Learning to Pivot in a Pandemic

Growing up one of my favorite movies was the Wizard of Oz.   And one of my favorite lines near the end was when the Good Witch Belinda tells Dorothy, who is desperately trying to find a way home, “You’ve always had the power my dear.  You just had to learn it for yourself.”

The gift we are being given by the Corona virus pandemic, is the gift to hit the reset button on our lives, to stop all the busyness, the doing-ness, and come home to ourselves.

I view coming home to ourselves as a sacred act.  I feel like in my own life I’ve been doing this for the past decade, maybe more.

Coming home is  about reconnecting with ourselves, our desires, our pain.  It’s where we feel most fully seen. Most importantly it’s about connecting with all the lost part of ourselves, the parts we judge as not good enough and cast aside, usually at someone else’s requests. It’s about forgiving ourselves and forging a new path to loving ourselves again at midlife.

I believe the reason we are being given a “reset” this year is because the underlying currents of anxiety, and consumerism and racism and social and economic divisiveness that has become so prevalent in our world has blocked us from truly loving ourselves, individually and collectively.

I think about this a lot through the lens of being a mother.   My children grew up post 9-11 and now they are living through a pandemic. In our family alone we have two rites of passage, a high school and college graduation that won’t take place.  There’s a profound sense of fear, sobriety and cynicism that has characterized their childhood.

I believe when we become disconnected from our Essence, the truth of who we came here to be, that life has a way of reconnecting us with it. Of giving us a wakeup call.  Covid-19 is that wake-up call for all of us.

Whenever we are being asked to look at the truth of our life it can be scary. We fight or resist it with busyness and other habits that keep us distracted and allow us to feel in control.

This year more than any other, the Universe is imploring us to reconnect with our core self.If we make the choice to pivot inward and to be still and listen, we will be rewarded with the gift of Receptivity. If we can go inward and connect with the place where our higher selves reside, the place where God, Source and the Universe reside, then we can become unstoppable.

Receptivity is a feminine energy. When we are receptive we are open to connecting with the place inside ourselves where God, Source and the Universe Reside. It’s the place where Second Chances begin.

Receptivity  is about waiting, not doing. It’s about appreciation and gratitude, not expectations.  It’s about connecting with our sensitivity, our intuition and our compassion.  It’s about listening to our inner voice, and to others.

Imagine what a different place the world would be for ourselves and our children if we lived this way?

If we collectively choose to let go of our fast paced lives and lean in toward connection, the Yellow Brick road will lead us to a place more beautiful than we can imagine. It will lead us to our Second Chance.