May 13, 2020
During this period there is so much quieting inside and outside. There is so much less movement in the world. When we go for an early morning walk the birds are abundant, singing. They have so much more space. They fly low and close. There is so much more to be seen and heard. The colours of the daffodils, the magnolia, the tulips are vivid and the details of the houses come into sharp relief. I can see and hear the squirrels - red, grey black and their chittering. My husband had never heard the talking of a squirrel before. The world is getting a reprieve from us.
And I am sometimes too aware of my internal state, the rising and passing of emotions, potentially dangerous or frightening thoughts. But I have the room to witness them rather than be them and most of the time there is a contentment in this new pace. This way of moving through the rhythm of the day, almost like a return to an earlier time when there was so much less.
As is so often the case, if or when covid recedes I wonder what we will take from this period that is stretched out allowing us to be more awake to each moment, the pleasures, the love and the pain. I hope that the habitual frantic nature of an urban life will not simply return in full force. Hoping won't decide but maybe something will be internalized; some ability to stay in each moment - one step at a time.
- Anonymous Contributor #1
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