Lockdown – Appreciation, simplicity and connection
This past 100 days have been a blur, a roller coaster ride. There we were, rushing here and there meeting, eating, driving, and surviving, lurching from one event to another. Then it all suddenly stopped. Nothing gradual about it. It’s like I rode by bicycle into a wall. It was a shock. Stay At Home!
I think it took a few weeks to start to adjust to a new routine and on some days, there seemed to be no routine. I need a bit of routine to direct the wild horses toward something productive. I need something to give my dance some shape.
With time and space stretching into an unknown future, a sense of openness appeared. I started to move slower. To appreciate simple things. Just making breakfast slowly. Savouring the smell of flowers cascading their scent. The comforting sound of the breeze rustling the leaves. I don’t usually get to walk as much as I have over these past 100 days. I relished being able to take my time, to appreciate nature, its beauty, its charm. I felt like my slowing down was enabling me to tune in to the slow steady pace of life’s natural ebb and flow. It just felt good. These enchanting moments are interspersed with thoughts about others in difficult and desperate circumstances and I often feel overwhelmed and sometimes flooded with compassion. But some of these moments are unshakeable, still, silent, peace filled. Powerfully present with reassuring solidity. Like an ambassador of the enduring majesty of life itself, unmoved by any single thing, flowing ever onward through pandemic, pestilence, disaster, and destruction.
Before long I got the chance to reach out to others. I am fortunate. I managed to keep in touch with people through Zoom and Teams. I have been able to share simple exercises that people have shared with me to ease anxiety and stress. I have been able to share relaxation activities, easy meditations, and reassuring contemplations. Every time I got chance to share something, I also felt the benefit. It steadied me, reassured me, relaxed me. I felt like for a little while we shared moments of stillness and reassuring stability despite the ground moving beneath our feet.
My period of isolation rather surprisingly, has brought me closer to others.