As an individual and a collective, we’ve experienced frustrations over our lifetimes witnessing obstacles, limitations, and injustices getting in the way of humane progress. We’ve had opportunities to make change in our own lives so that we are not complicit. And we have, to an extent.
We were busy. Filling our days with obligatory habitual schedules, figuring out what to eat, getting our chores done, watching the news and feeling disgusted, and being exhausted.
I’m reading that carbon and greenhouse emissions have dropped dramatically throughout the world because of coronavirus, down 40% from this time last year in NYC and 24% in Europe. Crime has also dipped dramatically in many cities. And of course, school shootings aren’t happening.
Will we be able to mitigate the economic effects of this global lockdown so that there isn’t a rapid upturn in crime and pollution once it’s over?
We have an opportunity.
An opportunity to step back and get thoughtful about our self care (as it relates to health, our relationships, and our work) and what we ripple outwards. We have an opportunity to teach our children how to live now that we are house-bound with them. Our education system is archaic to say the least. We have an opportunity to teach them what isn’t taught: how to live. (The schools have opportunity to shift their approach as well.) We don’t have to become educators in the traditional way, but we can become examples, teaching them life skills and self-authority through the enjoyment of living – the enjoyment of getting up in the morning, making healthful meals together, getting the laundry done, playing games, talking together, picking up hobbies and interests that were replaced by the screen, thinking of others that aren’t physically with us and reaching out, getting fresh air whenever possible, reading together, and discerning when to indulge in the screen (because screen time is fun– in proper doses). We get to decide when to spend money (as a family).
We get to see who is important in our lives, how we respond to difficult situations, and how creative we can be. After all, we are in the creative age. We get to transform the archaic systems as a collective, but first we get to transform our own minds. Momentum is on our side.
We need to truly extend concern for everyone’s health and economic well being now more than ever. When these concerns and sense of creativity and desire for whole health and transformation emerge as a society, and in our own individual lives, our conversation begins to shift from division to love.
Instead of dwelling in fear, resistance, and paranoia, seize the opportunity to take command over the space you’ve been granted to retreat, redeem, and reprioritize. Your thoughts, your concerns, your individual shifts count. More than you know.
Savitree Kaur 