It is obviously a stressful time.

I suffered an anxiety attack in my sleep last week. I didnt see it comingbut I should have. I was constantly trolling Twitter and news outlets to see what terrible thing could happen next in this pandemic. Id been checking on people every day, including 8 friends I personally know who have coronavirus, which was stressful, then someone I knew passed away from covid, and that hit me hard. I have also been cooped up with a very active and impatient dog, 24/7, which has been exhausting me, and the bleak news notifications on my phone was taking a toll. All of this lead me to think negatively. I was constantly thinking of worst-case scenarios, in the worst possible headspace.

I was practically feeding my anxiety with tons of fuel.

Then I started to feel completely run down, which made me think I had covid. I had taken all the necessary precautions, to an extreme level, so there was no reason why I would have it. This led me to further panic. My neighbor, a paramedic, told me I likely didnt have it, that I was just so stressed out from the times that I was weakening my immune system. And its true. I had been drinking tons of electrolyte water, sleeping 10 hours a day and taking all the proper vitamins (once a day vitamins, immunity boosters, etc). But I was getting to a dark place mentally because of anxiety, which was compromising my health. I feel fine. Im physically and mentally fine now because I took a step back and addressed this situation.

Anxiety and stress can weaken your immune system. This is a fact. Stress weakens your white blood cells that help fight off infection, so coronavirus or not, you can still get sick and many people might start feeling off because they are compromising their immune systems.

Im starting to think that a lot of people who believe they have covid may be incredibly stressed out, leaving their guards down, becoming more susceptible. In fact, almost 50 percent of people with covid start with diarrhea as a symptom, which baffles experts, because coronavirus is a *respiratory infection*. I personally believe, because diarrhea is a symptom of anxiety and stress, and NOT a symptom to respiratory disease, some people are simply getting sick from anxiety first, which opens the doors for susceptibility.

Obviously Im not a doctor, and you should just assume you have it and self quarantine if you feel covid symptoms, but you should take care of yourself mentally, which is just as importantly as physically. In fact, your mental state can have an impact on your physical state. The point is: your stress and anxiety right now could compromise your health.

A friend lent meHealing Back Pain by John E. Sarno, which Ive read three times. I have back issues, and the main takeaway from this book is that a lot of my back pain was attributed to my mental state because physical symptoms *do* transpire from your thoughts and emotions and feelings. Why do people get stomach aches when theyre nervous? Why do people get headaches when theyre stressed? People can manifest certain physical symptoms.

Yesterday, I unplugged from social media and emails all day. I did meditation. I thought about good moments in my life to release chemicals in my brain that suggest Im happy and healthy and in a good place. I had to switch my brain. I took a mental health day, and it helped significantly.

One meditation Im doing is extremely helpful and incredibly simple.

Close your eyes. Take a deep breath for four seconds, and think about positivity and love and light and people you love as you inhale. Hold for four seconds. Then exhale all the anxiety and stress and negativity from your body. Do this five times.

Its just a simple meditation, but I find it to be incredibly powerful.

Its important people are in good mental health right now, so do whatever you can to get there! Travelbinger is proud to be a publisher with Google News. Only few travel publications qualify. Google News consider Travelbinger a blog, making us the only travel blog to be part of Google News. Well take it!

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Please do! Im a one-man team for this website, so any help is sincerely appreciated.

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This 1-minute meditation will help curb anxiety and stress - Travelbinger

On four Saturdays - March 28, April 4, 11, and 18, 2020 at 5pm EDT - the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and Music on the Rebound present The World Wide Tuning Meditation. Ione and Claire Chase lead a global performance of the late Pauline Oliveros' The Tuning Meditation, a sonic gathering with a legacy of bringing communities together through meditative singing. Anyone from anywhere in the world is invited to join in via Zoom to sing together from their personal phone or computer. No music experience is necessary.

Oliveros' The Tuning Meditation consists of four steps:

1. Begin by taking a deep breath and letting it all the way out with air sound. Listen with your mind's ear for a tone.

2. On the next breath using any vowel sound, sing the tone that you have silently perceived on one comfortable breath. Listen to the whole field of sound the group is making.

3. Select a voice distant from you and tune as exactly as possible to the tone you are hearing from that voice. Listen again to the whole field of sound the group is making.

4. Contribute by singing a new tone that no one else is singing. Continue by listening then singing a tone of your own or tuning to the tone of another voice alternately.

Claire Chase says, "I remember with deep admiration how Pauline handled the devastating moments after 9/11, immediately calling on artists to come together, to create renewed kinds of community, and to make music more purposefully and more generously than ever. In these confusing moments over the past weeks as we have found our lives and work upended by the public health crisis, many of us have again turned to Pauline, and even though she is no longer physically with us, her music, practice, and the ever-widening spaces of inclusivity and listening that she engendered in her lifetime are very much with us. The Tuning Meditation is perhaps her most inclusive composition, as it invites any number of humans to listen and sound with one another over any distance, and I can think of no greater salve for our souls right now than the gathering of a thousand self-isolated people to share in music making across all kinds of real and imagined borders. I am so grateful to my colleagues at ICE, to Raquel Klein and Rebound, and to IONE and Pauline for their extraordinary collaboration in this. As Pauline always used to say, 'Collaboration is a community of effort.' When there are so many forces at play to divide us right now, we need every effort to stay together, in all of our complexity and all of our beautiful difference, in all of our suffering and all of our hope."

Of the project, Ione says, "'Call it listening out loud." Pauline said once about The Tuning Meditation. I listened as the 500 members of the audience at St John's Cathedral, Smith's Square in London received comfort from their own rising sounds after hearing Pauline's simple instructions. She stood at the front of the vast crowd, hands clasped, head slightly bowed, listening. It was June of 2016 and the news of the positive Brexit vote had just stunned an enormous number of British citizens. A sense of extraordinary community was palpable in the room as the singing concluded. Pauline, very aware of a political climate that might shock and separate us, intended to present The World Wide Tuning Meditation again to meet upcoming new challenges. I am so grateful to Claire Chase, Raquel Klein of Music on the Rebound, and Ross Karre and Bridgid Bergin of the International Contemporary Ensemble who are bringing Pauline's score to us again in its worldwide form. It has the effect of a healing balm to unite us as one community."

Music on the Rebound is an online, interactive music festival designed to bring people together and support performing artists affected by the COVID-19 crisis, streaming March 25-30, 2020 featuring music across genres from esteemed artists such as Claire Chase, Paola Prestini, Ganavya Doraiswamy, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and more. Donations will go directly to the artists featured in the video or to an emergency arts fund. New concerts are released at 7:30pm EDT each day of the festival.

Program Information The World Wide Tuning Meditation Saturday, March 28, 2020 at 5pm EDT Saturday, April 4, 2020 at 5pm EDT Saturday, April 11, 2020 at 5pm EDT Saturday, April 18, 2020 at 5pm EDT Tickets: Free. RSVP Here to receive Zoom call-in information. Information Link: https://www.musicrebound.com/pauline-oliveros-tuning-meditation

Performers and Administration: Raquel Acevedo Klein - Music on the Rebound Festival Organizer Ione - Co-Organizer, Tuning Meditation Bridgid Bergin - Co-Organizer, Tuning Meditation Larry Blumenfeld - Advisor, interviewer Claire Chase - Co-Organizer, Tuning Meditation Boo Froebel - Producing Advisor Ross Karre - Co-Organizer, Tuning Meditation Erica Zielinski - Producing Advisor International Contemporary Ensemble - Host, Tuning Meditation

Social Media: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/musicontherebound/ Hashtags - #musicrebound #reboundrecover

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International Contemporary Ensemble And Music On The Rebound to Present THE WORLD WIDE TUNING MEDITATION - Broadway World

If youre feeling a little lost or panicky or, you know, just in a full-on anxiety spiral about the state of the world heres something that might sooth your frazzled nerves.

This weekend, youll be able to livestream some seriously calming vibes into your probably-not-very-calm flat.

Famous self-help guru Deepak Chopra is teaming up with The Well, a fancy wellness members club in New York, to bring millions of people together from all over the world during these times of uncertainty and heightened anxiety.

Chopra will be live streaming a free, global mantra-based meditation calledH(OM)E (see what they did there?) into our homes.

The idea is that the meditation will bringing people around the world together, despite them being in their separate houses. The world will breathe as one and, if you believe in that kinda thing, the positive intentions and power of the collective meditation will helpto heal the world. Its worth a go, right?

Tune intoChoprashigh-frequency vibes on Sunday March 29 at12pm EST (4pm GMT).

You can sign up for free here.

Feeling frazzled?

Take a digital yoga class

This greenhouse is live-streaming soothing content

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You can join a live, global meditation with Deepak Chopra this weekend - Time Out

Emily Marrison, Columnist Published 10:16 a.m. ET March 22, 2020

Emily Marrison(Photo: Submitted)

I used to have this thought: If only I had more time, Id _______ (fill in the blank with a variety of activities).

And I would think, My children are growing up so fast, I wish I had more time to spend with them.

Well, here it is as we practice social distancing. Whether we have kids at home or not, there are some great opportunities to get some things accomplished at home.

Routine is good. Kids are used to a routine at school and at daycare. Some of us are piecemealing together a childcare schedule right now that is going to be anything but consistent. So, if there are opportunities for continuity at any point during the day, then prioritize these.

In our house, bedtime is special. Id almost say more important now that my kids are approaching their teen years than when they were toddlers. I wouldnt have believed that 10 years ago, but I certainly do now. This is the time that I listen to my children without interruption more than any other point of the day. They crave this time. If you are not used to having this time with your kids, then this would be a great time to start.

Get kids in your kitchen. I love spending time in the kitchenand though it can require an extra pinch of patience, I enjoy teaching my kids to cook and to bake. My children and I made some kid-friendly recipes on Facebook Live this week and will continue to do this together weekly. Visit coshocton.osu.edu to learn more about this virtual program and get our recipes to use with your family.

When you dont have school-aged kids

Keep yourself motivated. Last week in our staff conference meeting, my colleague Jenny Strickler shared a great quote with us from Zig Ziglar. Apparently, someone once asked Zig how he stayed motivated and positive all the time. He explained that he didnt always, but he saw it as a choice: People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why I recommend it daily.

Get up early each morning. Some of our best work can be in the morning. Take a shower first thing to get ready for your day. Dont lounge around in your PJs.

As Mary Poppins would say, Well begun is half done. So, get started before you get sucked into something on a device. And speaking of devices, one of my biggest concerns for folks during all this social distancing is the temptation for overspending. Limit your time on shopping sitesand you wont be enticed to buy things you do not need.

Make a list of what you want to accomplish at home. You know there are lots of projects to do. Start by prioritizing all those things you said youd do later or when you had more time. This is a great opportunity to sort through boxes of photos and organize them. Or sort through online photos and organize them. Maybe this is the time to go through closets and determine what stays and what can be donated.

Start spring cleaning. Tackle a room every two or threedays and really clean. Remove the clutter, wipe down the walls, wash the windows, move all the furniture and sweep under it. The colder weather looks to be staying away for a while and cleaning out the garage is definitely on my list.

Today Ill leave you with this quote from Mother Teresa:Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.

Emily Marrison is an OSU Extension Family & Consumer Sciences Educator and may be reached at 740-622-2265.

Read or Share this story: https://www.coshoctontribune.com/story/news/local/2020/03/22/what-do-extra-time-while-home-because-coronavirus-concerns/2879731001/

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Stuck at home because of social distancing? Here's what you can do with that extra time. - Coshocton Tribune

It was 2009, and hospitals, skilled care settings and the community were on edge. My neighbor who was in his 50s had contracted H1N1 and died.

My own daughter was being hospitalized for the same infection. I was exhausted, panicked and at the end of my ability to cope.

My colleague reminded me that Zig Ziglar once said that F.E.A.R is really Fabricated Evidence that Appears Real. At the time, I was in no mood for the wisdom of Ziglar. I had an overflowing hospital, a community that seemed to have the virus literally everywhere and this viral spread had become personal.

Reflecting back on that moment in my life, there are clear lessons I learned that pertain to todays situation of COVID-19. My colleague, in his wisdom, was trying to get me to see that when fear takes over our ability as leaders, our minds go into overdrive and what is not truth, becomes truth.

Fabricated Evidence that Appears Real (F.E.A.R) #1

As a leader, you must have all of the answers.

This a falsehood of leadership, but becomes more pronounced in times of turbulence. It is perceived as the sentence embedded with invisible ink in a leadership job description.

The dynamics are such that the actions employees are being asked to take are fluid, changing to the situation on hand. Employees long for stability and look to you as their leader to be the stabilizer. You feel the tension to reassure and provide knowledge and insight.

Here is where the principles of servant leadership must be utilized. Think of President Lincoln. He did not have the answers, the situation he was facing was ever changing. He listened to his people. He stated the problems and listened to their ideas to address the challenges. He then utilized them to help develop plans. He trusted them to put the plans into action. He knew his job was to make sure that his people could do their jobs to the best of their abilities and the situation.

At the end of our emergency preparedness briefings, a statement was made by all present: Many Hands, One Team. Being grounded in the knowledge that everyone is part of a greater whole helps as the days get long.

You are a team working together. Working to care for each other and those who are trusting you to be that team.

Fabricated Evidence that Appears Real (F.E.A.R) #2

We can use our usual communications.

If there were ever a time to amp up communication, it is now. I learned to stick to a phrase that employees knew was a clear, concise message for them to tune into and listen.

I would say, Here is what we know today then I gave clear, concise communication on what was known and what they needed to know. I then stated, Here is how I need for you to use this information Once again clear, concise messaging.

This takes a change in thinking, communication prepping and listening for all involved. The same communication channels you are currently using, will not work. The people who are not at work, need to know the same information as those who are onsite. You need for them to report into work prepared for the current situation.

Recording the communication with a designated number for people to call in was one solution utilized. Typing the communication up and posting in a designated site for people to refer to was also done. Transparency is critical.

In the absence of information, F.E.A.R becomes a focal point within an organization and diverts attention and organizational energy.

Fabricated Evidence that Appears Real (F.E.A.R) #3

Times are too serious for moments of self-care, joy and balance.

In the beginning of the epidemic, everyone was energetic, volunteering for extra shifts and staying over to help out. As time went on, we wore out.

We all were so busy managing the issues, we failed to manage our own health and wellness. Studies have demonstrated over and over again, the need for resilience within the human spirit. Now is the time to give thoughtful design and actions on how to help your team and yourself have enduring resilience.

Beyond the worry of contraction of the virus, the sheer pace was grueling. We joked about how we didnt even know what normal looked like anymore. Yet, we longed for a moment of normalcy.

Think about creating moments of normalcy. Such simple actions as a room converted for staff to have more than breaks, they are designed for recess. Not only physical but mental ability to disconnect from the overwhelming pace and issues.

I have seen staff put coloring books, puzzles, headphones, music players, guided meditation videos and posters of beautiful photography of nature into their rooms. I have seen teams have a mandatory checkout where people spend time talking about the shift and staying connected to each others energy and capabilities. I have seen talented individuals lead singing, humming and musical moments that influenced a shot of energy to the team.

We are in uncharted waters as we work to address COVID-19. Knowledge from the past can inform the now and future. As a leader, utilizing the power of many, communicating clearly and having consciousness about creating opportunity for recovery of body, mind and spirit will help sustain ourselves and our teams.

Martie L. Moore, MAOM, RN, CPHQ, has been an executive healthcare leader for more than 20 years. She has served on advisory boards for the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel and the American Nurses Association, and she currently serves on the Deans Advisory Board at the University of Central Florida College of Nursing. She recently was honored by Saints Martins University with an honorary doctorate degree for her service and accomplishments in advancing healthcare.

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Leadership in the face of FEAR - Guest columns - McKnight's Long Term Care News

For many years, I have surrounded my office with inspirational thoughts and quotes. These help to remind me of my focus, my direction, and my goals. Quite a few have been on my desk prior to my work as a 4-H agent but I find them to be even more applicable as I work with positive youth development!

One of my favorites is The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want now. This quote from Zig Ziglar applies to much of the teaching that happens with 4-H. No one just shows up at the fair with a perfect angel food cake or woodworking project! Many hours of research, learning, and practice go into that entry for the fair and potential for a blue or purple ribbon. In the same manner, the skills that young 4-H members learn in parliamentary procedure or public presentations dont happen overnight but continued practice and stretching their goals result in youth who are accomplished presenters when they move to the next stage in their life.

Another of my favorites is an anonymous quote titled The Secret to Happiness. It states, Forget. Apologize. Admit errors. Avoid mistakes. Listen to advice. Keep your temper. Shoulder the blame. Make the best of things. Maintain high standards. Think first and act accordingly. Put the needs of others before your own. Forgive.

I appreciate how all of the others are tucked between Forget and Forgive. Many of these are attributes that we want 4-H members to develop and that all of us can be better at. When we apologize, admit errors, avoid making the same mistakes, and listen to advice we humbly acknowledge our learning process. Keeping our temper and shouldering our share of the blame certainly make for calmer discussion and smoother resolution. The 4-H motto is to make the best better and making the best of a situation is certainly a life skill that takes practice and resilience. Maintaining high standards is a very personal characteristic and we should be setting examples everyday for those around us. In 4-H we work on critical thinking and decision-making skills which means thinking first and acting accordingly. Community service, both as a club member and individually, is practiced daily in 4-H and this ties directly into putting the needs of others before our own.

These quotes have different meanings for me than they did eight or nine years ago but inspire me just as much today! Who inspires you? Who can you inspire?

Michelle Beran is the 4-H and Youth Development Agent for the Cottonwood District, Barton County office. For more information on this article or other 4-H Youth and Development related questions email Michelle at mberan@ksu.edu or call 620-793-1910.

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Be inspired by words of wisdom - Great Bend Tribune

CAN YOU BELIEVE it is the beginning of a new decade? We are one month in, and it already seems to be moving faster than last year. Thats the way it is with time. It seems to move at an ever-increasing speed.

Im sure that many of you took on this new year with plans to make changes, improvements and commitments that are already behind schedule. For some, it may be the result of putting off the actions needed to begin the change. Usually, its due to waiting for the right motivation or circumstance to take action. Conventional wisdom says that action follows motivation. Once someone has the desire and motivation, then they take action. Unfortunately, thats not how it works. Those that dont understand this spend days, weeks, months, and even years failing to act. They wait on that perfect set of circumstances to motivate them into taking action to make the change they desire.

It is behavior that creates motivation. The most challenging part of beginning an exercise program is lacing up your shoes. If you have not established a routine in your life where you exercise regularly, youll find getting dressed and lacing up your shoes to be most challenging. Youll wait until you feel like exercising before you lace up your shoes. If you just make the decision, take action, lace up your shoes and take a 30-minute walk when you have no motivation, you will discover that after a short period of time, you become motivated. Motivationfollowstaking action.

Now think about the improvements or changes you want to make in your business. Maybe its a staffing change; maybe its reassigning responsibilities or using new technology. You will be tempted to wait until conditions are best suited for making these changes. Maybe the difficulty in going through this process is what is keeping you from taking action.

Well, let me help you with two steps to lace up your shoes:

1. Be sure you know what it is you want to do and why you want to do it. To think this through, take the time to write it down with a full description of why it will be an improvement for your business. Many times a friend or colleague tells us what they did and why they are glad they made the change. They can talk about how it made such a difference for them and their patients. However, that is not you or your business. If you are going to take on the difficulty of change, you need to know for sure that this is important to you and why it will benefit your patients.

2. Next, set a date to begin. Not to accomplish the entire task, just to start. Zig Ziglar, the motivational speaker, said, you dont have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great. There is power in starting.Break down the task into steps and set a schedule of achieving the steps. Dont worry about the potential consequences, you can work the issues out as you implement the change. Using my exercise analogy, you dont have to begin by working out for two hours, six days a week. Start with 30 minutes, three times a week. In the beginning, it is not about the amount accomplished, but only that you start doingsomething.

These simple actions will create the motivation and support to achieve even more. Once you begin this cycle of continual improvement through taking action, youll be amazed at what you can achieve.

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How Much is Your Practice Really Worth? - InvisionMag

With the exchange traded fund industry continuing to grow and expand, money managers see strategies focused on environmental, social, and governance as part of the next evolution in the innovative ETF space.

We see ESG becoming a bigger and bigger part of investors concerns and something theyre going to be looking at very closely, Daniel Noonan, Executive Vice President, Head of ETF Sales, U.S. Global Wealth Management, PIMCO, said at the Inside ETFs conference.

For example, PIMCO recently came out with the PIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity Active ESG ETF (NYSEArca: EMNT), which aims to offer higher income than traditional cash investments, with a modest increase in risk and focuses on issuers with high quality environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices.

EMNT is based on the success of PIMCOs Enhanced Short Maturity Active Exchange-Traded Fund (MINT) and invests in high-quality money market instruments and short-term fixed income securities. The fund blends PIMCOs active fixed income management with its disciplined ESG investment framework. The framework favors issuers identified by PIMCO as best-in-class, with robust environmentally conscious practices, strong corporate governance, and industry-leading social policies.

Additionally, PIMCO rolled out the PIMCO RAFI ESG U.S. ETF (RAFE), which is benchmarked to the Research Affiliates RAFI ESG US Index and seeks to outperform market capitalization-weighted indices while investing in ESG-conscious companies.

The fund utilizes Research Affiliates time-tested Fundamental Index approach which weights stocks by economic size, rather than by market capitalization, and is built on the principles of contrarian investing and disciplined rebalancing, offering the potential for improved returns. This is paired with Research Affiliates unique approach to ESG, investing in ESG-conscious companies as well as incorporating two additional metrics linked to improved return potential financial discipline and diversity.

For more ETF-related commentary from Tom Lydon and other industry experts, visit ourvideo category

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ESG ETFs Could Be the Next Big Evolution in Investment Strategies - ETF Trends

HJ: I still feel really concerned about the complacency among so many people people thinking that what happened in Wuhan, China, or Italy cant possibly happen here. Its really hard to see people in the U.K. and the U.S. not taking the problem seriously, and putting themselves and others at risk.

But individuals can do so much, too, because of the exponential increase of cases in an outbreak.

BH: Its really instructive to compare what happened in Wuhan and what happened in Guangzhou. In Wuhan, they shut down when they had 495 cases in a city that is roughly the size of New York. In neighboring Guangzhou, by contrast, they took action when there were seven cases. The epidemic curve in Guangzhou was completely manageable. As we all know, in Wuhan it was absolutely

HJ: Catastrophic.

BH: It led to the crisis in the hospitals. And this is the thing that is really important: The peak demand for critical care was roughly a month after the restrictions were put in place.

Right, so here we are, all doing some degree of extreme social distancing or sheltering at home. When will the peak hit? In a month?

BH: It could be a month from now, it could be longer. I want to be wary of getting into the weeds of complicated modeling or predictions. Instead, what I want to get across is: We know that this is a virus capable of doing what it did to Wuhan, and what it is now doing in Italy and Spain and what it will almost certainly do in the U.K. Washington State is coming under severe strain. Given what we know the virus is capable of, we should be preparing for it now.

HJ: We should have been preparing months ago.

And how long are the restrictions likely to last. When does it end? The report released Monday from modelers at Imperial College London suggested that we could be in for a long haul.

HJ: Its a marathon, not a sprint. Everyone needs to come to terms psychologically with the idea that this is going to last a long time. Its going to be a long-term effort to flatten the curve. If we can successfully bring down the case numbers to a manageable level, then we can reassess the situation. By then, we will hopefully have more science to inform our decision-making, and we will have ramped up testing capacity substantially.

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You Can Help Break the Chain of Transmission - The New York Times

Musicians like Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, and Bruce Springsteen are known for taking political stances. Britney Spears was never one of those artists. Until now.

The pop princess might be known for her vast wealth. However, shes recently advocated for wealth redistribution. Heres how Spears said so much by using someone elses words.

During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, celebrities from Jon Bon Jovi to Justin Bieber have shared positive messages to the world. Their efforts are certainly appreciated as many people could use a boost in morale. Spears March 24, 2020 message on Instagram initially appeared to be another innocuous morale-booster. However, a closer looks reveals something different.

In the post, Spears quotes the words of Instagram/Twitter personality Mimi Zhu. According to The A.V. Club, much of Zhus work is philosophical. In the quote Sears reposted, Zhu highlighted how people can help each other during the coronavirus pandemic. The quote also encourages people to redistribute wealth and go on strike.

In her caption, Spears posted a trio of rose emojis. The red rose is a well-known symbol of the Democratic Socialists of America. As such, rose emjois are often used in the Twitter handles of democratic socialists. In another context, the rose emojis Spears posted might just be pretty flowers. However, in this context, they seem to be a political statement.

This post is a bit of a surprise coming from Spears. The singer previously advocated for the Iraq War. She made a brief appearance in Michael Moores documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 saying Americans should support President George W. Bush. Aside from these statements, Spears has stayed mostly apolitical, both in her music and her public appearances.

Zhu wished Spears had credited her. Simultaneously, she was happy Spears reposted her work. Zhu tweeted at the end of the day i think this is funny and sweet and im happy my work moved her becuz she moved me a lot while i was growing up. She added comrade britney is an icon and im glad we are connected on this wavelength.

Spears comments received a warm reception online. Many support the message she shared. Even more are making jokes about how Spears is now one of the foremost economic theorists of our day.

Some are taking Zhus lead and calling Spears Comrade Britney, referencing how Soviets would call each other comrades. Its not clear at this time if Spears will become the next Che Guevara. If she does, her evolution will surely be the story of the century!

The Guardian reached out to one of Spears representatives for some insight into this situation. The representative offered no comment. Does this post signal a new, more socially conscious era for Spears? We will wait and see.

Also see: How Katy Perrys Tight, Sexy Dress Inspired a Britney Spears Hit

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Britney Spears Might Be a Socialist & the Internet Is Happy - Showbiz Cheat Sheet