Night performance "Il Giocatore" by IC, Venice 2016. Photo by IC

Mindfulness strengthens mental health and improves psychological performance in unpredictable times of change, such as the 2020–2021 pandemic.

In thoughtful, stable times, however, when our deeply buried desires push to the surface and surround us with their demands, it can be more difficult to achieve mental well-being.

Meditation, both static and in motion, which strictly speaking would be mindfulness, is a key strategy for surviving the onslaught of the mind.

Much has been said about how our lives have been turned upside down in the face of the mind-bending state of emergency that is the pandemic.

It is what Victor Turner, one of the greatest cultural anthropologists and creative thinkers, defined as a “liminal situation” — the state between the new and the old, when the new is not yet established, the old has departed, and anything is possible.

At such times, one’s sense of identity dissolves to some degree, leading to disorientation but also opening up the possibility of new perspectives.

Turner describes this state in 1974’s Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society as “ambiguous, neither here nor there, betwixt and between all fixed points of classification” (1974:232).

Entire societies that are in crisis and whose order is changing experience liminality. Interestingly, modernity is seen in these terms as permanent liminality.

Another thought leader, the influential philosopher and psychiatrist Karl Jaspers speaks of an age of creativity in which people “ask radical questions and in which the unquestioned grip on life is loosened”.

Since liminal periods are both destructive and constructive, the ideas and practices that emerge from them are extremely important because they carry the seeds of a new structure.

We Have Grown Together

What we’ve learned in this time of transition is timeless knowledge and will never become obsolete. We may have lost some of our freedoms, but we have gained others.

Yes, we hug less, but we care more.

We don’t get together as often as we used to, but the quality of our communication is unmatched.

Our understanding and compassion were extended to the unknown spheres of connection and opening.

The irony of the times is that despite all the challenges and physical distances, we are closer than ever.

We have suffered life-changing losses, but we have survived chronic stress and learned to be more effective. We have been disappointed and surprised by loved ones and strangers on the same day.

We have been lonely, but not alone.

Similar to the sensory and motor losses suffered by the disabled, for every emotional loss and social sacrifice, we gained something much more valuable.

The collective unconscious became tangible and accessible to all. At last, it became clear what it means when a butterfly flutters its wings around the world.

With togetherness comes more responsibility. Our decisions are now based more on the good of the collective than on our individual needs.

This is a radical shift in thinking, and we should celebrate it.

Life Is a Chronic Stress

Is not it obvious-now that we have survived — that life on its terms is what psychologists call chronic stress — namely when it does not subside and is accompanied by a sense that we have little to no control over the circumstances that cause it.

Prolonged has become the new definition of time, although time has accelerated. The irony of life.

In addition, the definitions of private and public have once again shifted and are having the same impact on our lives as 9/11.

We are experiencing an increase in mental illness diagnoses triggered by the increased stress and negative emotions brought on by the uncertainty of our times, i.e., our zeitgeist.

On the other hand, many people are exploiting the pandemic in negative ways — making it an excuse not to show up and taking every opportunity to remain in isolation.

The pandemic was a forced roller coaster ride of accelerated growth or crash as the world changed before our eyes, amid global earth and climate changes.

Mindfulness Preserves Your Mind

The thought that we are all in this together makes some people relieved and others anxious, depending on whether you rely more on yourself or ever-changing circumstances.

A Zen master would add that the self changes as much as the circumstances.

So, becoming mindful means bringing this ever-changing quality of being into awareness.

According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, meditation practice among adult Americans has steadily increased over the past decade and is experiencing an online boom in 2020 and 2021.

Apps and video channels offering guided meditations have exploded since the pandemic began and are one of the best investments for those looking for new business opportunities.

It looks like people are holding on to their common sense in this age of madness.

The benefits of meditation and mindfulness practices can hardly be overstated. Even live virtual meditation, unthinkable just a few years ago, has found followers who practice it outdoors and anywhere.

Man as a social being needs both social contact and contact with his being.

The inner and outer worlds are inseparable, and although there is a lot of clutter out there, it is only reasonable to take care of your inner clutter first.

Let Meditation Be Your Guide

Meditation directs your awareness to the present moment, just like driving a car.

You can’t think about what just happened at the intersection, because new traffic situations are coming your way, and if you do not take care of them, you will be killed.

In the same way, if you are not mindful of the moment, you will perish spiritually.

Remember that meditation is not only doing nothing but also not thinking. Thinking is action, and if you observe your thoughts, you will notice how they generate emotions and how emotions consequently trigger movements.

This is because thought itself is driven by emotion, and if no emotion arises with a thought, you will not pay attention to it, but move on.

We literally move as we feel, and then we try to understand it by thinking about it.

Meditation is thus about feeling how you are. Non-judgmental awareness is another name for it.

Mindfulness simply means noticing what is happening around you and within you, and not giving it more importance than it already has.

To understand how the pandemic or any other liminality has changed us, we need to be mindful while remaining emotionally detached, that is, non-judgmental.

The question always holds the answer.