Return to Normalcy

 

There is a sense of urgency all around me to return back to normal.  Schools are reopening, vaccines are being made eligible for kids ages 12-15, masks are no longer required in indoor settings or outdoor if you are fully vaccinated and in the state that I live in everything will be normal by may 19th.  Everyone except for me.  I'm not ready.  Yes I want my life back but I am not ready for everything to return back to normal just yet.  I somehow don't trust the system yet.  Is it really possible that we could be mask free?  Are we fooling ourselves into believing that the pandemic is over?  Or maybe its the other way around and this is just a tease.   We have been living for a year and a little extra in isolation, in our little bubble and just like that there is an expectation that we are just going to snap out of it and return to what it used to be.  That's like saying that I have a wound but refuse to see it.  How can we just turn a blind eye to the transformation that has happened to all of us? We have lost lives, we have changed our way of working, we have spent time in the confines of our homes in extremely close quarters with no space, some of us isolated,  we have juggled house work, office work, school work all in one and become pros at multitasking.  And while we yearn for all of that to go away in one way or the other we cannot just stop and pause on how this has changed us.  We have all changed in some way or the other.  For me I have come to value and treasure the non-stress environment that was my physical space of work.   I feel more in control within "my space" rather than in an office space.  How do I incorporate these changes in my "new normal."  I worry if work environments will allow for hybrid methods now that we are returning to normal.   Professions such as crisis intervention workers, social workers, teachers all of these had to take a step back during the pandemic and create methods that would enable for the virtual work to begin.  And we were surprised at how we succeeded.  Who realized that we could do our work effectively remotely?  It changes everything about our work and it changes everything for the families we work with.  Shouldn't we as a profession look at lessons learned and see if we can incorporate those lessons rather than going back to old ways?  

When i hear news that indoor dining restrictions will be removed, masks are not needed indoors if u are vaccinated - I worry.  We must learn from the past so we don't repeat it.  Yes we have been cooped up and so much frustration on many levels - but in these we have found lessons of courage, of hope, and of resilience.   We have all grieved in some form as a result of this pandemic.  And how does one every get over grief?  It stays with you and forever transforms you - we never forget no matter how much we may try.  And so when I hear about all this reopening, it feels very rushed to me.  And maybe it is my issues that need to be sorted out so that I feel fully comfortable in returning to normal. Maybe because since last year there has been no breaks - we have kept on going and going and going - I want to be able to pause.  Pause not for a minute, but for longer than that - pause so that my actions will be based on the quality of life I want for myself.  Pause so that my decisions will be wise and sound.   Pause to see if this is true and if it will last.  I want to believe with all my heart is over.  But I don't want to fool myself.  I want to believe that my days of traveling are near - but not at the cost of risking our lives.  The trauma of this pandemic is real.  It has scarred each of us in ways beyond words.  It is time to heal.  Each of us need the time to heal.  That is what returning to normal is - finding healing to create pathways for normalcy.  

Journal Prompt:   What does normalcy look like to you after the pandemic? What are some things that you look forward to?  What are some things that you will miss?  

Write for five minutes non stop.  

Happy Journaling!

Full Bloom

Over the last couple of weeks I have been watching in amazement as spring comes to full bloom. It starts of with tiny buds, and every morning little by little a little more green is splashed onto the canvas. Till one morning you wake up and everything around you is in full bloom.  I feel like I am watching a Monet painting coming alive.  When I wake up, as I look out the window, I wonder what part of the painting will be in color - The trees have their leaves back on their branches, the flowers are opening up in full colors and the birds - oh the birds are they so ever happy.  Every morning I am greeted by their calls - I believe in this season the birds are my alarm clock.  I hear them but i don't see them.  They fly so fast hidden in their nest or up high on a tree in between the branches but they bring a certain sense of lightness to the day.   If I am having a busy day and have not had time to pause, the birds bring me back to center.  Their tweeting and chirping calling out to me to just pause and look outside. Observe the beauty and take it all in.   I take it in so I can feel one with the natural world.  It brings me a sense of balance.  The sky takes on a new look in this season too.  Sometimes it is is full blue without a trace of clouds, and sometimes its dark with the  sun trying to peak out, and then at times it is just a puffed up cloud day.  Each moment takes me back to a memory from my past.  A sky filled with clouds takes me back to when I was a child and we would play the game "guess what shape am I."   The song "puff the magic dragon" comes into my head and I begin humming it as I begin the game.  I see a heart, something that looks like a bird, a big cotton ball...and as I look up at the sky surrounded by large and tall oak trees, I remember the book I used to read as a child  " Jack and the magic beanstalk."  Always wondering if could really reach up and grab something from the sky.... I am transported to a memory from my childhood with me and my sister running around in our backyard in Ghana, on the swings and plucking hibiscus from the garden surrounded by lush fan like trees.  Did you know that if you blow into the hollow stem of the hibiscus flower that it makes a whistle sound?  Nature transports you to moments in your life and in the last couple of weeks that's exactly what has happened.   I am remembering pieces of my childhood and I realize that each moment from the past has been a stepping stone that has shaped my connection with nature.  The sound of water from a nearby brook, the shades of greens around me, the sky as it seeks to bid goodnight to the sun, and the moonlight as it lights up the dark sky.  A treasured piece of art that is there for you over and over again amidst the chaos and pain in this world.   It is there that we can find comfort, peace, silence and stillness knowing that it never leaves you.  It is with you whenever you need it.  All you have to do is call out, look out and embrace it.  

Journal Prompt:

Think of a moment in your childhood that you would like to write about that takes you back to nature.  For example Begin writing with one of the following prompts:

- Seashells

- Summer nights

-Tulips

Happy Journaling!

Cherry Blossom

 Cherry Blossoms full bloom everywhere

hues of pink, white and fuchsia

a feast for my eyes 

almost like a warm welcome to brighter days

babies, brides, lovers flock to see your beauty

holding onto branches, feeling the softness of your petals

clicking pictures left and right so as to capture the memory

laughter, giggles, oohs and aahs are sounds I hear 

of everyone coming out to see your majestic presence

Your arrival sends an energy into the air that is lighter

Bird sounds chirping to wake us up way before the sun rises

And to bid us good nite as the sun sets

There is a celebration all around 

An appreciation for earth's bounty

letting us remember the promise of hope

Though your beauty is short lived

it creates an imprint in our minds 

to be love in action

and Simply just to BE!

Journal Prompt:

Today is Earth Day! Write a poem in honor of Earth Day.  What can we learn from mother earth?

Happy Journaling! 

Glorious Sun

Each season brings its own set of beauty and we can take inspiration from nature through each season.   Spring is officially surrounding us and we see its beauty in so many different ways.  For me the sun is special because its warmth brings me alive and gives me energy.  The birds chirping in the early hours of the morning is another sign of spring.  It is almost as if they are calling out to us to get along on our day just like they do -and make the most of the day.  I could sit for hours just listening to the birds chirping. I wonder what are they saying to each other?  Is it a birds song just for us?  Every morning, the first thing I do when I wake up is look outside my window to see what kind of sunrise there will be for me today.  I wake up saying "good morning sun and good morning world".  This is my journaling piece on the Sun as we move into spring.... 

Glorious Sun shining down on me

A burst of energy

Winter holding us captive 

keeping us in hibernation

You bring a sense of release

Your rays spread like a sunflower 

bursts of yellow everywhere

birds singing your glory

so they too can come out and enjoy your warmth

glorious sun pouring your light on my head

no more heaviness 

just delightedness

no more lethargy

just movement

no more feeling cold

just feeling warmth

Glorious Sun you bring life to the flowers, to the trees, to the plants

As you awake, so too do the buds of the leaves begin to form

As you awake, even the streams and waterfalls take on a new form

when I wake up you greet me

you spoil me with your sun rise

sometimes pink, sometimes orange, sometimes hints of purple

Glorious sun, immense gratitude for ur divine energy

u peak through the clouds showing a glimpse of what you are

but when we see you in your full glory 

we are in awe of your being

Stay with me so I can share your light with others

Glorious Sun I welcome you to spring! 

Journal Prompt:  Look out the window or your patio or your front door - what do you see that stands out to you in the spring?  Is it a bed of flowers?  Is it the cherry blossoms?  Pick something and write about it - let if flow in poem form or let it flow in prose.  Take inspiration from nature....

Happy Journaling!!

Spread Love

Today is Holi, the festival of colors and the welcoming of spring in the Hindu Tradition.  It is a day that we have fun with our families and friends by throwing colors and water balloons filled with colored water  on each other. It is a day of fun and frolic - it is a day of pure joy and love.  This holiday is about forgiveness, love, and friendship with one another.  There is alot of dance and music.    The splashing of the color - symbolizes that you are providing your friends and family a promise of being truthful towards them always, maintaining a life of long brotherhood and sisterhood with them and showers them with all the possible love.  How beautiful is that?  Something that is much needed in this world where we have seen in the last couple of weeks of  horrible shootings and anti-asian hate attacks.  We desperately need to bring back love to our society.  And it starts with each one of us.  The Pandemic did something to us as a society - it awakened in us a source of compassion for our neighbors, for strangers, for the whole world because we were all suffering together.   Yet when things to slightly go back to normal, or things start to open up, we go back to our old ways and begin to create drama and instill feelings of hate, anger, jealousy, hurt, etc in us.  This festival pushes us to go beyond that - it pushes us to reach out to all people regardless of race/religion/caste/creed.  We are different but within us is the same light and love inside all of us that needs to come out.   We need to work together as a society to recognize our differences and be more accepting of each other.  More tolerance, less discrimination.   Even though I am not out there throwing colors because of the pandemic, I can still practice the values that this festival teaches us.   Love - Love - Love-There is a phrase - "Dye me with the color of Thy Love."  When we sprinkle each other with love- it only grows - it doesn't shrink.  And this is the beauty of this festival.  So on this day, I wish each of you a Happy Holi!

Journal Prompt:  How can I add more color to my life?  Make a list!  

 

Lockdown

Lockdown 

A year ago today schools shut, offices shut, governments shut.

We all in a blink of an eye were forced to lock ourselves in our homes 

We were doing this for a reason

To keep ourselves safe 

To keep our neighbors safe

To keep our families safe

The streets were empty

We entered a virtual world not knowing how long this would last

The whole world was in this together

We counted the weeks, but weeks soon became months

Spring came 

Summer came

Fall came

Holidays, Birthdays, Festivals were all being celebrated virtually

We had learned to be resilient 

Birthday Drive by’s

Get Togethers with friends over zoom

Family Reunions 

Vacations were limited to day trips

Watching  Sunsets and Sunrises gave great joy

Spending time outdoors was the new normal

Restaurants shut

Shops shut

Lines were never ending at the supermarkets

A shortage of toilet paper and lysol wipes

Then came this thing called a mask

I couldn't breathe with it

I felt suffocated 

When was this going to end?

It felt surreal

The numbers kept increasing

People were dying 

Our essential workers became our heroes 

A new sort of humanity was coming about

Humans helping each other out 

Their pain became our pain

Yet we found a way to share and care

Cheering our heroes 

Sharing uplifting stories with one another was a way to cope

We were confined to the walls of our homes 

Life has not been the same since

Nor will it ever be 

We are not who we were when this first started

Our days are flying and the months keep getting shorter

Wondering how is time flying?

Yet I have found a routine in this new world

I hold onto the things that ground me and kept me through this pandemic - nature walks, yoga, meditation, prayer, family, food, and Netflix 

The simple things in life is what really matters

A year ago today there was fear and shock and grief

Today we grieve for those that have left us, we grieve for the lives we used to have, we grieve for a sense of normalcy.

And yet we are strangely beginning to feel a sense of hope

Hope that this too shall pass 

Hope because we have survived this

Hope because there is a vaccine

Hope because we won’t give up

A Year ago today there was no sign of light

Today we are the light! 

Today we give thanks for being alive and working our way through this pandemic

Today we pat ourselves on our back for surviving this 

Today we remember and remind ourselves of the importance of safety precautions

Today we breathe a little easier hoping for a better tomorrow

Journal Prompt:  A year ago today......

The Sum of what I am

 My Centering Thought this morning on International Women's Day......

I am all of it and much more

I contain within me the vastness of this universe

I contain the full sum of it

I am my grandmother's voices, my aunts and my sisters

I am all of it and so much more

I am compassion, fierceness and justice all in one

I am ruthless, fearless and kindness too

I am Divine principle, energy and movement

I am solitude, grounded and serene

I go where my heart leads

I voice what my heart speaks

I am intuition, grace and freedom 

I am peace! 

I am my own true healer

I am Woman, all of it and much more! 

Journal Prompt:  Today is International Women's Day.  Use this day to celebrate yourself.   Begin with the line,  " I am, or I  Will or I can....and see what comes up.