win, you will feel better by bringing joy, and the receiver will feel better because you expressed love and care.

We are creating the future, and if you don’t wish to live in cities where only chain stores exist, if you would like to attend fitness classes in person and not just online if you would like to go to symphonies, museums, restaurants with your friends, then you better make sure that you invest in that future!

Live consciously today so you can enjoy tomorrow!