I was in a cohort of business leaders from around the world. One was from Zimbabwe, one from Amsterdam, and one from Paris. We were exploring the question: “What do we wish for this emerging world?”
“I don’t want to go back to how I was living before,” my colleague in Paris said.
“I wish I could just see what is coming,” said my colleague from Zimbabwe. “I want to read the future and see how this all plays out.”
“I love the pace I am living right now. I’m scared of what will happen when the capitalist grind starts up again,” said my colleague from Amsterdam.
I could relate to them all. I have grieved the loss of life as I knew it, and I have carried anxiety of what becomes of us when we have a vaccine.
So much anxiety and suffering during this time comes from fearing our future and grieving our past. If we are not intentional, we miss living in the present. The present is where transformation happens.
We have been invited into a global hermitage, a time of deep reflection where days begin to blend and time changes. In moments when you grieve what was, give thanks for the lessons you learned from that time in life…and let it go. In moments when you are anxious about the future, celebrate that you are dreaming of what could be…and let it go. We cannot live in the past or the future. We only have the Sacred Now.
I gift you with this wonderful poem that, in its way, captures the struggle:
YES by William Stafford (from The Way It Is)
It could happen any time, tornado
earthquake, Armageddon. It could happen.
Or sunshine, love, salvation.
It could, you know. That’s why we wake
and look out – no guarantees
in this life.
But some bonuses, like morning,
like right now, like noon,
like evening.
We are in this together,
Cameron