Creating Space for Serenity Amidst COVID-19
How to Move Forward When Life as You Know It Comes to a Standstill.
Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know. Pema Chodron
Covid-19 has quickened life in ways big and small. The above quote encapsulates everything I believe. It has allowed me to further ground my life in Clarity, Awareness, Presence, Acceptance, and Gratitude. Taken together, these ways of being are allowing me to heal after a devastating health diagnosis. Using them to face the challenges and obstacles that have unmoored me during Covid-19 will enable me to confront all with courage. The lessons learned can be applied, and the negative issues faced and put behind me once and for all.
Over the years, I became a master at creating space. Growing up in the Caribbean under domestic violence forced me to seek out places to find peace and serenity from very early. I longed for a sense of place, and sought solitude and quiet at my favorite beaches during my teenage years to get away from the noise; I found the constant movement of the ocean and the sounds and smells of that environment very soothing and grounding.
Hours spent lying on the sand in the sun were healing and regenerating. When I could not access the beach, I often created space within by imaginatively traveling to far-flung places conjured up from the images in the fairy tale, Greek mythology, and romantic books I loved to read. Although my physical being was repeatedly exposed to violence, a part of me remained untouchable.
However, after I left the island in my early twenties, it was hard to recreate the idyllic getaways of my early years. Nevertheless, I carried them deep within me and learned how to create space with the same intention of those years past. Whenever I could, as I traveled, I searched for areas in nature to take long runs and to find spots on beaches and in parks that brought me closer to the feelings of serenity I found on my island haunts.
Today, amid COVID-19, it is hard to find space outside of one’s home to recharge. Fortunately, I now create serenity and space through daily meditation and access Clarity, Awareness, Presence, Acceptance, and Gratitude throughout my day. Whenever a problem arises in these unpredictable times, I apply these five tenets to gain space in the following ways:
Clarity: Seek the Long Pause to Gain Distance
When a complex issue arises, I take a long pause to gain distance and become clear about the situation. This action is done through my meditation/chanting and sitting with the issue for as long as it takes. I only move when I feel I have enough clarity and space to make an informed, rational and reasonable decision.
Therefore if the cause I created from making a move, after applying clarity, still does not have the desired effect, I know I moved forward with the right intention.
Awareness: Making Sure All My Senses Stay Immersed and Attuned
Once clarity is established about a given situation, I deepen my focus by becoming aware of my body’s reaction/response to the given issue. By creating this space, I can tell if I am calm, anxious, frustrated, angry, disappointed about the situation. Is it causing internal disruption that creates a negative or positive effect? Once I figure out how my system is dealing with a said issue, I can make a better decision.
Presence: Stillness Brings the Answers
Every morning, I wake up at 4:30 before the sun rises to do my Buddhist chant, meditate, and send prayers of love and light to all living beings big and small. I started this way of life to help heal and counteract the negative thoughts that made my health situation more complicated. Creating space in presence early every morning before the world stirs strengthens clarity and awareness and brings balance to my life. When unexpected problems arise during the day, I always try to handle them from a place of calm. If I am not calm, I go back to basics using affirmations. Waking up early to create space in presence is essential in my daily life.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change. The courage to change the things I can. And the wisdom to know the difference. Reinhold Niebuhr
Acceptance: Releasing Unleashing and Letting Go
In the space of acceptance, I find peace and the sense of place I longed for as a child and young adult. It is only by releasing, unleashing, and letting go of the negative thoughts that one can gain centeredness and move forward. The Serenity Prayer is an excellent affirmation to use in this space because it helps to ground one, especially if the situation is challenging to push through. I find that acceptance is the most critical step in living a life aligned with light and love. If one cannot accept a situation, one cannot move on to heal and recover.
Gratitude: Being Thankful is The Key
Once I have accomplished all of the previous necessary steps to create a healthy space in which to thrive and live, which is even more essential under COVID-19, I give thanks and gratitude. I give thanks, and appreciation for those I know and do not know, for all that keeps me and them safe, protected — -for all that keeps me healthy and whole in this time of distress and chaos. Every morning, during my meditation hours, I chant for world peace and send prayers of gratitude for all that allows me to be here still standing. Gratitude is vital in manifesting favorable outcomes.
As the Covid-19 crisis rages on here in the US, I am creating a space of serenity amidst the chaos. Using my daily grounding tools, I consistently and intentionally am finding peace. As a survivor of childhood domestic violence and childhood sexual trauma, all the coping mechanisms I used to keep my spirit safe and untouched from harm are coming in handy as I apply them to the present difficult times.
The days and nights drag by as the world spirals deeper into madness and irrationality because false beliefs, old patterns, and oudated traditions fail us one by one. As noted in the opening quote by Pema Chodron, “nothing ever goes away unless it teaches us what we need to know.” However, I have already absorbed the teachings of this moment in time. As life continues to throw curveballs at a recalcitrant world populace via nature’s newest ongoing face-your-reality moment I sit back and wait for the majority to awaken in Clarity, Awareness, Presence, Acceptance, and Gratitude seeing life as it is and not as they will it. Let’s hope all will align in a healthier space before it is too late.
