Pandemic Griefs and Gifts
As we carry on through the phases of the global pandemic, there continues to be uncertainties as well as possibilities. I have heard from many people I work with experiences of fear and loss. There is a collective anxiety and grief that we are all moving through. What was familiar and the ways we used to live have changed. I have also heard people find gifts in this time. There is a permission for slowness, an opportunity to deepen family relationships, purposeful intentions to connect with others, and a chance to settle more intimately with our land base.
While most of our world’s population lives in cities and are unable to get outside, the distress of this highlights our need as humans to connect with the natural world. We need nature not only to survive but also to thrive. Even for people living in these conditions, there are still opportunities for earth connection. By tuning into our relationships with the elements, the water, earth, fire and air, we expand our awareness, our sense of isolation, and in turn are filled with gratitude. For example, noticing the air, how air gives us life, where it has travelled and has transformed, how air is impacted as human activity has slowed across the earth. Some might attune to the sacredness of this element and offer back acts to show our appreciation and gratitude.
For those of us with the privilege of being able to get outdoors and into natural spaces, we are invited into recognizing how fortunate we are. To feel the spring’s sun on our skin, to hear the songs of birds arriving from great migrations and the spring peepers calling from their warmed banks, to move our bodies and breathe the fresh air; these are all gifts. We are shown now more than ever the basis of our well being comes from the earth.
We can use this COVID-19 time to reshape how we live as an offering back to our Mother Earth. Our former ways of living did great harm. How might we hold intention and collectively form a new way of being after the
COVID crisis? We can make decisions about our use of planes and cars. We can begin to grow more of our own food. We can begin to heal our place in the wider web. How might our concepts of time expand in the hours of the day as well as in the generations who walk this planet? How might we hold the lives of other
beings as equivalent to ours?
Transformation can be painful as we lose our former ways of being. Creating something new takes courage. We can begin to dream this new way of being into our lives and be part of ripples of healing for all of the planet.
Sending you all blessings for health and hope, and for bringing about a new way of being together.
Sincerely,
Melissa