Perspective, What We Notice, And What We Do About it Matters
Look at this photo my brother sent me of his Chennai morning the other day. What do you see? Yes, a heavy, ominous cloud that almost kisses the water and promises a huge storm. That was all I saw too, at first, thunder and fierce winds moving in. And it made me think of how I felt when I first saw the fires moving over California, the Amazon, and Australia and when COVID-19 began to sweep over the planet.
It wasn’t until 2 days later that I noticed something wonderful near the left corner of the photo. I got excited! Do you see it now— the small but warm, bright light? My attention had been so fixed on the terrible beauty and destructive power of the ominous storm, I almost missed the light. Yet, there it was, small, but defiantly reminding me that no storm can stop a new day from being born.
Then, I thought of my son’s birth and how painful it was. For me, like the whole earth of my body was heaving and tearing in two. Yet I had to go through it if I wanted to gaze into the face of a soft new life!
Storms, despite their destructiveness, can clear the way, break open the world, and make it possible for something new to happen. Haven’t you ever noticed the fresh, clean smell that enters into the world in the wake of a big storm? And if you think about it, isn’t that something like the wide eyed wonder of a newborn’s gaze? Perhaps despite or maybe even through the storms of our now, a kind of sunrise is happening.
My brother’s photo holds together the storm and the sunrise in one frame. And perhaps that is something we all need to do during this unrestful time.
How do we feel for and participate in the light of new beginnings during this time of COVID-19, flash fires, and politico/social unrest?
What light can you find in THIS now? What do we want to give birth to in THIS storm? We have choices.
Maybe a good way to start is by noticing what happens within us when we hold the storm and the growing light together.
Rabindrinath Tagore said, “Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings while the dawn is still dark.”
The storm is here. We can’t change that. But what will be born of it depends so much upon feeling for the light and the song we choose to sing “while the dawn is still dark.”
If you are having trouble finding your song in this or any storm:
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