Self-Care Tips from Slow Animals and Helpful Droids

Meditate with (rev) Sarah Bowen and her favorite creatures at sacredsendoffs.com/ meditations.

- By Sarah Bowen

“IS THAT AN X-WING FIGHTER tattooed on your leg?” enquired the neurologist.

“It is!” I exclaimed from my hospital bed. He then confessed to having a Jedi tattoo on his back and described how a Star Wars droid was the ring bearer at his recent wedding. Not to be outdone, I proclaimed my love of all galactic creatures, whether furry or android.

These formalities complete, he asked why I was in the ER. “Well, on Tuesday, I tested COVID-positive, then negative the next day. I had heart palpitations by Friday, and then my left arm went numb.” His eyes widened, “Yup, it’s a good thing you came in.”

Next, the hospital staff tossed around scary words like heart-related COVID complication, atrial fibrillation, and transient ischemic attack. They inserted me into noisy, whirling machines. And at night, I felt like vampires were sneaking in hourly for blood. Apparently, we had a lot to figure out.

Worried, I tried to imagine the time as a much-needed spa stay. Scrambled tofu and fresh fruit arrived for breakfast, in stark contrast to my morning habit of snarfing down a protein bar. I devoured speculative fiction, leaving my devices turned off. After dinner, I mindfully tuned in to the sunset rising across the roofline—no remote was requried. By nine o’clock, I was asleep.

In the end, I was sent home without a diagnosis, yet with a wake-up call from the galaxy. I had glimpsed how slyly pandemic life has affected me. Somehow, I had slipped into too much doing and not enough being. It was time to slow down.