2018-2019 Flu Season in US:

35.5 million known cases

34,200 known deaths

2020 (so far) COVID-19 in US:

16.8 million known cases

304,000 known deaths (50,000 deaths in the last month)

these numbers do not reflect the long term health concerns for those who had even the slightest of symptoms or who are asymptotic.

i’ve known many people who have been affected by this illness, ranging from barely having symptoms, to seriously ill, and some losing loved ones.

this isn’t the flu.

there is hope on the horizon due to science.

i am in awe of health professionals, they give me hope.

there are still those that refuse to believe and refuse to adhere to masking and social distancing. how do we teach people to care? shaming and pleading have not worked. i don’t know what will.

~j

#WearAMask #SocialDistance

#COVID19 #suffering #empathy #empathymatters

while human beings have the capacity to do much harm, we also have the capacity to not ignore the harm, or run from the harm, or descend into the violence of the harm we see. we have the capacity to choose to keep our hearts open in the face of pain and suffering, and to do something about the harm we are bearing witness to.

this love stuff, this open and tender heart stuff isn’t mere sentimentality. this is hardcore stuff, in the trenches, hands getting dirty stuff.

it is when we leave our hearts open, allowing them to break over and over again, that we find our true super power, a capacity for love that is beyond the limits of our own initially small view. with our hearts broken open, we access the powers of empathy and compassion, bravery and strength.

with an open, tender heart, we can even still find much beauty, much joy and even a lightness and humor to life (enlightened people laugh!), all while doing the difficult work of love and healing in the face of harm and suffering.

don’t give in to cynicism, to hyperbole, to conspiracy. face the harm, face the suffering with your open, tender heart, and make a vow to transform it while still being open to beauty, to joy, to laughter. all of this is life and none is beyond love.

~j

#OpenHeart #TenderHeart #empathy #compassion #suffering #humor #joy #healing #love #EngagedBuddhism #ChogyamTrungpaRinpoche #JinpaLhaga