For me, a time of quarantine feels most like a gift or opportunity to reset.
An opportunity for us to regroup, center, ground and to stop the constant
go nonstop mentality. A time to calm the mind and senses. At the same
time, for those of us in healthcare, it’s the opposite; how do we
find peace in the midst? Keep that peace for ourselves, express the peace
in a way to assist everyone around us to pause and find peace for themselves.
How do we support each other in this journey? How do we encourage each
other through this adventure?
There are some quotes that come to mind:
Helen Keller which says, “So much has been given to me; I have no time to ponder over that which
has been denied.”
Rumi says, “The world is in deep trouble, but it can be swiftly healed by the sweet
balm of love.”
Martin Luther King Jr says, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort
and convenience, but where he stands at times of controversy.”
A couple Buddhist sayings, “Don’t get upset with people or situations, both are powerless without
your reaction”, “You can’t change what’s going on around you until you change
what’s going on within you.”
Things happen, life happens and we are the ones who judge it as good or
bad. I feel that we have a choice in how we see what is happening. I feel
this “pandemic” has created an opportunity to come together,
share and help each other on many levels and planes of awareness (physical,
mental, emotional, spiritual).
Of course, sometimes I get caught up in the negative just like everyone
else, but that’s why I surround myself with things that will remind
me to find the positive, and within myself to enable me to create that
space for others.
I often find that it’s about me getting out of my own way to find
and stay in that peaceful space. The gift in all this, as I see it, is
discovering how to do that for myself and then help others figure out
what will work for them.
It’s the part of the job that is challenging and at the same time
growth development for me. It’s a great reminder to me that there
is a way of being for me to embrace prior to and during these conversations
to create a space of love and openness and not to take any of it personally.
I watch, read, listen to various inspirational stories, speeches and poems,
stories of heroes, overcoming obstacles, gratitude, patience, such as:
Martin Luther King I have a dream
Maya Angelou Phenomenal woman, and more
Wayne Dyer, Brene Brown, Iyanla Vanzant, Oprah, Louise Hay, Abraham Hicks,
Joe Dispenza, Caroline Myss, Simon Sinek and many others.
Music carries me through any and everything and reminds me of my core,
of what grounds me, and that love and laughter are key to healing for
me. Here’s a small sampling:
Angelique Kidjo, B 52s, Manhattan Transfer, George Benson, Bukeka Blakemore
Shoals, Ricki Byars Beckwith, Bob Marley, Ziggy Marley and the Melody
Makers, India Arie, Preservation Jazz Hall Band, Playing for Change, Buena
Vista Society, Arrested Development, Tuck and Patti, Black Girls Rock,
Women of Soul, Zap Mama, Les Nubians, Patti LaBelle, Tina Turner, Nina
Simone, U2, Ella Fitzgerald, Soul II Soul, Jimmy Buffet, UB40, Sarah McLachlan,
Rachelle Ferrell,
Marvin Gaye, "What’s Going On"
Joan Osorne, "One of US"
Chuck Mangione, "Feels So Good, Give It All You Got"
Herb Alpert, "Rise"
Spyro Gyra, "Morning Dance"
Earth, Wind & Fire, "That’s the Way of the World"
Bill Withers, "Lovely Day"
Kirk Franklin, "Gonna Be a Lovely Day," "I Smile" and many more
Jill Scott, "Golden"
Lionel Richie, "Jovely Dayesus is Love"
Aretha Franklin, "Bridge Over Troubled Water," any of her songs
Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman, Spirituals in Concert
StoweGood, "Beautiful Brokenness," any of their songs
All versions "Amazing Grace"
Louis Armstrong, "What a Wonderful World"