As children, we found moments of peace in the deep concentration born from puzzles and toys; from the excitement of sounds and in the bravery of small challenges. As adults, we find it in the unfolding experience of love, in the laughter of our family, and in the solitude of meditation. Throughout our lives, peace is the freedom we find when we become still. It is the reward we are given when we become quiet.
And yet, we give away our time and even our right to be still – to be quiet. We give away our time for it because it is harder to prioritize our spiritual self when our physical self demands so much more. We give away our right to it because it feels selfish, indulgent and unnecessary, even when our heart tells us it is none of those things.
Quiet moments let us be mindful of each day that passes in isolation and hopeful for the days when it is over. Quiet moments give us the deeper understanding and conviction we need to challenge old priorities and change the fundamental beliefs that keep us merely responding, but never evolving.
In the last months, we have been given lessons in social fragility and personal mortality – lessons we have found from physically isolating ourselves from everyone we love and everything we know. But in this crisis, there is the opportunity to turn inwards and light our dormant fire. In a world that is more uncertain than ever, there is the opportunity to find the quiet that lives within us but is lost to the noise.
Every experience has a gift in its shadow, even isolating. Look back at how your days manifested and the different decisions you made from the different choices you were given. Did you read more? Enjoy your children more? Rest more? Reflect more? These are the experiences that we bring forward into a new way of life. Living in conscious appreciation does not mean that we cannot yearn for what we have missed or grieve for what we’ve lost; it simply lets us see, in the high-definition beauty of real time, what it is we actually have.
For me, conscious appreciation has been the greatest tool I have received in my journey through isolating. It has allowed me to better understand the experience of lockdown and how it impacts my personal wellness identity. I meditate, I read every night and I limit the amount of news shrapnel I expose myself to. I’ve prioritized activities that keep me grounded and focused, and I appreciate more the time spent jogging through the park in spring sunshine. Morning routines have become important – planning my day so I don’t fall into a cycle of inactivity. There are moments in which I am acutely aware of how much has changed, and there are moments in which I am aware of how much needed to change. I read stories of clearer waters and less polluted skies, and I understand how my own wellness is so intertwined with the wellbeing of the planet. I see doctors and nurses fighting on the frontlines and I find hope in human nature. We are all connected to each other. We all impact one another.
So we take this uniquely beautiful opportunity to sit back and look out from within. This uniquely beautiful shift in how we value our time and share our light. No family moments lost, no laughs unheard and no bed-time books unopened.
The world will reopen, and life will find a way to normalize itself, but now we get to move ahead better than before, more conscious than ever, and with a new experience that has shown us the map to where we all begin.
We send you love and wish you quiet moments filled with discovery.
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