Don't Forget to Breath
Jeremy Lafary
For my family, 2020 was an exceedingly difficult year. I left behind a 10-year long career in pastoral ministry and was forced to start looking for a new path in life and with a month’s notice we had to find and purchase our first home. Not to mention all this happening during a global pandemic which luckily, we remained healthy from throughout. But as we inched towards the end of 2020, I kept wondering to myself, “Will 2021 really be any better? Will things magically change at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2021?” And so far, I’m finding myself wanting my 2021 admission fee back. Sure, on the horizon there may be a glimpse of light as we see the vaccine continuing to roll out (albeit slower than any of us would like) but it seems to me that we are still deep in the wilderness.
It doesn’t help that during the first act of 2021 that we witnessed a domestic terrorist attack on our nation’s capital, during which, noose and gallows was placed outside of capital hill and insurrectionists called for the heads of those who are in the senate and congress. As I watched videos of that terrifying day, I found myself wondering, “Did we learn nothing from our time in the pandemic? Did we really come through 2020 with that much hatred in our hearts?”
So, what can we, as a people of faith, learn from our time in social isolation? What can we learn from making it through a global pandemic? What do we need to leave behind as we see the faint light at the end of the tunnel? I can’t help but think back to the Buddhism class that I took during my undergraduate studies at Western Illinois University. One of the books that I took the most from in that class was Creating True Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh. In this book (which I highly recommend reading) he talks about how we should go about creating true peace in ourselves, in our families, and in the world. One of the spiritual practices that he writes about is called Nourishing Positive Emotions.
1. Breathing in, I experience calm in me. Breathing out, I smile to the calm in me.
2. Breathing in, I experience joy in me. Breathing out, I smile to the joy in me.
3. Breathing in, I experience equanimity in me. Breathing out, I smile to the equanimity in me.
4. Breathing in, I experience openness in me. Breathing out, I smile to the openness in me.
5. Breathing in, I experience happiness in me. Breathing out, I smile to the happiness in me.
I think one of the most important things we need to start doing is breathing. And not just breathing for the sake of life, but intentionally focusing on our breathing. Taking a few minutes out of every day to simply be. Taking a few minutes out of our day to just be in intentional silence, listening to what God is saying to us and blocking out the rest of the world around us.
This goes hand in hand with something that I personally have trouble doing. We need to intentionally disconnect every day from the news and other forms of media (yes that includes Facebook). I don’t know about you, but I find myself constantly scrolling through social media, especially on days when it seems like the world is falling apart. But I think that for us to maintain our sanity, we need to take a few hours out of each day to disconnect. To stop watching the news, to stop scrolling through our Facebook newsfeed. Following the news day after day can cause us to feel depressed and helpless as if bad things are happening all around us and we can’t do anything to stop it. Instead of helplessly watching or scrolling, do something else that you love to do – talk to a good friend, listen to music, go for a walk, or go to your favorite restaurant (of course always wear a mask). I think that this will help us to find more happiness in our lives.
Finally, as we make our way through 2021, I hope that we can learn to cherish our relationships. We cannot make it through life (especially during this pandemic) without those around us who support us and lift us up. May those relationships help our sanity as we journey through 2021 together.
Jeremy Lafary is an ordained United Methodist pastor who recently went on leave from pastoral ministry in order to pursue a new path in life. He graduated from Western Illinois University in 2011 with a degree in Religious Studies and from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 2014 with a Masters of Divinity. He served the local church throughout central and southern Illinois for ten years before recently going on personal leave of absence. He is married to Samantha and together they are working towards the adoption of their foster son. Jeremy and his family currently reside in Peoria and he is currently working as the retail store manager of a T-Mobile store in Washington, IL. His family is very excited to be part of the Imago Dei community and they are looking forward to being able to worship in person with their new church family.