FEELING THE EARTH GROW - PEACE IN CHAOS June 2020

During a meditation outside, I went deep enough to feel the most minuscule movements of growth throughout the land. I felt the expansive breath by breath increase of grass and leaves far away and the roses and phlox in my garden, replicating life molecule by molecule. I felt like I was a part of that growth, an infinitesimal wave around the globe.

Despite the chaos, it has been a great slowing down and going inwards for many of us fortunate not to be ill. Our perceptions of our lives have shifted and we are seeing things anew.  I hear this from people everywhere.  For me, I am blessed to be with a wonderful companion, a garden paradise and good health. My children are not far away.

I read about tragedies, conspiracies and transformations about to uplift our globe. I am so sad for those suffering from actual illness, fear or isolation. I tend to be positive. So much change is needed on our precious planet and in the hearts of we inhabitants. Like a young child I feel, ‘why can’t we just accept our differences and get along?’.  Can’t we find a better way than war and hatred? Perhaps the transformation is edging in bit by bit. I believe it is.

Personally, I have nurtured the awareness and practice of living simply over the decades (as well as an American can!). I miss my physical social connections but my daily life goes on almost as usual. Many gifts are revealed and gleaned. At the outset of this pandemic, I immediately thought, what if we had no hot water, or any water, or electricity?  What is it like during war? 

Humans are ever resilient and adaptive. Although I can’t yet visit my grandchildren (mostly because my older son is an ER doctor and quite protective of us), we laugh and sing over Facetime and they are well.  Children live in the present, and these four, literally a tribe, have adapted, creating new games and ways to pass the time. A large family does have its advantages. Thankfully I have been able to visit my younger son and his wife, who both have considered our needs above their own.  Being with family has been what David and I miss most.

In our favor, it is Spring and the doves are cooing more than ever. I don’t usually perceive the magical growth I felt during my meditation but I do stand in awe of the beauty around me. I am ever grateful for my Life and hope you are too, adjusting to what you are missing.

Arundhati Roy, the Indian scholar writes,

“Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.”