Being forced into isolation can feel like a punishment—as if we’re paying some collective karmic debt for the way we’ve treated the planet. But maybe it’s also an opportunity. A chance to slow down, to notice our breath, and perhaps more importantly, to notice our thoughts.
Maybe we’ll come out of this with deeper respect for the people who hold our daily lives together—doctors, nurses, truck drivers, grocery workers, and first responders. Maybe we’ll begin to see healthcare less as a maze of deductibles and copayments and more as a basic human right.
In the constant motion of the grind, we look but we don’t always see. I don’t want to downplay the real loss and hardship of the COVID-19 pandemic—there has been far too much of it. But I do wonder if this moment might also serve as a reset.
A reset that reminds us how deeply connected we really are.
Unexpectedly, I’m seeing more of my family than I have all year. There are more random disagreements, sure—but also more jokes, more laughter. And laughter, in times like this, is cathartic.
Sometimes it takes a crisis to remind us how connected we are—and how much beauty is still quietly waiting to be noticed.
A Blessing for Difficult Times
May you be safe and kind to everyone. May every one you love, be safe and kind to everyone. May everyone THEY love, be safe and kind to everyone, in widening circles all across the universe.
– Dennis Rivers