Virtues in the Time of Corona

Linda Kavelin-Popov, co-founder of The Virtues Project™, author, international speaker, and psychotherapist, has generously given me permission to share her latest blog:
No one in our lifetime has ever experienced a pandemic with such widespread global impact on health, finances, and a sense of uncertainty about the future. It’s natural to feel scared and anxious, when we have no idea how long it will last or the toll it will take. How do we guard against panic, or losing our footing entirely? Some folks say faith will get us through. Honestly speaking, we also need to guard against the spiritual bypass of our God-given feelings. It doesn’t help anyone who is in tears, or is vulnerable enough to share their fears, to be told, “Just have faith.” Only when we face our feelings with honesty and compassion can we access the true power of our virtues — those inner strengths that reflect the Divine qualities of love, trust, peace, self-discipline, resilience, patience and even joy. Author, James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
How do we face this pandemic and maintain hope when panic is knocking loudly at the door? How do we hold on and ride the waves of change? Certainly not by suppressing our feelings. Here is a way to honor our feelings without allowing them to control us, a way to heal while living in the light of faith and hope. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Here are some thoughts on how virtues offer CPR for the soul.
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No one in our lifetime has ever experienced a pandemic with such widespread global impact on health, finances, and a sense of uncertainty about the future. It’s natural to feel scared and anxious, when we have no idea how long it will last or the toll it will take. How do we guard against panic, or losing our footing entirely? Some folks say faith will get us through. Honestly speaking, we also need to guard against the spiritual bypass of our God-given feelings. It doesn’t help anyone who is in tears, or is vulnerable enough to share their fears, to be told, “Just have faith.” Only when we face our feelings with honesty and compassion can we access the true power of our virtues — those inner strengths that reflect the Divine qualities of love, trust, peace, self-discipline, resilience, patience and even joy. Author, James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
How do we face this pandemic and maintain hope when panic is knocking loudly at the door? How do we hold on and ride the waves of change? Certainly not by suppressing our feelings. Here is a way to honor our feelings without allowing them to control us, a way to heal while living in the light of faith and hope. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Here are some thoughts on how virtues offer CPR for the soul.
READ MORE