11 Comments

Old Buddhist story--A group of monks approached a village and a vicious dog tore out barking at them. All but one monk ran away. The one left stood calmly, facing the dog. Inexplicably the dog stopped barking and sat down. It didn't know what to do with a person not afraid of him. I fear facing my fears, but reading what you said Meredith, it makes complete sense for me to sit for a while and tangle with them instead of popping chocolate in my mouth, trying to make the bad feelings go away. Also, the accu-pressure points work great. Thank you again for sharing your wisdom.

Expand full comment

It's the suppressed anger part of it that makes it more difficult. Seems that we are all angry as we try to cope with this craziness.

I think that may be why the totalitarians and authoritarians always ultimately rely on their crushing power. Not so much to enforce compliance, but to keep our anger at bay as they abuse us, as we would naturally fight back.

Expand full comment

Thank you Meredith for this very important article on anxiety and fear. I experienced chronic anxiety for years without understanding the underlying cause. Unbeknownst to me at the time I was in a relationship with an ill intended toxic person. Like Piscine Molitor Patel in the book Life of Pi, my life felt like I was living in a small boat with an hungry bengal tiger. It is your guidance that led me to this understanding. Once I got the tiger off my boat, the anxiety gradually dissipated and restful sleep returned.

Expand full comment

Thanks Meredith. The problem I'm finding is that our entire sense of community has been shattered. I live in a small village and in the aftermath of the past two years, people I knew for 20 years will no longer talk to me. The social divide has been carefully engineered, on the old divide and conquer model. I suspect that it will take a long time, even years, for this sense of social cohesion to rebuild.

Expand full comment

Bless you Meredith for offering some potentially healing solutions! Although I have no evidence for it, I believe I may have been the victim of a directed bioweapons attack when I was exposed to a very strange variant of Covid-19. This, coincidentally, while I was on a book tour to promote Words from the Dead: Relevant Readings in the Covid Age, my new book which challenges the mainstream narrative about Covid. This variant caused symptoms many had never heard of before: strange flashing lights in my eyes followed by "white blindness" persisting for 5 days, a blocked ear that persisted for 4-5 weeks, and yet none of the typical lung symptoms except an excess load of mucous. A couple of people who were exposed to me after I had been exposed also reported similar symptoms, though not as serious as mine, which developed into Long Covid, taking 6 weeks to (mostly) full recovery.

Here's the thing: I find myself dealing with a collapse of confidence and my sense of personal security in the aftermath of this event. How do people who are victims of vicious physical attacks respond and recover? (Not like in the movies where they just get up, brush themselves off and carry on.) This is another form of trauma that I have no doubt is intended. It crushes both your personal confidence and your confidence in the world.

Expand full comment

Thank you for addressing these issues and for your suggestions for coping. I appreciate you taking the time to write this and all the work you do. I look forward to watching the video you suggested.

Expand full comment

You are a blessing in my life Mere! I've had COVID three times this year. My recovery hasn't been easy! I feel lonely and anxiety has paralyzed me! This is too hard...! Thank you and God bless you!

Expand full comment