While grieving alongside the world, I am awake and aware. Many are suffering through uncertainty, stress of loneliness, unemployment, lack of income, home-schooling and social-isolation. Despite all the death, suffering and financial challenges, there is a silver lining in the coronavirus pandemic if we are still enough to see. In shining a light on a few of the positive outcomes, my intention is to help uplift us in these trying times. I would never discount or minimize the incredible hardships and obvious effects coronavirus has brought, I stand firmly in the middle – aware and awake with a compassionate, empathetic and grateful heart. Unless it’s extreme kindness, I believe extreme views can be polarizing and can cause unintentional harm. I know many people are feeling grateful for more family time despite the challenges sudden 24/7 togetherness can bring. Contemplation is a wonderful tool to calm our mind and spirit, help us relieve stress, clarify thoughts, and birth new ideas. After contemplation, here are just three unexpected gifts of coronavirus I see:
1. It teaches us to be more connected to our divine feminine side, with an emphasis on a state of simply ‘being’, and emotionally nurturing ourselves and others. It has brought us the gift of service to humanity, allowing those of us able to reach out to others to offer service to others more vulnerable and in need. It also decreases our drive for the masculine ego-driven energy of ‘doing’ with it’s go-go-go mentality and accumulation of objects, shifting the focus from me, me, me to we we we. Perhaps for the first time in our shared lifetime, truly, we are ALL in this together. For better or worse, we’re on an awakening journey now, stepping into a new way of being and living.
2. It has given our planet a rest from man-made toxic pollution and a chance to recover: People in India can see the Himalayas for the first time in decades as the Coronavirus lockdown eases air pollution. From China’s Hubei province to industrial northern Italy and beyond, pollution levels have plummeted in part due to Covid-19 restrictions and quarantine measures such as lockdowns and self-isolation. There are reports of re-emerging wildlife, cleaner air, and bluer skies. This has shown us how quickly we could see and enjoy these positive planetary effects if we were to adopt more sustainable practices and cleaner living collectively,
3. It has been the cause for Saudi Arabia to declare a cease-fire in the five-year civil war in Yemen. The war propelled Yemen into becoming one of the world’s worst man-made humanitarian disasters for a country with 28 million facing hunger, disease, and other deprivations of war. A convenient excuse or not, the coronavirus outbreak has been an impetus for Riyadh to end the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi rebels on humanitarian grounds.
It’s true that there are scores of people all over the world suffering in some way, and I join the world in lending hands that help in ways that I can, and lips that pray. It’s also true that through the power of collective consciousness – embracing newfound awarenesses of positive outcomes, helping humanity and focusing our attention on gratitude for what we do have and the goodness we see, we can heal and recover from these hardships quicker. While many are healing their hearts, the earth is healing too, and with greater love and compassion our personal world and the world around us can become gentler and more loving.