The Virus As A Container For Growth

It’s brilliant, the way life works. A virus comes. We have more time in solitude and we find ourselves looking in a mirror. A mirror that shows us the ways in which we’ve been showing up for ourselves, and the ways we haven’t.  

The mirror didn’t use to be there. Most of us weren’t asking ourselves “Am I being there for myself?” in 2019, were we? Now the little things are on our radars. For some of us, the little things are how seriously we are taking our responsibility for maintaining a healthy body. For some of us we’re noticing ourselves being stuck in old patterns of behavior, patterns we sense we’ve outgrown but nonetheless hang onto.  

I’ve written the title “The virus as a container for growth.” But I don’t want to limit the growth that can come at this time. Maybe a better title would be “The virus as a springboard for growth.”  

Asking yourself if you’ve been treating yourself like nobility, if you’ve been honoring your heart’s eagerness to love yourself and those you encounter, if you’ve been keeping your body temple well-nourished, asking these sorts of questions is a good starting point for spiritual  growth. Accepting your response to a virus (and all that it brings with it) is a step in the direction of awareness, release, and redirection, a step in the direction of integrity and making life workable, a step in the direction of being true to the master within.  

Sometimes it’s the little things that are really big. Big as in huge. That little thought, “Hmm, maybe the steady weight gain over the last few months is a sign that I haven’t been showing up for myself in the way I want to” can start a pivot from continuing in the same direction to seeing a different path, a different possibility, right before us.  

The new mirror isn’t asking us to judge anything. That’s optional. Really, it is. The mirror is whispering, “Hey, you, were you born for sloth, cursing, and bitterness? Or something more fun and joyful?” You won’t hear the quiet whisper if you immediately judge the extra 20 pounds. But you might hear the quiet voice inviting you to be true to who you are if you ask yourself,  “How would I like to show up for myself?” Or “How would my inner child like me to be a champion for the two of us?” Or “What do I need and require to show up with an open heart, with a willingness to fall in love with who I am?”

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