loss begets beauty

My world as I knew it came to a screeching halt and was turned upside down, shaken and stirred when we entered the pandemic in 2020. I'm sure you felt the same. My young adult children were thrust back into every facet of my daily life. I lost my absolute dream job and a few family members passed away because of COVID. For a little while, I felt despair and grief over my many losses. Through the slowness of life and being lost in my thoughts, the Divine revealed new simple pleasures. That's God's nature, to speak to us in the language of silence and stillness.

So many of us did the soul searching work to figure out how we wanted to soothe ourselves of the mess and the loss we experienced during this difficult time. After talking to ourselves, whether out loud or in our heads, or to God, for what seemed like ages, we discovered there was more to life than our consumer-driven society demanded of us. Well, not entirely so; we found ways to eat so much more than our new sedentary lives could tolerate.

For many of us, or at least my friends and family, after much thought and contemplation on our mortality, we became more childlike. We nursed, healed and played with our inner child. We created music, art, and writings, delved into crafts, grew gardens and became better acquainted with our original mother - nature.

My daughter took up quilting and sewing thrift-store clothes into something new - refurbished articles of clothing. She took a stand against fast fashion. A good friend's business started to come to life. She guided her clients to tap into their spirit, breath and body to help advise them in their life choices. Another friend learned how to forage rare edible mushrooms from my backyard and on hiking trips. Paul and I hiked more often. I took up watercolors to help quell my fears of the future…for all I knew - we all might be staring in a storyline similar to Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Sower." Indeed, the New York Times did an outstanding job tracking our newly found, new normal thoughts, activities and ideas. I believe historians may look back at the twenty-first century pandemic times as a period of great creative expression, social-emotional and spiritual growth.

As we enter a new phase - the 'tripledemic,' many Americans have returned to their normal rhythms of life. But others, like myself, have hung on to the notion that life is now too random and unpredictable to live without being guided by the spirit - our own and that of the Divine. Because of this time, my soul knows loss begets beauty.