Video Source: The Chopra Well
Deepak Chopra shares ten lessons that he learned while being locked down due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the past seven months. Below is a full transcript:
Deepak Chopra:
I thought I would put them down in my notes and then maybe share with you how covid-19 has been treating me. So I was on the road until March 9th, I believe, and I traveled on March 10th or so from New York City to San Diego to La Jolla. And I was going to be here for the weekend, and then I was on my way to New York and then possibly Europe including Russia.
But then the lockdown occurred. So I’ve been in in California now for almost seven month. Seven months is longest have been in one location and I have been reflecting a lot and reinventing my body and hopefully resurrecting my soul and sharing some ideas with you.
And of course, in the meanwhile total meditation was launched. And with your support. It’s doing very well. So this morning I thought I’d jot down some notes and share them with you on lessons that I have learned during these last seven months. I have to say the last seven months have accelerated the whole experience of waking up and I’m always sharing that with you as well, which is what Total Meditation is all about. So here are my notes from this morning.
Lessons from Covid-19 and waking up:
Lesson #1: It is possible to cultivate and experience a joyful, energetic body, a loving, compassionate heart, a reflective, alert mind, and lightness of being on a daily basis. So that’s how I’ve been starting my days with the four intentions: joyful, energetic body, loving, compassionate heart, reflective, alert mind and lightness of being (lesson 1).
Lesson #2: The world that I create, the world that I create is how I respond to sensations, sense perceptions, images, feelings, and thoughts. So if I choose, if I stop, if I stop, pause, notice, and I feel. What do I feel: sensations, perceptions, images, feelings, thoughts. So I press the pause button. I notice what’s happening around me including my body, feel, feel sensations, sense perceptions, images, feelings, thoughts. Then I choose my response to them. What kind of sensations would I like to experience? What kind of perceptions would I choose? What is the meaning in those experiences? This is how I create my reality. That was lesson number two.
Lesson #3: Life is a dream. Every instant occurs and passes by as soon as it occurs. Every single experience, every single sensation, perception, image, feeling, thought is ungraspable. The whole thing is a dream. So upgrade the dream. Upgrade the dream.
Lesson #4: Joy is the only success. You can have all the money in the world, the best relationships, the best health, no matter what. But if you’re not experiencing joy, then what’s the point? So joy is the only success there is. Cultivate joy every day.
Lesson #5: Diversity is both thriving and enrichment in every aspect of life. So, the one stem cell differentiates and becomes the diverse organs of your body. In the same way, the one consciousness differentiates into all knowers, all modes of knowing, and all things known. And if we want emergence, we need diversity: maximum diversity, complementing each other strengths, shared vision, transparency, open systems, emotional and spiritual bonding.
With maximum diversity, we will give birth to a more peaceful, just, sustainable, healthier, and joyful world. So that’s number five lesson; diversity is thriving and enrichment in every aspect of life. Focus on diversity, of experience in everything – diversity of experience in everything, in every relationship, in the food you take in, the sensory experiences you have.
Lesson #6: The point of arrival is always now. There is no point of arrival other than now. Now never ends. Now is not a moment in time. Now is actually the superposition of past, present, and future. And now is timeless and the vortex to the source of all existence.
Lesson #7. This was a hard one for me, but it was good. There is no fixed identity. I don’t have a fixed identity. You don’t have a fixed identity. Push is such a relief: nothing to defend, nothing to attack. However, identity is always evolving and yet remains unique in the midst of not being fixed. What is identity? It’s the stories that we’re attached to. So in Eastern wisdom traditions, the stories we’re attached to are karma. And freedom from karma is not to be attached to your story. Freedom from karma is possible therefore, with this understanding, experiential and intellectual. There is no fixed identity. Identity is always evolving and yet remains unique. Nothing to defend. No one to attack.
Lesson #8: Gratitude is the sanest response to existence, and awareness of existence. With gratitude, all things come. Everything is abundant. Abundance is right there the moment you feel gratitude – it opens the door. You can not feel hostility and gratitude at the same time. Also, gratitude brings down inflammation in the body.
Lesson #9: Existence is lavish, extravagant, and abundant. We just have to relax into it and not interfere with the spontaneous flow of goodness that life offers.
Lesson #10: Flow is the experience we have when there are no regrets, no resistance, and no anticipation. This flow is the experience of a lightness and stillness in motion. And when we flow, then we know we are in touch with our source, the field of all possibilities ,the field of synchronicity, the field of unpredictability, the field of infinite creativity, and the source of manifestation through harnessing the powers of attention and intention, and stepping into the unknown.
So anyway, these are a few of my notes. Maybe they’ll go into a book, but they’re also part of the experience of total meditation. So once again, thank you for your support. And, I am so happy to connect with you almost every day here. And let’s stay in touch
Covid-19, thank you for the gifts.
