|
This
Week: Thupten
Jinpa, the Dalai
Lama’s English translator, talks
with Tom
Nagorski about how people can cope with stress caused
by the COVID-19 outbreak. Plus: how the coronavirus is affecting Japan
and Iran;
a conversation
about ventilators and saving lives with Medtronic’s CEO; praise
from California’s governor, and more.
|
|
|
CURRENT
AFFAIRS
How To Cope
With Coronavirus-Related Stress
In
just a few months, COVID-19 has exacted a devastating toll: over
125,000 people around the world have lost
their lives to the outbreak, which has also caused a
calamitous economic downturn. Even those who have so far avoided
illness or financial ruin nonetheless are vulnerable to suffering from
acute anxiety caused by the never-ending stream of bad news.
With a long, uncertain recovery ahead of us, how can people learn to
cope with coronavirus-related stress?
Asia Society Executive Vice President Tom Nagorski recently
caught up with Thupten Jinpa, a Tibetan Buddhist scholar who
servea as the Dalai Lama’s English translator, to talk about this
problem. Jinpa said that trying to suppress negative feelings only
makes things worse. Instead, he advised people to “deliberately observe
the fear and anxiety” and treat them with self-calming breathing
exercises.
“Everyone else is in the same boat,” he said. “Everyone is suffering.
That helps with finding a connection with others.”
For those who are simply feeling a little stir-crazy by remaining
indoors all day, the distinguished monk had more prosaic advice.
“A lot of us have Netflix as our savior,” he said.
More:
Watch Thupten Jinpa’s 2018
conversation with ABC News’ Dan Harris on the miracle of
mindful meditation.
Image: Getty
Images
|
|
|
CURRENT
AFFAIRS
Roundup:
COVID-19 and More
Here’s
what else is going on:
- Asia
Society Policy Institute Vice President Wendy Cutler
and ASPI Vice President for International Security and Diplomacy Daniel Russel
spoke
with New
York Times Tokyo Bureau Chief Motoko Rich
about the coronavirus outbreak in Japan, where limited testing,
tensions between local and central government, and social and work
mores have hampered efforts to fully assess the spread of the
virus and implement social distancing measures. With rising case
numbers and the economy contracting, there is concern over how
Japan will weather the pandemic politically and economically.
- Asia
Society President and CEO Josette
Sheeran conducted an in-depth
conversation with Omar Ishrak, CEO of
Medtronic, one of the world’s largest medical device companies.
Ishrak discussed how his organization is supplying medical
professionals with the tools they need to combat COVID-19 by
making Medtronic’s ventilator design open
source. He said it wasn’t a difficult decision: “The
mission of this company is to use technology to save lives.”
- Days
after New York Governor Andrew
Cuomo commended
Asia Society for coordinating with China to bring
much-needed medical equipment to the United States in order to
fight COVID-19, California Governor Gavin Newsom
issued
similar praise.
- Life
in Wuhan, China, where COVID-19 originated, is slowly returning to
normal. But weeks after the worst of the crisis, medical workers
on the front lines are looking back at their experience with
anger. Read
their reflections in ChinaFile.
- ASPI
Senior Fellow Puneet
Talwar talked
with Ali
Vaez, Iran project director at the
International Crisis Group; and Kamiar and Arash Alaei,
co-presidents of the International Institute of Health and
Education, about the impact of COVID-19 on Iran.
- The
latest
episode of the Asia
In-Depth podcast features Tom Nagorski’s conversation
with scholar Leesa
Lin and entrepreneur Charlie Woo
about the disturbing rise in anti-Asian racism in the COVID-19
era.
- Asia
Society Southern California hosted
a webinar featuring Zhang Wen-Hong and Jonathan Fielding,
both doctors, talking about how to apply China’s experience in
“flattening the curve” to the United States.
- A new
episode of Asia
Inside Out, the podcast from the Asia Society Policy
Institute, features a conversation with Brendan Guy
of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Thom Woodroofe,
senior adviser on multilateral affairs to ASPI’s president, about
how the election of a Democrat to the U.S. presidency this
November would impact climate policy. Read ASPI’s new paper Climate
Diplomacy under a
New U.S. Administration for more on this
topic.
Image: Toru Hanai/Getty Images
|
|
|
|
|
UPCOMING EVENTS
With
the suspension and cancellation of in-person programming due to the
outbreak of COVID-19, Asia Society is planning to hold virtual programs
on the virus as well as other subjects — please follow us on Facebook
and Twitter
for updates, and subscribe to our
YouTube channel.
- Apr.
16: ASPI Associate Director Anubhav
Gupta talks with Foreign Policy Managing Editor
Ravi
Agrawal and Mehmal
Sarfraz, Pakistan correspondent for The Hindu,
about how
COVID-19 is affecting South Asia.
- Apr.
16: Asia Society Hong Kong’s Facebook Live interview series with
coronavirus experts continues as Executive Director S. Alice Mong
speaks
with Rebecca
Katz, director of the Center for Global
Health Science and Security at Georgetown University Medical
Center.
- Apr.
20: Puneet Talwar speaks
with Iraqi President Barham Salih about his
country’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak, his economic
vision, and Iraq’s relations with Iran.
|
|
|
JOIN & SUPPORT
Asia Society relies on the generosity
of its friends and members to support its mission of strengthening
relationships and promoting understanding among the people, leaders,
and institutions of Asia and the United States.
|
|
|
|
