While the COVID-19 pandemic is transforming our world as we knew it; breaking down our lives as we knew them to be; distancing us from those we love and who add meaning to our lives; robbing our freedoms under the strict lockdown measures, turning us into what sometimes feel as prisoners in our own homes – a light is still shinning through the destructive cracks.
Last week a soul sister shared with me how she had caught herself in noticing the flowers growing into springtime bloom in the pots on her balcony, something she had not paid much attention to before. “These times are making us pause and see things we never saw before even if they always were there”, she said.
Open Your Heart to This Moment
It is natural to be in resistance to the new realities thrown upon us over night, it is also natural to try to escape the truth of those realities because they are causing so much havoc, fear, uncertainty and discomfort – and it is also in all of us to become rather impatient with the COVID-19 grip on our lives. This is all real and it is messy, and yet we are still left with the simple freedom to see it all with new eyes.
What if these times are also a launching pad for us to pause, look closer and see with new eyes – catching the light that is getting in right now. We might suddenly discover the magic of the blooming flower on our balcony, become aware of the morning sunlight in our faces, immersing ourselves fully into playing with a child, noticing the gaze of a loved one, walking barefoot and connecting with the ground underneath us after days in quarantine, appreciating laughing together across the world on a Zoom call, seeing the springtime beauty surrounding us, and truly listening to someone’s storytelling over morning coffee at home.
A Gateway to Gratefulness
“Be grateful for what you have and you will end up having more”, Oprah
When we allow ourselves to see with new eyes, a new appreciation of small moments, small things, and small experiences may just emerge in us. COVID-19 is providing us with a gateway to truly pause and soften ourselves into this moment, allowing ourselves to be right here and rediscovering what in fact is right in front of us.
This is not making the havoc, fear, uncertainty and discomfort go away, yet it is providing us with a simple freedom to take back our power in each moment. Seeing with new eyes can provide us with a different lens on those new realities – and maybe in the midst of the grip of COVID-19, seeing with new eyes can ignite a new gratitude in us – gratitude for something that maybe always was right in front of us. My eyes continue to catch the togetherness, community and solidarity emerging everywhere and I lean deeper and deeper into the soothing calm and beauty of nature as it emerges and unfolds right here in front of me.
What is catching your sight right now when allowing yourself to see with new eyes?
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