You Aren’t A Bad Person For Choosing To Focus On The Good Right Now

This is it.

A moment in time, a pause, a period after what seemed like an overflow of ongoing run-on sentences.

We’re finally tuned in what has been running on auto-pilot in the background.

The ever-present vibration behind our jobs, our commitments, our stress and our busyness is at now the forefront. And we don’t know how to cope. How do we navigate our lives with no more distraction, nowhere to go, no one to see, nothing to do? Where do we turn?

The news has become the new 9-to-5 commitment, a means of percolating the monotonous, dulled anxiety we’ve become accustomed to in the hustle and bustle of life.

Stay informed.

Every new statistic, every new death, every new case, every new opinion is important, they say.

I disagree.

The severity and urgency of COVID-19 is very real. We need to stay safe. We must adhere to the new rules to protect ourselves, our families, and our communities.

But when do we shift our focus from the things we can’t control to the ones we can? When do we connect back to what’s important?

To the vitality we put in a box and tossed to the side. The underlying pulse of life that’s been masked by our daily to-do’s.

Stillness, gratitude, laughter, the menial moments with family or even by ourselves, the home-cooked meals, reading, board games, and the odd encounter with nature (at a social distance, of course).

If you’re stuck at home and you’re healthy, guess what? You’re one of the lucky ones. Do not take that privilege for granted. Make something of it. Ask yourself what you can do to contribute to global well-being. But first, ask yourself what you can do to contribute to yourself. From there, and only there, will your actions be able to truly help others.

As Pablo Picasso so eloquently said, “The meaning of your life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”

How do we even begin to delve into that seemingly daunting endeavour? Well, first and foremost, reconnect with your joy. It’s the only thing we can rely on right now, and it’s contagious.

We are not bad, heartless, or insensitive by choosing to focus on the good right now.

I’ll repeat that again.

We are not bad, heartless, or insensitive by choosing to focus on the good.

By healing ourselves, we heal each other.