Do we all just need to slow down? Am I psychic? Did I portend this epidemic? Did I jinx us?
Is the current COVID-19 public health crisis the world’s way of telling us to slow down? Is it the universe’s way of telling us we’re moving too fast? Forcing us to stay at home, use social media and technology for good (or better/more productively), re-evaluate what is necessary, what is essential.
Making us consider the real beauty of all that Mother Nature has to offer us. When the only activities outside your house are walking/hiking/biking maybe we’ll better appreciate the benefits Mother Nature bestows on us in these troubled times. Sunshine and Vitamin D, trees that are steady when the world seems so fragile, dirt trails that continue on even when we fear the world as we know it might not.
Forcing us to find more sustainable ways to live. Not travel to unnecessary places contributing to climate change with our carbon emissions. Not waste so much food. Maybe not use so many paper products. I am currently using less toilet paper – still on camping rations even though I was able to find TP in the stores a couple weeks ago.
Not take for granted all the privileges we do have – a car to get you where you need to go, food in your pantry, technology to connect you to the outside world, books to read, movies and TV shows to watch.
Maybe some of these new habits and ways of living will stick. What have you changed in your life for the better – since this all started? Better for your health and wellness, better for the planet?
What lessons can you learn in this difficult time? What positive changes can you make in your life now that you can carry forward into the new normal (whenever that might happen)?
There is an equilibrium to nature that must be maintained. Our Mother is the keeper of this equilibrium and will tell us in no uncertain terms that we have upset the balance. She will guide us to restore some of the balance. We may not like it, but she is a wise Mother and we should listen to what she is trying to tell us. Stop moving so fast. Stop consuming so much. Just stop. Listen. Watch. Taste. Smell. See. Know. Feel. She wants us to be happy, but she also wants her first child – Earth – to be happy. Are these 2 happinesses incongruent? Is it impossible for them to co-exist? Maybe it was possible 1000s of years ago before we forgot who we were. When we remembered whose children we actually are. We are children of our Mother. Of the one who created the Earth. Of the one who directs the wind and the water. The one who erodes the dunes and makes the flowers bloom.
We are her children and we too could be in balance again if we would just listen to our Mother and all that she is trying to tell us, show us, teach us. How can we possibly believe that we know more than She does? She who has existed long before us, and will exist long after we have destroyed ourselves. Mother Earth, Mother Nature. She will care for us if only we would let her. Let her embrace us in her cool breeze on a spring day. Let her wash away our troubles in her cool mountain lakes. Let her talk to us in the mornings when her bird children come to sing.
We are children of the Earth and if we disrespect our Mother Nature she will let us know. We must be more mindful in our approach to everyday living and listen to the cues we get from the natural world.
The natural world is constantly seeking equilibrium and balance. What you are you doing to live more sustainably and more balanced? More in tune with the needs of the natural world?
Author’s note: The first section above was written before this next 2nd section section which I wrote as a result of a writing prompt: “I remember.”
Live Well with Alison 