The way we were, The way we want to be

If there is anything that the current pandemic is teaching us, it is about ourselves. Our fears, commitment, beliefs, faith, how we relate to big society-changing challenges… Self-sufficiency bloomed. We explored sourdough bread, and grew leeks from stalks, and made masks (as well as loaves and loaves of banana bread), and if you go on doing these things after, more power to you. But what’s the take-away? In moments of self-isolation did we look at the future and catch a glimpse of the ‘more’ we wanted ourselves to be.  Let’s take a look….

Be More Open
Lockdown may have restricted our movements, but to compensate for that, perhaps we can become more personally open. To ideas. People. Points of view. To sharing. To change…To doing good things together as neighbours and as a community.

Be More Meaningfully Connected
There’s strength and joy in connection. This can mean connecting with yourself  through meditation and also seeing that connecting  meaningfully with others helps enrich your life. So reach out beyond Facebook posts. Replace a skimpy text with a personal phone call, or one-on-one, or family-to-family Zoom of Facetime. Also, in the spirit of the Victorians, handwritten letters and postcards are also being rediscovered as pleasant means of communicating while giving the recipient joy. 

Be More Inventive.
During the lockdown when shortages were on the shelf, you may have run out of flour, and realized that with a food processor, you could make your own – from almond, oat, buckwheat, etc. Challenging times allow us to test ourselves our skills and ingenuity – often with amazing and ever-lasting results.

Be More Resilient
Personal resilience is a great tool to have.  Start by visualizing yourself as the 10-pin that stays standing while others fall. Closely related to the setting of intents, bring the idea of building resilience into your everyday intentions  Good personal relationships, positive thinking, and your own self-worth are also great building blocks.

Get More From Life
Maybe you will find that Working From Home is the way of your future. Regard it as a plus. When the 8-hour workday becomes 4 hours of dedicated WFH with the occasional Zoom conference/check-in, then there’s the opportunity to re-shape your day. Maybe that craft you’ve been practicing becomes a viable way to earn some additional income. Or maybe you use those extra hours to volunteer in your community or enjoy extra parenting time.

Be More Frugal
2020 is the year when many of us discover the money-and-planet saving merits of frugal living.  From not wasting food, or washing your tin foil for re-use, or exploring the day-old shelves in the supermarket, to darning, mending, and making our own greeting cards, thrift and frugality are now the thing for all income groups. It pays to join in.

Develop More Purpose
Purpose is a dedication. It’s personal to you. Purpose is the straight unwavering line, behind getting where you want to be and what you want to do. It’s what you need to achieve your dreams (or sometimes just get through the day in busy and productive ways).

Be More Grateful
Never in our lifetime has count your blessings been more appropriate. Now is the time to be grateful for everything – and everyone - good in our lives, including, of course, our health and essential front-line workers.

Be More Respectfully Kind
Self-explanatory. Kindness comes from empathy, compassion, and from the heart. If everyone were kinder and more respectful in our relationships to others – from the stranger next to us on transit, to the way we treat the planet, we would have a gentler, healthier world. And in these pandemic times, a kinder world is something definitely worth living for.

A Little More (Just to Finish)
While many of the above traits already inform who we are, it is perhaps in these challenging times, the “more” that is important. Thinking more about what matters, who we want to be, how we want to live, and how we want the world to be is now more important than ever.