Face it. The world-as-we-knew-it has changed. The goals, plans, priorities, or motivations you started with this year are probably much different than what they are right now. I know mine are. Even comparing “what-was” the first of March to “what-was” the beginning of April is dramatically different. Who could have predicted we’d be stockpiling toilet paper and wondering if it’s still safe to go out and buy food.
Life has changed. “What-is” right now is full of uncertainty, way too many deaths, and a bunch of questions no one has concrete answers for. And the further we go into this pandemic, the more there seems to be finger-pointing and blame-slamming as our leaders struggle with what to do.
Playing the blame card is just a defensive move to take the pressure off “us” (collectively) and put it on someone or something else. Plus, looking from a 2020 hindsight vantage point, sure, we can see how some governmental decisions helped, some decisions made things worse, and some of it was simply dealing with a brand new virus entity no one has experienced before.
We’re all human. And you, me – we all tend to make the best decision we can with what we have – the information at hand, our understanding of it, and our level of consciousness at the time.
A much better place to focus is here: What are the choices and decisions you’re making today – right now? How will they impact the quality of your life and the lives of those you care about? And most important: What outcomes do you want to have when you (we collectively) get to the other side of this crisis?
Here’s the Irreverent Part….
What if you looked at Good Friday in a different way. What if, at least for this year, you saw Good Friday as the time for Ultimate Surrender?
Traditionally, the Lenten season (40 days leading up to Easter) has been a time of fasting and repentance, reflecting on the suffering, death, burial – God offering his son as the ‘sacrificial lamb.’
Looking at this from where you are now – in the middle of a pandemic – what if you viewed Good Friday as a symbolic time of letting go of what’s in the way of whatever has been holding you back from being your True Self – as God made you?
I’m not talking about burying all you “shadow” stuff in a cave somewhere. I’m talking about surrendering them. Using this pre-Easter time (and beyond) as an opportunity to finally lay down all the dark things you’ve allowed to hide the light of who you are. (You know, all those “yeah, but” things and excuses you make why you’re not living up to your potential, or waiting until someday, or…. ?)
What if you symbolically place them into the depths of the earth – like the butterfly larva entering the pupal stage, surrendering to this current “what-is” and allowing yourself space for the rebirth process to do its thing.
In other words, accept this mandatory “time-out” and use it for self-reflection, reassessing, and percolating on those questions I gave earlier.
Transformation is inevitable. How you choose to move through this temporary “new normal” is up to you.
Will you allow the “darkness” – the negativity, worry, fear, judgment, etc. – to consume you? Or will you find your “silver lining” and emerge stronger and more fully who you really are – like the butterfly emerging from its cocoon?
Most of our human suffering is caused by resisting “what-is.” You can certainly continue doing that. Or you can decide to use this “time-out” in a more positive way.
As the saying goes, you can’t always choose what happens in life. But you can always choose how you respond.
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