Same storm, different boats

I didn't write this. I don't usually put up things I haven't written myself, but this really spoke to me and I thought I would share... I found it on the internet, God only knows where from!

We are not in the same boat.....

I heard that we are all in the same boat, but it's not like that. We are in the same storm, but not in the same boat. Your ship could be shipwrecked and mine might not be. Or vice versa.

For some, quarantine is optimal. A moment of reflection, of re-connection, a time to relax with a cocktail or coffee. For others, this is a desperate financial & family crisis.

For some that live alone, they're facing endless loneliness. While for others it is peace, rest & time with their immediate family.

With the $600 weekly increase in unemployment some are bringing in more money to their households than when they were working. Others are working more hours for less money, due to pay cuts or loss in sales.

Some families of 4 just received $3400 from the stimulus, while other families of 4 saw $0.

Some were concerned about their favorite restaurant closing, while others were concerned if there would be enough bread, milk and eggs for the weekend.

Some want to go back to work because they don't qualify for unemployment, and are running out of money. Others want to enforce the quarantine until a cure is found.

Some are home spending 2-3 hours/day helping their child with online schooling, while others are spending 10-12 hours working from home.

Some have experienced the near death of the virus, some have already lost someone from it, and some are not sure if their loved ones are going to make it. Others don't believe the response matches the threat.

So, friends, we are NOT in the same boat. We are going through a time when our perceptions and needs are completely different.

Each of us will emerge, in our own way, from this storm. It is very important to see beyond what is seen at first glance. Not just looking, actually seeing.

We are all on different ships experiencing this storm as a very different journey.

This feels so true to me! Wishing you all calm waters.

Dreaming in a time of Corona

I've been having strange anxiety dreams lately.  I was desperately trying to get a train ticket to Bath (in the UK.)  I was lucky because when the ticket seller told me I'd have to bribe him to get the information I needed,  I said this just doesn't happen! Then in the dream I realized I was dreaming and woke myself up.  Yay for expectations of incorruptibility of British Rail.

But all joking aside,  even if your own life is going well enough,  these are trying times and anxiety can manifest in sneaky ways.  Everyone I speak to is overeating (me too!) Many are stress baking (me too!)  Some of us are exercising with YouTube videos (me occasionally.) 

But I am also consciously listing what I am grateful for.  We were watching the news and the some people devastated by the Australian bush fires late last year don't have a home to shelter in.  Of course,  knowing that people are genuinely worse off than you doesn't always help,  hence dreaming of trying to get to civilized Bath and finding that you can't there for love or money...  

If you are stressing,  remember to be kind to yourself.  And please try to walk outside (maintaining strict distance from others!) to let some wind blow through your hair.  Read, find ways to move,  nurture yourself and those around you.  Be kind and this too shall pass... 

Virtual Readings

I lived in Tribeca for 14 years.  I started Tribeca Tarot Reader in 2008 and this blog in 2009.  When we returned to Sydney 3 years ago,  I switched to virtual readings.  I would skype or facetime you and read for you that way.  But because of the way I read,  I find the magic is in the shuffling - you have to handle the cards,  you have to move and select them,  your energy shifting them one way or the other.  

So most of my readings are for established clients who know the way I work,  and are willing to buy or borrow a deck and shuffle and do the layout for me,  and then we do the reading,  in the quiet and privacy of where you chose. 

It's actually worked out very well,  and my regulars,  who have readings once or twice a year,  or once every two years or so,  find me,  buy a deck - usually the Rider Waite,  but any deck with 78 cards will do,  and have a reading.  And continue being my regulars.

If you are looking for me in these uncertain times,  I'm happy to do a reading for you.  Just get your hands on a deck and we'll find a time and start.  And you don't have to have read with me before - just browse though the blog and you'll get a feel for how I read. 

Also,  to simplify matters,  I start all my readings with a cold reading - where I don't know what's going on in your life,  and just tell you what the cards tell me - in the shape of a Celtic Cross.  I find it helpful to remind people of what that looks like - 

We lay out the 10 cards together and then I start to talk... 

Email me or text me if you like a reading.

Wishing you warmth and safety and health,

Liat

Keeping yourself well

In these difficult times,  it's easy to get agitated and upset.  I've found myself feeling claustrophobic. My own irritation/anxiety levels were rising and deep breathing and chocolate were not enough to bring them down.   I've put on 4 pounds in two weeks.  Always a bad sign!

So I've made a more concerted effort to connect with friends,  both of us drinking coffee and chatting over zoom or skype or facetime.  So many options! 

My gym closed two weeks ago today and I hadn't done any exercise other than walk the dog since then.  I always say in my readings that feelings are energy,  and if you are angry or irritated or worried,  that's also energy.  If you can't defuse it at the source (you can't always shout at your boss/mother/lover/financial worries/ pandemic) you should still try to get rid of it.  I suggest high energy exercise - kick boxing,  running,  zumba.  I can't kick box or run to save my life (or my knees) but I can dance.

So today I went through the internet and found that to create a good zumba class is no simple matter.   There were lots of them that just didn't work for me - too hard,  too easy,  too complicated,  didn't like the music. It's easy to give up.   But after half an hour and a few missteps,  I found a great zumba teacher that I really liked - Ines Araonos.   



So this morning is already better.  I'm sweaty and bouncy and can feel that irritated edgy feeling relax .   I think tomorrow I'll do a barre class.  

Excellent way of doing good

I volunteered for Taste of Tribeca for many years. It was an event I really enjoyed,  food,  community,  supporting local schools. Win/win/win. I'm so glad that they are doing this.  I love this idea!  Please support it if you can. This is all from the Broadsheet - a local Tribeca news letter.   Role Reversal Downtown Food Festival Supports Local Restaurants by Feeding Healthcare Workers

The ever-popular Taste of Tribeca food festival has been cancelled for this year, but the organizers are rallying support to help the now-struggling restaurants that have contributed food for decades, by purchasing meals to donate to hospital workers.

Starting today, up to 100 free meals will be arriving daily at local healthcare facilities, prepared by half a dozen Lower Manhattan restaurants, and paid for with contributions solicited by the Downtown parents who organize the Taste of Tribeca food festival. For the past 25 years, that event has accepted food contributed by dozens of eateries, and sold these “tastes” at a street fair, to raise money for two beloved local public schools: P.S. 234 and P.S. 150. Earlier this month, however, mounting concerns about the pandemic coronavirus forced the first-ever cancellation of the event. Realizing that this tragedy represented an opportunity to repay decades of generosity from local restaurants, at a time when these establishments are facing financial ruin, the organizers established a Taste of Tribeca Community Fund, and created a contribution portal on GoFundMe, which can be found here: https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/taste-of-tribeca-community-fund Taste of Tribeca board member Bettina Teodoro explains that, “this is a campaign to help our neighborhood restaurants and the emergency room at New York Presbyterian-Lower Manhattan Hospital, by buying meals from the former to feed entire shifts at the latter.” In just the last three days, 84 donors have contributed over $12,000, which is more than half of the project’s overall goal of $20,000.

“We’d like to do this as often and as much as we can,” Ms. Teodoro adds, “and if means allow we will branch further afield to other hospitals in the City. It’s a work in progress, but our team will do the best we can to help as many people and businesses as we can.” Among the Lower Manhattan restaurants supplying food (and receiving financial support from the Taste of Tribeca Community Fund) are Zuckers Bagels, Paisley, Anejo, City Vineyard, Khe-Yo, Restaurant Marc Forgione, and Maman. “Our aim -- to feed 100 hospital workers at a time, at a cost of $10 per person -- is simple, but the benefits are far-reaching,” Ms. Teodoro reflects. “An order of this size will help to keep open a restaurant that at this time is relying solely on take-out and delivery orders. And the gift of a nourishing, delicious meal will help to refuel our tired and hungry doctors, nurses and medical support staff.” The organizers are reaching out to other hospitals around the City and exploring delivery options. The response has been so overwhelming that the project’s scope has already expanded from to cover emergency staff at Mount Sinai, NYU Langone, and Bellevue Hospital. The team behind the Community Fund emphasizes that no donation is too small, and 100 percent of all contributions (minus a small processing fee) will go directly to the purchase of meals for an entire shift of hospital workers. “The more money we raise, the more shifts we can serve, the more restaurants we can support, and the more we can expand this program to other area hospitals,” Ms. Teodoro observes. Taste of Tribeca is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, all donations are tax-deductible, within the limits prescribed by law. The organizers will send all donors a receipt acknowledging their contribution. Matthew Fenton

Speaking of Poetry

Here is another poem that spoke to me

Pandemic

“What if you thought of it

as the Jews consider the Sabbath—

the most sacred of times?

Cease from travel.

Cease from buying and selling.

Give up, just for now,

on trying to make the world

different than it is.

Sing. Pray. Touch only those

to whom you commit your life.

Center down.

And when your body has become still,

reach out with your heart.

Know that we are connected

in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.

(You could hardly deny it now.)

Know that our lives

are in one another’s hands.

(Surely, that has come clear.)

Do not reach out your hands.

Reach out your heart.

Reach out your words.

Reach out all the tendrils

of compassion that move, invisibly,

where we cannot touch.

Promise this world your love–

for better or for worse,

in sickness and in health,

so long as we all shall live.”

– Lynn Ungar 3/11/20

Finding moments of Grace

It's been a difficult few days and they are only going to get harder.  April will be a tough month.  May,  I hope,  will be the epoch,  and after that,  things will get a little easier.  In the meantime, I'm hunkering down.  

I'm also counting my blessings.  That I live in such a physically beautiful place - Little Bay - near the sea,  near the city,  near national park.  That I enjoy spending time with my husband.  We share this new isolation quietly,  contentedly.  I'm cooking all sorts of new recipes,  baking,  using that weird collection of bananas I had in my freezer.



And tonight we watched JoJo Rabbit,  which moved me far more than I thought I would.  It's funny and whimsical and then suddenly,  terrible and real. It ended with some lines from a poem which really spoke to me,  so I'll reprint them here for you (poetry is like wine to me,  I can get drunk on it,  it punches though my intellect and puts me in a world of feeling)

Go to the Limits of Your Longing,  
by Rainer Maria Rilke

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.

Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.

Book of Hours, I 59

Wishing you well in these difficult times.