i didn’t expect to come back to this space amidst the world’s current affairs. at the moment, and for the foreseeable future, we are “sheltering in place” and practicing “social distancing” in an effort to flatten the curve and get ahead of the coronavirus, Covid-19.
wow. it literally feels like something written in a sci-fi novel. a global pandemic caused by some ominous virus. the world is at a standstill – or at least California is – and though i continue to work at the hospital, life outside is quiet. isolated.
i don’t quite know how to put my thoughts and feelings into words. each day oscillates between a mild anxiety and unwavering gratitude. the anxiety – a result of the uncertainties, finances, the restrictions from gathering and socializing. but then of course, there’s the gratitude – for our health, our home, the opportunity to pause and allow our earth a chance to breathe. to allow us to breathe.
i am choosing to view this time as an invitation to be uncertain. to notice the flow of energies through, and around, my body. i want to seek the silver lining, to believe that there is, in fact, one. above all, i am taking inventory of the beautiful, everyday things that make up this wild life, and leaning heavily into the love that surrounds me – a phone call, text, or FaceTime away.
here on out, i will use this space as a home for positive excerpts, poems, or writings related to this particular time. because, after all, this is our reality and we are here for it.
“and the people stayed home. and read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. and listened more deeply. some meditated, some prayed, some danced. some met their shadows. and the people began to think differently.
and the people healed. and, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.
and when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.”
— kitty o’meara
living wabi-sabi 