Something has happened to all of us.
And it’s still happening to some degree. I have been exploring how to acknowledge this pandemic time — the changes upon us now, and the importance of mindful reflection and inquiry. What the heck just happened?
I am looking at these many months of the pandemic as a kind of Hero’s Journey: We depart from what’s known and familiar, and go (or are carried) towards that which is mysterious, dangerous, frightening, unknown. We meet challenges we could not have imagined. We find companions along the way. And when we have found what we needed, and faced what’s in front of us, we return. Home may look the same, but we are changed somehow. We carry strengths and understanding that we did not have before.
In a ceremony of transition, like a graduation, or a funeral, there is an invocation, or a formal appreciation that includes an expression of gratitude. Whatever your spiritual beliefs, these rituals are archetypal, and can satisfy the human need for making meaning, for marking and acknowledging growth and change.
How might you reflect on the pandemic time and acknowledge with gratitude that you are alive? What resilience did you demonstrate? What strengths were required of you? What was lost? What was clarified? And how do you want to be, going forward?
