There are people already insinuating the coronavirus is some kind of sign the end of days is coming. This is like a few years ago when there was an increase in the number of natural disasters happened and some claimed the death and destruction they caused was a sign of God’s displeasure with us “sinners”. This is bull crap! However, I remember a time when I too believed that the bad things that happened to me were proof of God’s displeasure for something I did or failed to do. Today, I know better. The fact is that “shit happens” in every person’s life. There is no escaping hard times, for they are a necessary part of the human experience.
A recent reminder
It is hard not to feel a sense of loss and grief over what has transpired in our world these last few weeks. But it is a mistake to think the coronavirus is a punishment for our sins, or a sign that the end of the world is coming. This point is best illustrated by a friend who recently posted this on line.
“Can’t help feeling sorry for yourself right now? Imagine how I felt when I went suddenly blind, consequently lost my job and then got cancer that metastasized! The universe HAD to be aligned against me, right? WRONG! The Universe is too busy being the Universe, to pick on me.”
My friend is right, the Universe/God is only interested in learning, expanding and creating. It does so in a loving and generous way, it doesn’t seek to punish anyone. That is not why the Universe/God created you. It gave you meaning and purpose and the same mission, to learn, evolve and create. It has also surrounded you with the help you need along the way. You can see this in the continuation of my friend’s message.
“Thanks to my wife, family and friends, I realized I had to transition into the new reality. I had to take ACTIVE steps to learn to use a cane, to live with cancer, to find a new career.”
It takes courage to look beyond our problems and move forward, living minute by minute, day to day until you find your new path. But many do it, and they can become our teachers during tough times.
You and the coronavirus
My friend’s lesson applies to what is going on today, and I will let him articulate it in his own words.
“None (of what he had to do) was easy. Neither is the current climate with coronavirus, tumbling markets, mounting unemployment and dark, dark thoughts! So….get curious about alternatives, get curious about what you CAN do, and start taking ACTION, Curiosity without initiative, won’t get you anywhere. Initiative without humility, will only ostracize and isolate you…so stop feeling sorry for yourself! Use the time you now have to explore how to help yourself, how to help others, and be the change you want to be!”
The great disruption
It is always amazing to see how the Universe reaches out to me to share a message. A few days after I read my friend’s on-line message, I was sitting at my writing desk when I opened the sliding glass door in my office to let some fresh air in.
Suspended from the ceiling next to my desk is a colorful, decorative mobile gingerly balanced but placed to turn freely in the air. Immediately after I opened the sliding glass door, a gust of wind came in and blew on the mobile, causing it to spin wildly. Every dangling piece began spinning and bouncing out of control as though caught in a whirlwind. They would have blown away had it not been for the string and wire that connects these pieces as one unit.
This condition caused the mobile to spin like this, intermittently with the breeze, for several hours until I closed the door. Eventually, it settled into a new balance.
In a flash, I understood my friend’s message about change. Sometimes change comes unexpectedly, like a gust of wind that throws us and everything we have out of balance. Like my mobile, every area of our lives can seem to spin out of control amid change. These are the times we become afraid, and we wonder if we can keep all the pieces of our lives together. Everything seems in turmoil, and we question our ability to survive the change.
Just like serene times go away in life, change also comes to a standstill, and when it does, our lives regain a new balance. But things are not the same, the pieces that make up our lives are now in a different position. Some of those things are less visible, perhaps signifying a different priority. We are also surprised to find that the pieces remained connected. As my friend discovered, his wife, family and friends were the string and wire that kept the pieces of his life “mobile” together.
But what the mobile metaphor doesn’t tell you is what to do with this new balance. My friend accepted his new lot in life and learned to live with it. He chose to live in the present and look for the things he could do. He then courageously took action. He replaced self-pity by doing the things he could do to help himself, help others and becoming the change he wanted all to be. His example is exactly how we can overcome the deleterious effects of the coronavirus; by relaying on the better angels of our nature. But that is a choice were a free to make or ignore.
Thankfully, the Universe surrounds us with those people who can show us the way.
Remember, paying gratitude for your life forward will reward you with much joy and contentment.
Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash
