21 March 2020

thoughts for a pandemic - a collection part 2


Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for.

Seamus Heaney

 As you move through these changing times… be easy on yourself and be easy on one another. You are at the beginning of something new. You are learning a new way of being. You will find that you are working less in the yang modes that you are used to.
You will stop working so hard at getting from point A to point B the way you have in the past, but instead, will spend more time experiencing yourself in the whole, and your place in it.
Instead of traveling to a goal out there, you will voyage deeper into yourself. Your mother’s grandmother knew how to do this. Your ancestors from long ago knew how to do this. They knew the power of the feminine principle… and because you carry their DNA in your body, this wisdom and this way of being is within you.
Call on it. Call it up. Invite your ancestors in. As the yang based habits and the decaying institutions on our planet begin to crumble, look up. A breeze is stirring. Feel the sun on your wings.

Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers 


Two more examples of leadership:

Jacinda Ardern:



Angela Merkel with English subtitles:



 And one of practical wisdom (Dr Mike Ryan, WHO):



And a message in music:




We are here, tucked up in our luxurious hideout, semi locked down. Bewildered, yes, but surrounded by entertainment and distraction. The experts tell us to expect this to go on until August, September, December, a year.
But first, spring.


Friends, readers. Now that we are in the middle of what we find so hard to define, let us feel it, how strange this time is, how sudden, how forced, how interrupting.  Let's see it as a collective encounter that calls on all of us.

Be well. And if you are short of tp, click here.

8 comments:

am said...

My energy is limited at the end of this day, but I want to thank you for this post, especially what Seamus Heaney said. I just listened to everything you posted There is sanity and clarity to be found and trusted.

beth coyote said...

How beautiful-the grandmothers are right.

I am tucked into my 'palace' with my dog and cat and piano and enough food for a while and friend who are looking in on my old self and my community caring for me by helping me to stay sane.

May you be well.

Steve Reed said...

Bewildered is right. This is all moving so fast. The information and recommendations seem to change from day to day. Stay well and safe, Sabine!

Roderick Robinson said...

Bravo! Think of the tale we'll be able to tell. In fact, start taking notes. Events happen so quickly we've already forgotten the last hour's big news.

My life so far said...

I love the TP video.

ellen abbott said...

many people are going on about how it will be a new and different world. I don't really see it, humans being humans and all. but I could be wrong. what I fear the outcome will be is that we will lose personal contact, that this social distancing and keeping six feet apart will continue even after the threat of the virus is gone, that we will no longer touch each other, hug each other, that we will lose a vital part of human interaction and become even colder and less compassionate.

Tara said...

Contrary to Ellen's comments, I think after this is over we will crave and welcome human interaction, touch, and contact. I imagine a big love/hug fest with my family and friends!

Joared said...

Am just taking each day as it comes which is really all we can ever do. Will be nice to have all this behind us — the sooner the better, but guess it’s going to be later. Patience and wash my hands a lot — you, too!