COVID-19 + I Year = 3 Valuable Life Lessons | Podcast S2 E52

In this episode, I share three important positive outcomes that have eternally imparted on us the opportunity for self-evolution, the need for greater autonomy and emotional well-being; the freedoms that truly matter, and terms of endearment that we foster through our human shared experiences and love.

In listening, I hope that you feel uplifted and with newfound awareness as you continue to look for and find the good in your life - one year later. Original release date: March 7, 2021

Transcript

For the most part,

I understand when people say when COVID is over and when life returns to normal,

That what they really mean is when life can return to what it once was.

I understand this,

And yet I also find myself quietly,

Gently saying the words aloud,

COVID isn't really going away.

It is a part of our lives.

Our lives have changed forever.

We are learning to adapt and dare I say,

We are doing quite a good job considering what this all has meant to each one of us.

In this episode,

I share three immensely positive outcomes that have eternally imparted on us the opportunity for self evolution,

The need for greater autonomy and emotional well being,

The freedoms that truly matter,

And terms of endearment that we foster through our human shared experiences and love.

In listening,

I hope that you will feel uplifted and with a newfound sense of awe as you continue to look for and find the good in what this pandemic one year later has meant.

The good that is within us,

The good that reflects what more is to come,

The good that results from change that was needed,

Necessary,

And now a strictly enforced part of our life.

And of course,

The good that we have not yet begun to see.

This is not to overlook all of those who have been sick,

Who have died,

Who have lost dear loved ones during this past year.

And for those of us who may still contract the virus.

At the time of release of this episode,

There has been 115 million cases reported of the coronavirus and 2.

55 million deaths.

The experience of divine wisdom is your sacred right.

Divine wisdom is what guides you along a spiritual path.

It is your inner knowing that helps you to witness yourself as infinitely more abundant,

Loving,

Incredible,

And on purpose.

It is your inner wisdom that guides you to live your highest potential and to experience all that you are and as you continue to expand and seek more.

In each episode of the Wisdom Podcast,

I share both spiritual and practical wisdom together with the insights,

Offerings,

And truth that have helped others live their greatness,

Conquer their fears,

Heal from the experiences of their past,

Be resilient,

Live empowered and free,

And of course,

Of their authentic happiness.

You may hear your own story in some of the stories of my clients who have healed themselves,

Become in control of their life,

And reclaimed their authentic power.

Having a deeper understanding and meaning of life awakens us to discover our purpose and to witness infinite beauty and joy that is so abundant.

All of us are on a sacred path.

When you awaken to this,

You easily access the guidance of your inner wisdom and you see the beauty of life unfolding in perfect ways to support you best as you manifest all that you want.

Each episode is meant to offer something beautifully relevant and timely for you.

Let the sacred path that you are on be one that you choose deliberately based on the inspired wisdom of your inner truth and as you live a beautiful and love-filled life.

On the flip side of what has caused so much destruction and devastation is the continued change that propels us forward to new ground and the potential for a higher quality of life.

How you choose to adapt and thrive is your individual choice.

In the devastation of a forest fire and the process of succession,

The set of conditions that eventually allow for the return of the forest,

If you look at the area of regrowth some 10 to 15 years later,

Even with a good deal of variation in the density of trees and number of species,

You will see a new forest for what has returned with life.

Another example,

The incredible destruction and desolation as a result of a 9.

1 magnitude Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of 2004.

When you now look at the aerial footage of this region,

You see the rehabilitation of a civilization once destroyed.

Now regrowth,

Repopulation,

New life.

Then the silver lining of great tragedy is the phoenix rising up,

The opportunity for rebirth,

For monumental change,

For renewal and new thought paradigms that will forever shift our thinking and the way we live.

Since the emergence of a life-threatening virus named a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11,

2020,

What has arisen,

What changes have needed to be made in protection and safety and as a global conscience and as we continue to birth new life into the world,

Are new and better ways to thrive,

The implications of which render us more resilient and knowledgeable.

In this episode,

I share three of the most visible and self-courageous opportunities for change that we are already living and which have the propensity for restoring balance,

Raising the morale of humanity and which instill new values and daily practices into our life that serve our highest ideals.

There are new experiences waiting for us all beyond the parameters of what we must do now that will continue to bring about positive change as personal growth in a way that we have likely never witnessed before.

In this episodic journey of what is good,

I would like to offer you hope and a better means by which you choose to approach and live life and with improved sustainability of the planet,

Of each other and of ourself.

Here I also share three examples of how our lives have variably changed for the better.

I do not wish to downplay anything of significance or to lessen the severity of these times.

Rather,

To account for what we also need to remember and appreciate one year later and beyond.

The first example of what is positive as a result of this pandemic is a return to love and what matters most.

As a result of how our lives have forever changed,

We are acutely reminded of the need and importance for human social connection,

For love that is given and received.

And this includes the value of touch,

Of being able to hug our loved ones,

Cuddle with our pets,

Hold the hands of our elderly,

Consciously choose the loved ones with whom we want to live and share our life with and to appreciate our relationships and what we do for one another.

What we took for granted in the freedom in which to roam the planet without face coverings,

Something that we would likely never have considered a freedom,

Has now been taken away,

Not forever,

But for the indefinite future and until such time that we have real efficacy for transmuting the virus and its strains into a non-threatening outcome.

What we have come to realize most significantly during this time is the importance of love and affection,

That what matters most to the human species is the ability to express and receive love and kindness.

To know that you are cared for and loved and that you are important in the lives of others is a universal need beyond the limitations that we must now adhere to.

And in not being able to reach out and touch,

To shake someone's hand or to give and receive a hug.

The challenge?

How do we successfully cultivate connection,

Love and appreciation of others through our words spoken via messaging and emails and in real time video calls?

How may kindness,

Love and appreciation be expressed if we have previously taken our relationships for granted?

How do we do this now in the midst of a time in which we are still enforced to socially distance and self-isolate?

One of the positive outcomes of this pandemic is the importance of our need for love and connection.

To witness firsthand what it means to feel isolated and a lack of connection has for many made their renewed priority the important practice to reach out to their loved ones,

To find new ways of using technology for this and to hold a space in their lives for the privilege of nurturing relationships.

Our lives pre-COVID have illuminated how much we have taken for granted,

Including the health and wellbeing of our loved ones and the importance of family.

In the daily distractions of a busy life,

What have our priorities revealed?

What are we now being reminded of that falls upon a personal commitment to appreciate and love more,

To express love more readily,

To act upon our heart's guidance,

And to break down barriers of vulnerability and ego that we once held firmly in place?

One life-affirming instance that has been presented to each one of us is the need to surround ourselves with love,

To openly practice loving kindness,

And to acknowledge what similarities we all share,

Rather than judge each other because of our differences.

This pandemic has made it possible for us all to empathize with one another,

To acknowledge our shared experience as a human condition and what transcends culture,

Race,

Religion,

And socioeconomic status.

Experiences that cultivate a shared existence also unite us in a compassionate need to remember that we are all alike in more ways than not.

In the early weeks of March 2020,

I received an urgent message from a client who was struggling with anxiety and panic of what this all meant for the safety and wellbeing of himself and his family.

He,

His wife,

And their children packed up their car with supplies and sustenance for an indefinite period and traveled to their cottage several hours north of the city.

He needed to breathe.

He needed to be away from the urban sprawl and the chaos and confusion of what this outbreak would mean.

Except Vincenzo brought it with him.

He was tormented in fear for the safety of his family here and in Italy.

His livelihood as an architect and business owner and what this all would mean for the world and the life that he once knew.

In our talks in those early days of the mania of the pandemic,

I had insight into some of what the world was experiencing.

In Vincenzo's words,

It all came back to family and what mattered most was to be together,

To recognize the precious nature of life and to reach out to his loved ones and colleagues and be attentive and willing to help.

To have an ear for each other's worries and fears was helpful and reminded him that he was not alone.

When you feel great love for your family,

When this is what you build a life around,

Then most everything becomes secondary when some of life's privileges and safeguards are withdrawn.

Taking the simple things for granted like playing board games and going on nature walks as a family became opportunities for Vincenzo to breathe again,

To take part in life's perfect wonders and to appreciate rather than stress over the small things.

I believe that Vincenzo and others will continue to remember the small and brave measures that impart love and connection of a family and of what matters most.

Of the importance of not needing to hold a grudge,

Of being the first one to say,

I'm sorry,

Even if you've done nothing wrong,

But as a way to acknowledge the hurt of another and the realization that life has a way of showing you that everything will be okay.

It may be different than it was,

But you and I will continue to thrive.

That is exactly what he did.

When the family began to feel stir crazy in their small cabin in the woods,

They packed up the car and drove back into the city,

Careful,

Safe,

Making adjustments,

Working together from home,

Managing the change in routine and together as a family,

Being active and present in the process of homeschooling.

All the while Vincenzo kept reminding himself of those two weeks away with his wife and children and what mattered most at a time when not he,

Not anyone truly knew what to do or what was to happen next.

Instead,

He chose to allow the gift of love and family to rule as a top priority and to feel comfort in knowing that they were all together for that time.

And of course,

That they are a family forever and that the small stuff that once bothered him was not so important.

And in another example,

My great-great aunt lived to a hundred.

She died this past summer.

Her granddaughter and other family members who lived nearby were able to visit in her assisted living residence on the grounds outdoors and only beyond the fence that kept residents and care workers safely at a distance.

Even as English was not her first language,

She managed to say the most incredible words of wisdom whenever we would visit and in the uncanny and perfect timing of when they mattered most.

Some of her words spoken to me during our last visit were profound and so beautifully simple.

Just be happy,

Love everyone.

The messages and the feelings that your words and actions can evoke in another are priceless.

Never underestimate the power of love and the will of the human spirit.

The most significant lesson in all that we have had to live in this time thus far is a certain reminder of all that is important in life and to live this now in all of the ways that you can because this is always possible.

The first global positive in this pandemic is a reminder to practice loving kindness first and foremost unto yourself and to all others as this sets the stage for mastery of how you live a truly beautiful life.

It is the expression of love that opens your heart to the shared experiences of life and that reminds you of what life is for to live wholly and completely and to find ways to do this to live as love in action.

A second example of what positive is the result of this pandemic is personal growth and self evolution.

You need to feel your value and worth in order to make a positive change.

Most of us have a good source of self worth and self esteem from which we feel encouraged to take action,

To make positive changes,

To do the right thing,

To seek self improvement because we know that in doing so we will be happier and alleviate our suffering.

This is precisely where we are.

At this time we have come to face more than ever what it means to be with ourself and with our existing situation far removed from the pandemic.

And what we have cultivated for our life up to now.

This time and the weeks and months of lockdown and social distancing offers an instinctive opportunity to rise to the challenge of correcting what we have always done,

What is not serving our highest good and all that we can be,

Of no longer choosing to escape and distract ourselves and to ignore what is a brave opportunity to seek and become more.

As much as our outer world is in the throes of change,

We are also feeling challenged by our inner world.

The normal distractions of busyness and the ever available social activities and human contact have helped us to not feel alone.

Connection even if it is the connection of someone liking our Instagram post offers an impermanent sense of reassurance that others approve of us and have similar feelings and experiences.

This translates into feeling hopeful that we will be okay because we are all in this together.

And yet ultimately each one of us must ideally be comfortable being alone with ourself.

In the initial months of the pandemic and as we have perhaps impatiently waited for the world to restart,

How many of us saw this as an opportunity to really sit still with what we were feeling for a time,

Not to dwell in the worry and fear of the future,

But rather to take solace in the experience of our anxiety and fears able to pass through us and to then shift our thinking instead to all that is good in our lives.

For example,

To have food,

Shelter,

Love,

And the ability to feel moments of calm and inner peace through what we could experience from learning to be in our feelings and to choose how we truly want to feel.

What is the silver lining here?

What is positive?

What do you choose to focus upon and how do you learn not to react to all that you see before you in the midst of all of the uncertainty and unknown that we cannot yet possibly have clear answers for?

What will you choose to formulate and create in your mind that leads you into your tomorrow?

How will you find your own way to thrive without discounting your inner voice and what holds you to authenticity and desire?

Can there be a greater balance between taking in what information is valuable and accurate and not being distracted by it all?

To focus on the good in your life,

What you are grateful for now more than ever,

And to appreciate the simple experiences and possibilities of life that you have been given.

This last year in all of our lives has been a shakedown and an opportunity to make a change.

How well are you choosing to accept the changes that have been placed upon you and to find opportunity and a new means of living in a way that is both sustainable and optimal and to do so because of your ability to know yourself best?

If you would like some further thoughts on how to do this,

I encourage you to have a listen to a previous episode titled The Future is Now.

It was released back in May of 2020 and in it I discuss how it empowers you and builds your confidence to examine what you have always done from a perspective of what can work better now and to mobilize yourself towards this,

To decide what you truly want and to take action,

To carve out a life that includes the certain commitment to make yourself a better human being and your life more beautiful and satisfying.

Is there a lesson here and now in gratitude,

In thankfulness,

In self-awareness and the positive changes that you need to make because to do so will upgrade the quality of your life?

In keeping with an attitude of honesty and transparency,

What could you reveal to yourself?

What are you willing to look at that needs your attention and possibly eradication if it is an aspect of yourself or your life that no longer serves your highest good?

For one client,

It was the revelation that she could no longer live in an abusive relationship.

When both members of this couple began working from home,

It painfully highlighted the lies and deception that they were both living and how life before COVID conveniently allowed them an escape from their reality.

Lockdown and the pandemic made it unbearable to pretend everything was okay.

For my client Tracy,

It was the devastating breakup of a four-year relationship in which she had selflessly adjusted her life to fit that of her partners,

Including driving across the state every other week to be with him.

A sudden and inconsolable breakup because he felt smothered allowed Tracy to do some needed soul searching about what she was really doing,

How she was accepting far less than what she really wanted from a partner and a relationship and to begin to invest her energy,

Time and love into herself.

You need self-evolution and personal growth in your life right now and you need this more than you need distraction and busyness.

The positive side to this pandemic is that you have been forced to re-examine how you have been living.

Continue to do this with these questions as guiding journal prompts.

Number one,

What are these pandemic changes forcing me to look at of my life that is no longer healthy nor helpful to my highest good?

Number two,

If I could use this time to make needed changes to my life,

What would I do?

Number three,

How could I distract myself less and love myself more?

And the third example of what is positive as a result of this pandemic,

The nature of human beingness has been upgraded.

We use our eyes more than ever to convey emotion,

Purity,

Sincerity.

Walk into any establishment that you regularly frequent where you see the faces of those that are familiar and pay closer attention to how much is conveyed with our eyes.

Wearing face masks has made it more difficult to hear each other,

Blurring out the sound of our voice and without the ability to take in one's complete facial expressions,

It makes it even more important to truly respectfully see one another.

The outcome of mask wearing has opened us to the realization that our eyes truly convey what we feel in our heart.

The nature of humankind is to exist out of peaceful measures.

We are not entirely there yet,

But in this time of COVID and the necessary mandatory wearing of face masks and added positive to this uncomfortable change we have all needed to adapt to is the obvious.

You must communicate more and more effectively with your eyes.

This isn't something new that you have to learn.

It naturally happens as you convey your emotion and as you make regular eye contact with another and to lead this with kindness.

Our nature of beingness as a human is undoubtedly challenged because of this pandemic.

If you haven't already,

Look into the eyes of others.

Please don't be afraid to do this as you will learn and understand so much.

Let me share this thought in an example with you.

In our ability as humans to be resilient and to find new measures and solutions for our communication and work,

We have adapted quite well to the format of video as a viable tool.

My question to you is this,

As an instrument to connect and feel connected,

Have we become distracted by seeing our own image and how we appear to others and ourselves?

In the falls of self-critique and discontentment with what we are witness to,

Do you use video technology to look into the eyes of another and convey genuineness and warmth and to observe the full expressions of another as social cues and a helpful means of relating and deepening your communication?

When you are in front of someone who is wearing a face mask,

Let it not be a barrier to your kindness to the need for accurate communication,

Care,

Respect,

And appreciation.

And whether you are in front of someone's mask or on a zoom call,

Look into their eyes.

Read the inner language of their soul.

This information was always available to you.

Now if you are looking with sincerity into someone's eyes,

Rather than be distracted by their outer appearance,

You will see their beautiful soul.

You can also see someone's hurt,

Fear,

And lived tragedy all in a glance and the intentional reveal of what the eyes say.

The positive of this wearing of face coverings that will forever be for some an uncomfortable and restrained affect is the newfound wonder of what the eyes hold.

And what you may convey quite naturally if beneath your mask is your smile.

Because the eyes will show this.

They will light up to express what is hidden behind the mask.

The silver lining of our experience in wearing face coverings is to focus upon what can be seen.

And to remember just how much love and kindness may be conveyed not only in our actions and words,

But in the infallible messages we reveal through our eyes.

I hope that these three incredible positives are messages that you will long remember and choose to live.

Not only as the underpinnings of this time in our life,

But as what you embrace as a meaningful series of helpful guidance to life lived now.

I hope that you've enjoyed this episode of the Wisdom Podcast and thank you for sharing it out with your loved ones.

I'd love to hear from you in sharing your experiences in looking into the eyes of others with love and appreciation in your heart.

Please drop me a note and may you find many of your own positives and upsides to what we are all experiencing together.

Sending you great love.

This is Dorothy.

Namaste.

And just a final note,

The names of my clients and some of the details of their story have been changed in order to uphold their privacy and confidentiality.

Thank you so much for joining me in this episode of the Wisdom Podcast.

To hear more,

Please check out the other episodes here,

As well as my guided meditations,

Including my signature prose meditations and I Am mantras,

And as well the meditations to guide you into a deep and restorative sleep.

Please also visit me on social media and say hello and a special thank you to Insight Timer for this beautiful space to share all of my love.

Allow yourself to go within,

To access your inner wisdom and to live this.

Awaken your authentic power,

Live your truth and be love.

Namaste.

Reviews

Thank you🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻The importance of love is confirmed/affirmed. Grateful for the reframe about masks. I have no difficulty wearing it whenever I leave my house. Seeing it as an invitation, without distraction, to look more into the eyes of people and take in what they convey, that is a good one, thank you🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻