Yesterday while catching up on the news, I read an excerpt by a doctor in Italy and his comments on the mayhem that he and his coworkers are experiencing in the hospital.
“The war has literally exploded and battles are uninterrupted day and night. But now that need for beds has arrived in all its drama. One after the other the departments that had been emptied fill up at an impressive pace.” ~from UpWorthy.com
I closed my eyes and thought of the sick people who are in those hospital beds. I thought of my grieving friend who had recently lost her father to cancer. I thought of my children and my husband and how I could help us all stay healthy. I thought of the disruption in national events and in my own event planning work, concerned of the impact on mine and others' employment, and the economy.
When I lost my own youngish parents to cancer over 30 years ago, I began walking my path as a seeker’s soul, wondering about life and death, joy and suffering. I needed to somehow make sense of it all – in the same way I’m trying to make sense of all that is happening on a global scale with the Coronavirus. Could there be a silver lining or a lesson in all of this chaos?
Given my 30-plus years of seeking, learning, contemplation...living, here is the wisdom that surfaces in my heart with regards to our lives right now. I believe that any change asks of an individual or humanity to pivot into another direction. When my husband was diagnosed with lyme disease and in extreme pain, he prioritized his health and walked on a new path of being conscious of the food and beverages he chose to put in his body. When my own art business wasn’t creating the revenue my family needed to pay bills, I was fortunate to find a part-time job to supplement our income and make ends meet. When my friend’s beloved father recently died, my friend took a step back from her life and began her own questioning if her outrageously busy schedule was aligned with what she truly desired for her own life.
These examples might sound simple and easy – but they’re not - as change requires us to be willing and fully present in our lives, making conscious choices. I believe that change, whether self-directed or thrown as a curve ball from life, is meant to awaken our spirit to evolve into a higher level of being, with perhaps more appreciation for what we DO have... coworkers, family, neighbors, friends who surround us, healthy food we get to purchase and consume, a home over our head, our ability and freedom to earn income, our beautiful planet.
And so, as we ALL experience changes in our lives with the Coronavirus, could this be our time to pause, breathe and appreciate all that we DO have in this very moment? Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction said, “What time is it? It’s now.”. Perhaps this year of 2020 will bring forth changes we all need to be more aware, and kind, and compassionate as together we strive to overcome the Coronavirus that in the end may be our wake-up call to take even better care of ourselves, each other and our planet.
