Remember getting grounded as a child? It was a time out– space to give perspective, hopefully to anchor us back into our Selves; to ground us.

As a global society, we became Icarus, and we flew too close to the sun. Here we are now, sentenced to our homes, and wildlife thrives and the earth heals. Told not to go out and to reduce our grocery shopping to fewer large trips, we must plan ahead, cook our own meals, and eat as a family or with roommates. Some have decided to leave their own space to isolate with others during this time, and this required a real assessment of who they wanted to be with and why. Nothing to dash out for, we have been afforded the luxury to choose meals that have more prep time, wash dishes after each meal, wipe down the surfaces of the kitchen, and to even sweep the floors… To sit and discuss the next topic with our lock-down partner(s), getting to know them better, learning to love and tolerate them another day if that’s what it’s come to, as if they were the last person on the planet and we must find a way to get along… To take an extra moment to sit after a meal to let the food digest in peace. To sit outside and read, or to go for a leisurely walk, bike ride or roller blade. Without the extra-curriculars to run to, more sidewalk chalk is seeing little hands wrapped around them rather than being forgotten somewhere in the garage next to the dusty hoola hoop and the multiple windshield wiper fluids. Dogs all over the world must be happier with their humans at home. Instruments are getting played, bubble baths are being taken, and we are making sure we stay connected through Zoom with those we care about that we’ve historically been too busy for. Many of us are thinking extra hard about how we are spending money with uncertainty looming over how this is going to affect our financial well-being. We are being really discerning, choosing what’s important.

Things are tough, yes. But we have been sequestered to sort out our values, and to respect the values of others as each of us decides how far we will take it to stay healthy and contribute towards the health of our neighbors, of our medical service providers, and of those that had been historically categorized as non-people: the cashiers and workers we “interact” with but really we don’t. We have been given time to focus on all that which nourishes. We have been given a chance at living; at BE-ing.
We get to also think about those that have it much, much tougher than we do, and to feel the pain around that as we turn to the immense gratitude for our blessings and take inquiry into how we might make contribution.

My sister just had a virtual appointment with our doctor, and he told her that people look better right now because they’ve slowed down.

While we may not ever wish for this sort of situation to happen, it seems that perhaps a little bit of forced nourishment time as a society isn’t just healing for the wildlife and planet. It might also be healing for us humans.