We like watching disaster movies: an asteroid hits the earth, a big wave swallows half the world, a deadly virus leaves behind an almost deserted Earth. Have we ever expected to live through one? Have we considered preparing in case of a global emergency?
The recent rapid spread of Covid-19 is already teaching us harsh lessons.
Most of us are too distracted caring for ourselves and our loved ones to process these lessons. What we can do though though, is take the time to share from our experiences. And when we take the time to share and reflect, we will also find ourselves processing and becoming more and more aware of our experiences.
With this in mind, I have started a Covid-19 Crisis Log to explore, on a weekly basis, the developments prompted by the coronavirus. As always, Adina Arhire is the tender and sharp hostess for these sessions, asking insightful questions, switching the angle and exploring with me the various facets of a topic.
With her being in Florida, US and me being in Vienna, Austria our experiences differ on a very practical level, yet on a very human level we explore how this crisis effects us and how potential personal and social growth might be in it for us – individually, for each of us and as human beings.
We ask questions, we speak from the heart, we improvise.
I invite you to join us on this unusual journey and draw your own conclusions, raise new questions, and share your own experiences with me via email or my Facebook group
Week 12
100 Days Episode 1
Are We ‘More Real’ As We Step into the ‘New Normal’?
What we have been referring to as a crisis, now it has become a ‘new normal’. Thus, we are concluding our Covid-19 Crisis Log and we are wrapping-up about 100 days of Covid. The new normal experience is still perceived quite differently for Madhu, in Vienna, Austria and this podcast’s hostess Adina Arhire, based in South Florida. If Austria is opening up for tourism, South Florida is registering all-time daily highs of new Covid cases. Is the coronavirus experience and the possibility of our own death acting as a magnifying glass? Is this new reality allowing us to be more open, more truthful and candid, and somehow pushing us to be more real? Listen and decide with us.
100 Days Episode 2
What Is the Essence of Life?
We are shifting from a crisis situation to a ‘new normal’ and invite you to reflect with us, as we observe 100 days of Covid crisis. Why do we need to face death in order to embrace our true selves, to see more clearly and understand what matters? Could it be that the harsh reality brought by Covid has forced us to confront with the essence, in a way that we can’t look away? And have you ever asked yourself, what is the essence of our life? Explore these questions and more in this episode.
100 Days Episode 3
Do We Still Prioritize Material Things Over People?
We have lived through about 100 days of Covid experience, with differences between Austria and South Florida. Although the rules enforced in each country may have been different, the essence of our discussions applies to each and every one of us. In this episode we look at our need to acquire material things, and their purpose. Are material things just a distraction? Have you thought that maybe when we put material things before humans we are actually turning humans into objects? The virus reality has forced us to live more in the here and now, teaching us to take it day-by-day. Listen to our podcast and find out how this crisis has prompted you to grow.
100 Days Episode 4
Can We Truly Grow from the Crisis, not Just Learn?
We have come full circle marking 100 days of covid-19 experience, an unprecedented situation that has opened up the doors for various discussions and reflections. Has this crisis created a context to grow, not just to learn? The cerebral thinking that orders us to get out of the shock and just start learning can actually prevent us from growing. And speaking of growing, is this a female thing? Are men more geared at feeling entitled to push their own agenda? Listen to our podcast and find your own answers.
Week 11
Week 11 / Podcast 1
Are Certain Structures Maintaining an Outdated Status Quo?
On the background of the current crisis, in the United States recent events have been focusing on anti-racial movements, spread throughout the country. Mankind is in its 21st century yet we are still addressing issues like racism. Are we so used to living within a system that doesn’t foster real change, and structures that keep people in their place socially and educationally? What do we need to do for permanent change to happen? Listen to Madhu’s podcast and reflect with us.
Week 11 / Podcast 2
Can We Rewire Our Brains to Stop Structural Racism?
We are continuing our explorations on the matter of racism, as recent events have shaken the United States with people getting together in the fight against discrimination in all forms and shapes. The simple fact that racism is still part of our vocabulary may mean that our core beliefs haven’t changed as much as we have thought. What do we need to do in order to rewire our brains and put a stop to structural racism? How can we teach each other that it is more constructive to cooperate instead of competing? Listen to this episode and explore with us.
Week 10
Week 10 / Podcast 1
The Virus Experience Is Different for Each of Us
After weeks of quarantine we are faced with a ‘new normal’ that looks different from person to person, and from region to region, like Austria and South Florida. If a few weeks ago we were discussing deep changes and shifts, including in our own consumer behavior, data show that people have been purchasing online quite a bit, and are eager to go back to the heavy consumer behavior. Explore these, and other topics in this new episode of Madhu’s Covid-19 Crisis Log.
Week 10 / Podcast 2
Has the Grieving Stage Ended? (Or Even Started?)
Re-creating the ‘normal’ before the crisis doesn’t seem a possibility anymore, just how it is not possible to turn back time. Are we pressured now though, to embrace a ‘new normal’ that everyone is talking about? Is this even possible when maybe we are still in the process of grieving, even if some of us are not even aware that grieving is taking place? Listen to Madhu’s podcast and identify where you stand as it relates to our current state.
Week 10 / Podcast 3
The Only Certainty of our Current State Is the ‘Here and Now’
The intense sense of uncertainty brought by the coronavirus has forced us to take things day-by-day. Can we even consider long-term planning at this time? What if once we recognize that making a plan is futile right now, we will also make room for other changes in our lives? Follow us on this journey and reflect with us.
Week 10 / Podcast 4
Is the Lack of Planning Making You Feel Insecure?
Have you ever stopped to wonder where you are getting your inner sense of psychological security from? Before the crisis planning was a part of our lives, something to guide us and to move with through the days, months, years. Long-term planning doesn’t seem constructive anymore. And do we even know what to plan for? How many times have you found yourself not knowing what you want, and planning for something futile, or maybe miswanting from the start? Listen to our podcast and construct your own answers.
Week 9
Week 9 / Podcast 1
Is “Back to Normal” an Illusion?
A slow re-opening process has made us think of our life before the coronavirus . Can we start talking about a new normality or semi-normality? Should we make peace with the fact that ‘back to normal’ may not exist and that the changes brought by the coronavirus will be felt for years to come. As many times in history, the Coronavirus shift may become a part of our lives, seamlessly blending with a new way of doing things. Listen to this new episode and ask yourself what is your idea of this new normal.
Week 9 / Podcast 2
Are We Now Valuing More the Little Things in Life?
The Covid-19 Crisis has forced people to take a couple of steps back from their usual consumer patterns. And to make up for that, we are witnessing people finding new ways to experience life. Has cooking become a tradition in your home? Or maybe you have created game night to spice things up and have decided to make this an ongoing activity in your home? Are there other satisfying ways to enjoy life other than consuming? Listen to Madhu’s podcast and explore with us.
Week 9 / Podcast 3
How to Decide What Happiness Means to Each of Us?
Have you wondered what happiness means to you? Have you ever noticed how you might be conditioned, or influenced to believe that certain things and achievements are the key to your happiness? More than once we have seen how obtaining such things did not bring the expected level of happiness. And why would that be? I invite you to listen and explore the possibility that what you have learned about happiness is wrong or simply doesn’t apply to you.
Week 8
Week 8 / Podcast 1
Can Basic Income Become a Reality?
As Austria and South Florida are undergoing a slow re-opening process, allowing only certain businesses to open at a low capacity, we ponder at the high unemployment rate and raise the question of a basic income. Is it a good initiative to give people the space and time to decide what to do with their lives? Can we do more for our society and for each other if we had a choice? Some would argue that the next step to our growth as humankind and economical is such basic income. Do you agree? Listen and find out.
Week 8 / Podcast 2
Can Professionals Perform Without Someone to Guide Them?
We are very slowly emerging out of isolation and lockdown and going back to normal seems like a faraway dream. As people were forced to take a leave of absence or to file for unemployment, a big percentage most likely will not go back to the same jobs. In this episode we notice how our current professional system promotes individualism, as opposed to accepting that we all make valuable contributions in our society. What is it that has been conditioning us to believe that a person who manages other people has more value in the work place? I invite you to listen and draw your own conclusions.
Week 8 / Podcast 3
Is This a Time to Say ‘No’ to Competition and Simply Work Together?
Although we have started witnessing a timid re-opening, we cannot help but wonder if things will ever be the same. What major changes will the crisis bring? We already notice a high unemployment rate, and as some will go back to work, some not, it is becoming clearer and clearer that we will need to help each other more and more. What if eliminating competition and an intense focus on individualism will help us grow as a society? I encourage you to listen and maybe think of your own little steps you can take toward a better world.
Week 7
Week 7 / Podcast 1
Are We Ready to Come Out of Isolation?
The Covid-19 Crisis prompted authorities to enforce high-impact measures that are still affecting us all, in various ways. World-wide unemployment is high and economic uncertainty lingers. While businesses start to open in Austria, South Florida is still under lockdown. Are we even prepared to come out of isolation? How will life feel after weeks of lockdown? As we listen to different sources and news, our minds try to come up with clear, logical explanations to what has been happening, yet as many times in life questions are left unanswered. Listen to this episode and start building your own answers.
Week 7 / Podcast 2
Is There More to Being Human than Our Basic Needs Fulfilled?
After weeks of isolation in Austria, the country is making preparations to open cautiously, while South Florida is still under stay-at-home orders. Madhu and her discussion companion have started wondering if there is more to life than having shelter, food, and basic healthcare provided. Do we need community, culture and art, the same way we need food and water? Or is it enough to have the essentials in life in order to feel human? Listen and explore with us.
Week 7 / Podcast 3
Community Is Crucial to Our Growth and Humanity
As Madhu is getting ready to resume work and activities in Vienna, in South Florida the stay-at-home order continues. Have you ever noticed how a piece of art and its audience need each other? Art without a viewer doesn’t exist, while the viewer needs art to find himself or herself in it. Maybe this crisis is showing us that we have taken for granted activities like festivals, sporting events, concerts, that used to bring us together. Do you understand now how important all of these are for our growth and happiness? Listen to this new podcast and don’t forget to share your impressions with Madhu.
Week 6
Week 6 / Podcast 1
Do We Need to Suffer to Grow? Where Does Love Fit In?
As the lockdown is approaching a soft end in Vienna, and continues in South Florida, Madhu and her discussion companion got together virtually once again to share unexpected effects and increased feelings of restlessness due to these uncertain times. These effects raised question about the meaning of happiness, noticing how some people prefer to choose the pain, which they know, over a happiness that is unknown to them. Why is it easier to turn to pain? Does growth have to stem from pain only? Listen and explore with us.
Week 6 / Podcast 2
How Scary Is Happiness to You?
Should we even discuss happiness in times like this? Is happiness an achievable goal, or maybe the longing is what we enjoy most? We are all conditioned to think that we know what makes us happy, yet how many times you have obtained something only to find that it is not what you wanted? Listen to Madhu’s podcast to gain a better understanding of what you really want from life, if you are prepared to chase it, embrace it, be happy with it.
Week 5
Week 5 / Podcast 1
Can this Crisis Be an Opportunity to Grow?
As we advance our lifestyle of isolation, time may pass by differently for each of us; you may feel going through the day in slow motion, or with heavy feet. The social media seem to bombard us with strong motivational quotes that maybe fail to inspire us, considering the uncertainty of our near future? Aside from all the uneasiness of our present, can the crisis represent an opportunity to grow? Explore all of these questions and more, when you listen to this episode.
Week 5 / Podcast 2
Would You Rather Learn from Love or Suffering?
The expression ‘growing pains’ is something that we hear from a young age. Have we stopped to wonder though why we turn to pain for growth? What if there is so much more out there that we can become, if we choose the path of love, compassion and understanding, rather than embrace suffering as a key to unleash the ‘human’ in us. What does suffering really mean to you? Listen and explore with us.
Week 4
The widespread effects of Covid-19 are already felt throughout the entire world, prompting drastic measures in the efforts to contain the virus, and also bringing unexpected social changes. Different areas around the world are responding and re-grouping differently – but one thing we notice all around is solidarity and the desire to save lives. Listen to my podcast – Covid-19 Crisis Log – and follow my discussion on the latest developments prompted by the coronavirus.
Week 4 / Podcast 1
Do you miss the little or bigger things from your ‘normal life’?
Our Covid-19 Crisis Log journey continues as we face another week of social distancing in Vienna, Austria and in South Florida. Join our dialogue and ask yourself questions such as, what is it that I miss most from my normal life? Is technology enough to keep in touch with loved ones? Are we fighting the coronavirus, or something else? Listen and explore with us.
Week 4 / Podcast 2
Can technology fully replace human interaction?
It is undeniable that the Internet and all the technology that we have today has made the isolation more bearable; we are grateful for that. Yet, when launching a video conference with a family member or a co-worker you may have that feeling that there is a third (cold) entity in the room, maybe keeping you from being 100% open? What do you think it is that we’re missing from our in-person human closeness? Listen and construct your own answers.
Week 3
The widespread effects of Covid-19 are already felt throughout the entire world, prompting drastic measures in the efforts to contain the virus, and also bringing unexpected social changes. Different areas around the world are responding and re-grouping differently – but one thing we notice all around is solidarity and the desire to save lives. Listen to my podcast – Covid-19 Crisis Log – and follow my discussion on the latest developments prompted by the coronavirus.
Week 3 / Podcast 1
Advice Overload – Is It Really Working?
After 3 weeks of isolation in Austria and 2 (officially) in South Florida, we notice on both sides of the ocean-pond an overload of tips and suggestions on how to ’embrace’ the incontrollable. Is it really working? Do we need yet 10 million things that we ‘should’ do, or maybe we should let go and simply accept the fact that we are going through a tough situation, without knowing when or if we will ever back to the way things were before. Listen and decide with us what works for you, or what doesn’t, right now.
Week 3 / Podcast 2
Is it Easier to Be in Denial than Face Reality?
For as long as we strive to continue being efficient, working from home (for those who have the opportunity), relying on the technologies, holding on so tightly to a normality that seems to slip through our fingers, and we might be just avoiding the reality of our current lives. Are we in an acceptance mode yet? Are we aware that we are and we aren’t in ‘normality’ at the same time? Maybe the facts of what we are facing won’t sink in for a little while; and perhaps we will understand more in months to come. Right now, we are still asking, questioning: what is happening to us, to the humankind? I invite you to seek your own answers while exploring with us.
Week 2
The widespread effects of Covid-19 are already felt throughout the entire world, prompting drastic measures in the efforts to contain the virus, and also bringing unexpected social changes. Different areas around the world are responding and re-grouping differently – but one thing we notice all around is solidarity and the desire to save lives. Listen to my podcast – Covid-19 Crisis Log – and follow my discussion on the latest developments prompted by the coronavirus.
Week 2 / Podcast 1
Covid-19 Brings New Routines and Ways of Doing Things
As millions of people are bound to their homes and professionals forced to work from home, we are starting to gain different perspectives on the changes brought by the coronavirus, at a personal and professional level. Do we finally notice that people are more important than businesses? Do we see a possibility of running successful businesses while still placing people first? Listen to my podcast and improvise your own answers with us.
Week 2 / Podcast 2
Is the Coronavirus Going to Bring a Permanent Change?
We are encouraged and asked to do things differently for the greater good and, as far as we know, for a somewhat limited period of time. Is this enough to generate a permanent shift in all of us? Are we already learning new things, noticing new behaviors and re-arranging priorities? Listen to the fourth episode of my Covid-19 Crisis Log and evaluate possibilities for the future with us.
Week 1
The threat of the coronavirus and the recent developments seem projected from a sci-fi movie. Yet this is all happening and we, all people, find ourselves affected in various ways. Understanding our own reactions is key to keeping healthy inside and out, and to also comfort those around us. Listen to my podcast – Improvisations on Growth COVID-19 Crisis Log – and explore the effects of the coronavirus on our own psyche.
Week 1 / Podcast 1
Explore your own reactions and take charge
We find ourselves in an unprecedented crisis situation, and you might have noticed family members, co-workers, and even yourself, reacting in certain ways. Have you stopped to ask yourself why? What is prompting the fear, or the desire to control, or maybe the indifference? I invite you to listen and learn more about your own self and ask this very important question with us: What can I do during a crisis?
Week 1 / Podcast 2
Apply effective mechanisms to regain balance
We all know panicking doesn’t contribute to our wellbeing, yet involuntarily we find ourselves in a panic mode, also influencing others. (or we panic easily seeing someone else panicking). Are there mechanisms to regain control in a healthy way, in case of extreme fear? What constructive tools should we rely on to stay on track emotionally? Listen to my podcast and get to the root of human behavior in time of crisis.