Today, I was supposed to be returning from leading a weeklong retreat in Tulum, awaiting my son home for his college break with open arms. Instead, the retreat was cancelled, the borders between the US and Mexico shuttered, and I have only seen my son through a pane of glass. We are waiting the results of his COVID 19 test, and is quarantined with his father. Regardless of the “official” outcome, I am reassured that his fever has broken, his cough subsiding and that he is feeling stronger every day. Silver linings.
In times of uncertainty, in the face of the unknown so becomes the greatest opportunity to know our inner voice: what is truly essential in our lives, and where we can be of service to others. Of course there is fear, but I’m doing my best to dwell in possibility and purpose.
I am reminded of the words of Pema Chodren:
Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.
This concept of folding and unfolding is one I first understood in my body through asana: how one pose becomes anew, encouraging another. What only matters is how we meet each moment as a moment, to trust that this too shall pass, to have the courage to be present with purpose, to always be willing to let go and begin again.
Like so many, I have had to come to terms with the fact that how I normally work with others simply cannot be ~ I have been in awe of the number of creative ways my teachers, students and colleagues are finding ways to serve in community! For myself, I am choosing to build a more (inter)connected web directly via my newsletter. I’m not eschewing social media, but listening to my inner voice, sharing moments of being that come to pass, and learning to love in the time of COVID. I hope we can learn from one another. Silver linings.