Four Directions to Surviving Quarantine

 Answer to prompt The Power of Four

By Helen Sadler

Four Directions to Surviving Quarantine

When I wrote this prompt, I was looking forward to getting hella creative with it. I had all kinds of fancy plans, although nothing was really sticking. I was certain I didn’t want to write about the past two months. At. All.

But then, the Trail Brazens started posting. And I read Laurie’s promises, Annmarie’s power statements and guiding poems, and Natalie’s reclamation. Then I knew I could not avoid it. I knew I needed to lend my voice here as well, as we continue to document our journey together on this blog.

I’ve tapped into the four things that helped stabilize and regulate me during this time. For a while emotions were running so high and low, I sometimes didn’t feel like I knew myself at all. I am happy now to document the things that I have found most helpful, although there are certainly others. I’m keying in on the top four, but I could also add exercise, fresh food, and solid sleep.

I am including an added dimension: the meaning of the four directions in Native American culture as a connector.

EAST: asking for wisdom and understanding, seeing things as they really are.

Ye Tang Che

I’m aware I already wrote a blog post about this, but I have to state it again: in times of my greatest despair, this is repeatedly the thought or philosophy that helps me through the most. I am still grateful for the day the Pema Chodron’s book When Things Fall Apart dropped into my lap. I cannot get enough of Chapter 7, where Ye Tang Che is explained in all its balanced wisdom and frank talk. It helped me just let things be what they are. Once I grabbed onto that once again, I found everything stabilizing for me, and I haven’t shed many tears since then – except for the day I went to my classroom.  But that was a blog post, too!

SOUTH: warmth, growth, the sun’s rays

Music in different forms

Anyone who knows me knows music is a huge and significant to me.  Early on in this quarantine, I purchased a vinyl record player. Its presence in my life has added a dimension I didn’t even know I was missing.

Slowly, and deliberately, I have listened to many of my old vinyls. I even bought a few new ones. The best way for me to deeply listen is to lie on the floor with the speakers on either side of my ear, just like I did as a young person. Revisiting the album covers and inserts proved a delightful treat as I rediscovered things I forgot were even there – such as James Taylor’s handwritten words to all the songs on Sweet Baby James.

But even more than that, it is what I am finding in the grooves that uplifted me. I found the roots of everything I love about music. I heard artists, such as Phoebe Snow, from an entirely new perspective and appreciation. Albums I thought would sound dated or weird have surprisingly held up. They are all intricately connected to a time in my life when I was forming myself, so to hear these songs now is truly finding pieces of myself that went missing in the name of electronics.

But that isn’t the only music. The other delight in my life is the Saturday night live stream broadcast of The Grand Ole Opry, albeit an empty auditorium, but artists who are pouring their heart and soul into keeping the circle unbroken. Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, Keith Urban, Terri Clark, Amy Grant, Kelsea Ballerini, Garth and Trisha, among others. I fell in love with Ashley McBryde. I gained appreciation for Lauren Alaina, Trace Adkins, and Luke Combs. There have been many fine moments in this show, but my ultimate favorite was during the final moments of the Garth and Trisha edition, when Trisha launched into an acapella version of Patsy Cline’s “Sweet Dreams,” her voice echoing through the Opry hall, moving me to tears. That was a music moment to remember from this unsettling time.

WEST: introspection and insight, source of the water of life

A Lamp in the Darkness by Jack Kornfield

Every morning I wake and read something inspirational. About four weeks into the quarantine, I became disillusioned with the text I had been reading. It was striking me as shallow, and not helping me at all.  I tried a couple of other books I had here, but nothing was doing what I needed it to do.

Then something came up in Facebook memories: a book I studied in 2012, and used to create inspirational messages for my seniors that year. The full title of the book  is  A Lamp in the Darkness: Illuminating the Path Through Difficult Times. At the end of the school year in 2012, I wrote various quotes from the book on index cards, then had the seniors choose one randomly. We then sat in a circle and they talked about why they felt that message was for them.

I obviously passed one of these messages on to my coworker Natalie, because that same day she sent me the text of the message I had given her eight years ago. It meant something to her that day, and then I knew that I had to pull Jack’s book back off the shelf.

Good move!

This wise and wonderful book provides gentle instructions and enlightening stories for getting through difficult times. After nearly every chapter there is a meditation (a CD is also included for verbal guidance), and even though I have yet to actually do any of the meditations, just the illuminating text has helped me find something solid inside myself that I deeply needed during this ordeal. Or, should I say, helped me light my own lamp. It, along with Ye Tang Che, is bringing me back to a level of equanimity and peace that had been eluding me. It also helped me form a vow, at Jack’s suggestion:

I vow in the midst of difficulties to listen deeply and love.

As Laurie and Annmarie stated on this blog before me, I am willing to keep a promise to myself, beyond the chaos, and see what is helpful and real. This is the ultimate liberation.

North: cleansing, endurance, patience, receiving energy

Write Around the Corner

When my friend Laurie mentioned starting an online writing group, I had every reason to say yes. I love writing and I love talking about writing (duh!).  She opened it up to invite others, and I invited quite a few people, three who have accepted and stuck around. Two are people I knew in high school who still live in Ohio– one whom I had just seen in February and she asked me about what kind of online writing group she could join. (Synchronicity!)  I also invited a rather new friend from work, and it has deepened our relationship being in this incredibly safe writing space.

[Disclaimer: this absolutely does NOT replace the awesome TB group – EVER!]

Laurie has done an inspiring job facilitating our 90-minute Zoom meetings. Please know, I can barely tolerate Zoom in many cases. But in this context, it works just great. There are people from all over participating, and there is no way we could all get together. So this is perfect.

The group has its own FB page, Padlet, and some other fun outer activities.  Each week I find my love and gratitude for this group growing. Last weekend is a case in point. I came away from the meeting totally rejuvenated, and by the next day I had developed an idea for a writing project I am super excited about!  Considering I haven’t had much of an interest in pursuing a project in over two years, this was something.

There are three more things I want to add in this regard.

Write Around the Corner is a perfect title for this group, because when we started we had no idea what was around the corner. As we proceed, we still don’t know. But we are navigating together.

This group has become a North Star for me – leading me to my best multi-dimensional self. What more can I ask?

And finally, the interactions in this group have helped me dream again. And that, my dear friends, is the ultimate healing power of writing.


These video seems to sum up quite a bit here. This is Trisha singing "Sweet Dreams" in 1999 when she was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. She begins acapella. Try to imagine no audience noise, no other instrumentation. The power of music. The power of dreams coming true.