Finding Patience During Self-Isolation

We have been asked to self-quarantine and to socially distance ourselves from others. Many of us may struggle with isolation, loneliness, and feelings of powerlessness, and while this is understandable, we must also recognize the opportunity we have all been given to reconnect more deeply with the self. Finding patience will allow us to immerse ourselves with our inner worlds, as distractions found in the soup of the matrix we all live in begin to fade into the background.

Transcript

Welcome to the Breakdown to Breakthrough podcast.

My name is Lisa A.

Romano.

I am a life coach,

Bestselling author,

YouTube vlogger,

Meditation teacher,

And expert in the field of codependency and narcissistic abuse.

I am a believer in the power of an organized mind.

My aim is to help people learn what it means to live above the veil of consciousness rather than living a reactive life.

May your heart feel blessed,

Your mind feel expanded,

And your spirit find hope as you spend time with me here at the Breakdown to Breakthrough podcast.

So we live in a world that is very fast-paced.

We live in a world that is now,

Now,

Now.

We have created a world where all of our needs are met almost instantly.

We live in a world of text messaging,

Emails,

Instagram,

Snapchat,

Facebook,

Twitter,

And alike.

We live in a world where pretty much whatever we want,

We can get in most cases.

If we have the money to pay for it,

If we have the means to purchase something or to receive something,

It's pretty much guaranteed that we'll be able to get our hands on it.

Our children have been raised in a world over the past 20 to 30 years where things are happening fast.

And many of us have come from worlds where things didn't always happen so fast.

So if you wanted to go see your friend,

You had to walk to their house.

If you wanted to see your friend,

You had to wait until the phone on the wall was free,

And you had to wait for permission to call your friend.

Many of us came from homes where the phones were on the wall and our sister or our brother was talking to a boyfriend or a girlfriend or mom was chatting it up with a friend or a family member,

And we sat and we sat and we sat and we waited.

Many of us can remember a time where if we wanted to go see one of our friends,

We had to walk for blocks,

And in some cases,

Over a mile to just see if our friend was home.

And over the years and through the decades,

We've lost that.

What is that that that I'm speaking of?

We've lost patience.

We've lost the ability to sit and to wait.

We've lost the ability to wait to see if we are going to get what we want after waiting.

Today we live in a world where it's instant manifestation.

We want something from an app.

We click and before long,

The food is at our door.

We want something from an app and click within a day.

Sometimes something is at our doorstep.

It's instant manifestation time.

And so during something like the coronavirus pandemic,

We are going to be tested.

Patience,

Time,

The ability to sit with ourself,

The ability to sit with our families,

The ability to sit with our emotions,

To just sit and to just be.

This is a time where the ability to run from your feelings is pretty much being tested in that a lot of us can sit home for a day or two days,

Maybe even a week,

Two weeks,

Three weeks,

Four weeks,

Eight weeks,

12 weeks.

The inability to keep ourselves busy has been taken away from us through quarantining,

Which is good for not only you,

But for everyone because this is a time where by isolating and removing ourselves from the external world,

We are not only helping ourselves,

We're helping one another.

And in this time of self isolation,

It's a time out.

It's like Mother Earth is saying,

Okay,

Time out everybody.

You're getting way too busy.

You don't talk to each other anymore.

You text.

You don't visit with each other anymore.

You send an email.

You don't write out those little note cards.

You send a text or an email,

Or you don't do either.

We live in a world that we have really experienced tremendous separation in spite of there being so many people on the planet.

There's so much separation.

I live in New York and driving through the city,

You see many people with their heads down looking at the cell phone.

In a restaurant,

You see people sitting across from each other looking at their cell phone.

I go to get my nails done and I see children looking at their moms and their moms are looking at their cell phones,

Not all the time,

Many of the time.

I pass a playground.

I see children on the playground and I see moms on their cell phones,

Dads on their cell phones.

This is not to beat up on moms and beat up on dads.

Quite the contrary.

This is an opportunity for us to be more self-observing,

To have a good look at ourselves.

Now that distractions have pretty much been taken away for the most part,

And by all means,

You can be a busy little beaver at home on the internet,

On your phone,

Playing word games,

Totally distracting yourself.

And if you do that,

You will miss a great opportunity to connect more deeply with yourself because we all need to come home to the self.

So much of our tension and our anxiety is because we've become addicted to the distractions in the matrix.

Not your fault,

Not my fault.

It just is what it is.

Over the years and over the centuries with technological advances like the internet,

We are all part of this soup,

This paradigm of technology.

And to keep up,

You have to have a smartphone.

You have to have a laptop.

You have to stay connected to what's going on outside of you,

But you can get lost in that connection.

And in that wanting to connect to the external world,

And there's so many ways to connect to this matrix,

To plug into this matrix,

You lose yourself.

You lose the quiet.

You lose the stillness.

You lose the patience.

You lose the appreciation for a genuine human connection,

For a smile.

You don't even know you miss it until it's taken away.

You don't even know how valuable a hug is until it's been four weeks or eight weeks since you've hugged another human being or touched the hand of another human being.

It's very important that we don't miss this opportunity during this quarantine to connect to the stillness within,

To take advantage of the time that we are spending at home,

To wake up and do a meditation,

To wake up and connect to the sounds of nature,

To open the window and remember what it sounds like to hear a bird chirping.

So many of us miss the sounds of nature when we're outside because we're not plugged into the self and we're not plugged into nature.

We're distracted by the internet.

What is this one saying?

What is this one saying about me?

How's this one doing?

Where did this one go?

It's nonsense.

It's unimportant.

What is this one eating?

Nonsense.

It's unimportant.

What color is this one's hair?

Nonsense.

It's unimportant.

What's important is how deeply you are able to return to you.

What's important is how rich is your life with the connection to the self.

How richly you connect with the self will deeply connect you to the universe and to all that is around you without having to plug into the internet,

Without having to check to see how many people liked your Facebook post or how many people responded to your Twitter.

It's very important that we take this time to connect with ourselves and with our families,

With nature and with animals.

We've been given a huge time out and this time is so valuable and who knows how long this quarantine will last.

Who knows how long we'll need to self-isolate.

But what I do know is that being that we are all being asked to stay home,

I think it's a wonderful time to use this opportunity to our advantage to more deeply connect to self,

To become more patient,

To become more compassionate for self,

To grow in gratitude for what it means to connect with another human being on an authentic level,

To reevaluate what you believe connection is,

To reevaluate how you feel about the people in your life.

What are you willing to let go of now?

Now that you know that you can't see someone that you love as often as you like,

Is there anything you'd like to let go of?

Is there anything that you need to reevaluate and revisit?

What is it in your life that you value the most?

Is it time to renegotiate your core values?

Is it time to renegotiate how you see yourself?

You are a valuable human being,

But when you are distracted,

You are less powerful as a human being.

When you come back to the self,

When your desires come back to the self,

When your power is returned to the self,

When you return to the self,

You become a powerful creator.

When you grow in gratitude for the simple things in life,

When you grow appreciative for running water,

When you grow appreciative for electricity,

When you grow in gratitude for doctors and nurses and for infrastructure that just might save your life,

When you lessen the distractions,

When you lessen the noise and you tune into the self,

You find gratitude.

It's almost impossible not to.

When you let go of the distractions,

When you look around your home and you are grateful for what you have,

When you release attachments to things that no longer serve you,

When you take the time to reevaluate and renegotiate,

When you say to yourself,

You know,

These people have always been good to me.

I'm never going to not appreciate them or underappreciate them again.

Or,

You know what,

I spend a lot of time chasing that person.

I spend a lot of time in that toxic relationship and I realize time is the only thing I can't get back.

And when this is all over,

This is what I'd like to change.

Now is the time to return to the self.

Now is the time to reevaluate your belief systems.

Now is the time to fall back into becoming more patient and more diligent with your own meditation practice,

With figuring out who you are,

Dear one.

This is the time.

This is the time.

You've been given the time.

Time is a gift.

Time is an absolute gift.

This is an incredible time to really,

Really look at yourself.

Don't waste it.

Don't waste it.

If you have children at home,

What a wonderful time to reconnect with them,

To spend time with them.

Don't worry about the house,

Mommy.

Don't worry about the house,

Daddy.

Things will get done.

Laundry will get done.

Do things a little at the time.

Wake up in the morning,

Take care of you first.

Figure out what you're going to do with the kids for the rest of the day.

Plan your day.

Teach them about stillness.

Teach them about patience.

Turn everything off.

Teach them to meditate.

Teach them to read.

Teach them to connect with the self.

It's so important.

This time that we're experiencing right now is an absolute gift for so many of us.

And to anyone whose family has been impacted by the coronavirus like my family has.

We have had a member of my husband's family pass away from the coronavirus.

My own brother has just recovered from the coronavirus.

I have a friend,

A very good friend,

Who now has pneumonia after eight days.

We have another friend whose family is,

All are sick from the coronavirus.

We have another family member who was just sent home from the hospital who has COPD.

And so this is a time of uncertainty.

And it's a time of reevaluation.

It's a time to really recognize what's really important and what's not important.

It's a time to reframe.

It's a time to be more patient with ourselves and be more patient with others.

It's a time to be grateful for the things that the matrix,

All the distractions in the matrix will grab our attention.

Remember that much of what happens around us,

It's about controlling your focus.

It's about causing distractions.

The internet is flooded with people who advertise.

And the way advertisers are able to make money is by grabbing your focus and grabbing your attention.

And so it's really important that you understand that the matrix,

One of the constructs of the matrix,

Is to find as many ways as possible to distract you.

Sometimes it's to get you angry.

Sometimes it's to get you sad.

Sometimes it's to get you really,

Really excited.

And it's really important that you recognize that what you focus on is extremely crucial.

What you give your attention to,

You draw into your experience.

And so I say this is an amazing time for us to reevaluate where our focus goes,

What we give our attention to,

And what we don't give our attention to.

Namaste,

Dear ones.

Be safe out there.

Until next time,

Bye for now.

Bye for now.

Reviews

I love your messages!

Wonderful! Highly recommended!

Powerful. Just what I needed to hear. Thank you. 🙏

How true. Thank you for these reminders. Stay safe, love and blessings 💙 x

Thanks for another wonderful insight❤️

We can never have enough reminders to come back to ourselves.
Nameste 🌸

Excellent, thanks Lisa for the support and energy sent through this podcast

Couldn't agree more. I am realizing how challenging it has been for me to connect deeply with my young adult children due to constant gaming or phone time. We used to play card games, charades and board games with our families. I am committed to making a greater effort to connect with my loved ones in a deeper and more meaningful way during this difficult time. Thanks for this wonderful reminder.

Words of wisdom!

I love how your insight is always on point and practical. Your advice has changed and continues to change my life. I am thankful for you...everyday. ❤️

Really great. Clear, helpful advice for dealing with what is going on right now.

Wise words beautifully spoken. Just what I needed to hear today. Thank you 🙏

Just the pep talk / pick me up I needed this morning Lisa! I will put things into priority..

Perfect reminder that all those house cleaning projects are not what matters most! Trying to embrace the time with the little ones has been a struggle because sometimes it is tough to Just Be.

Great points to remember and think about now during this challenging time. Thank you namaste

Thank you so much! This is what i needed these days! Namaste 🙏❤ keep safe!

Beautiful talk. Thank you

Amazing. Grateful for this insight. Exit. the. Matrix and let the magical times begin ✨

Really enjoyed listening, just what is needed right now. Re-evaluate what is important right now.

Excellent and just what I needed to hear at this time of sheltering in place and living alone. Be safe! 💜