Yes, I know, it really is like this: we’re nervous, stressed, we’re in trouble. What we were troubled before, now there had to come this pandemic with its cohort of nefarious consequences… It is terrible that we are deprived of the freedom to decide our own actions. Where is the city’s mobilizing trepidation and especially where the “light at the end of the tunnel” disappeared? We’re short of money, we are missing going to work, shopping, sports, games, concerts, visiting, projects… All went to the head…
And yet, since we’ve been “registered” at home, we can’t help but notice that there are some less sinful aspects here – not to say beneficial. In other words, if we haven’t done Covid-19 and we’re (well, relatively…) healthy, we can HAVE:
– the respite to observe the details of the splendor of nature that is reborn in the spring sun
– longer time for ourselves, for self-discovery, for reflections on our own values and motivations
– the opportunity to socialize more (this is not “social distancing”, it’s physical distancing) and to broaden our circle of acquaintances
– the opportunity to work on ourselves in such a way that we let ourselves be much less influenced by the outer, not to be the victims of the circumstances
– the opportunity to inform ourselves about whole new things, which were not of interest until recently; for example:
- functional parameters of our body (in more detail)
- the pathology of some organs and treatment possibilities
- how complex and at the same time how powerful is the human body
- how to deal with critical health situations and how to use our creativity to make something that would break the illness
– the opportunity to deepen and enrich relations with those close to us (children, brothers husband/wife, parents, pets)
– the chance to acknowledge, to realize the effects of fear and emotions in general; as a rule, fear separates us from the soul and leads us into an area of instincts – the well-known “fight or flight” reaction; paradoxically, this fear now unites us and this common denominator creates relationships of human solidarity less often encountered before
– a more pointed impulse to give (time, attention, appreciation, affection) on a generalized background of need; I believe that, in fact, this comes from a universally valid potential but educationally and socially repressed
– the chance to meet with our own spirituality due to the fact that we are more exposed to the problematics and sometimes even the spectre of death
– the opportunity to reflect upon and investigate beyond rituals – now with forbidden access – what do the institution of religion and its teachings represent for us in the respective period of religious holidays (Pesach, Easter, Ramadan)
– “chance” to contribute (“with or without a mask”) to the next generation of “coronials”
– time to do what we didn’t do until yesterday (or, whatever, not as much as we would have liked):
- physical exercises (using body postures and own weight)
- to meditate or/and pray
- breathing exercises (now can be done in the infernal cities as well!)
- to read books (other than specialized ones) or to write
- to cook (and find out or create new tricks and recipes)
- to paint or to draw
- to clean the house (by ourselves alone…)
- to listen to music (other than the one in the car) or to sing or play an instrument
- to see the films we had heard were worth…
– the opportunity to appreciate what we have, to realize how little we – in fact – need and what is the difference between “wanting something” and “needing something”
– the freedom to yawn in public (if it comes, obviously!) without covering our mouth
– the opportunity to become more rapidly familiar with a virtual world, which, at least for now, seems to have an extensive development in the near future
– the chance to prepare, design and even plan what and how we will do after…
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I am sharing the above – with their beneficial potential – as a result of personal observations and experiences. I have endeavoured to give them a general tone, so that they do not seem too intimate or specific, although they are valid for a city dweller rather than any rural area. I would be very happy if you added your own experiences to the list above.
And if you haven’t been tickled up by my disclosures or you’re less likely to be remembered for writing, I invite you to practice these things (or similar others that suit you better), to experience them, because when the lockdown will be over, you may regret not doing them…