Take the Opportunity — Make the Opportunity
Submitted by Anne Kulmala
This is an unprecedented time in our world. There is so much fear and uncertainty.
Mr. Rogers said "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”’ I remember this every day as I scroll through newsfeeds, listen to stories, and read news clips. It is all very frightening for so many people. Fear breeds and grows like wildfire as we’ve seen with food and supply hoarding all over the country. But the helpers are there, too. I have been gratified to see many people offering assistance to others, businesses taking extra steps to help seniors and offering delivery to those unable to venture out at this time.
There is overwhelming pressure to succumb to fear but there is also opportunity. Over centuries our “fight or flight” response has kicked in when trouble arose and in the past, it helped us survive as a species but things have changed, human beings have changed. We are now faced with the necessity of altering the way we cope with challenges.
Our natural response to a crisis such as war, natural disasters, famine and others is to come together, we are stronger in groups, as a collective working together, physically helping each other. We now face the opposite. Do not come together, no group gatherings, stay separate, isolate, and disconnect, which challenges how we’ve functioned in the past. How do we now band together to affect change or to “help” instead of being overwhelmed by helplessness?
Our beautiful planet, our human playground is not playing nice. We are responding with social distancing, isolation, disconnection and for some of us a full stop to our regular routine. Herein lies the opportunity. Our isolation can serve as a time to reflect, reassess and re-examine who we are as humans and what our purpose is in this time of crisis.
The current situation allows us to take a hard look at the constructs we’ve developed that no longer serve us. Governments that do not actually “serve” the people, systems that need to be re-vamped to account for extreme situations, our preparedness is in question but so is our perspective, our own internal construct. Do we take the perspective of fear and the “me first” attitude? Or do we come together in new ways to calm fears, help each other, find new ways of seeing and coping? Re-evaluate how we judge others in times of crisis. The judgment of others is never beneficial. Each and every one of us deals with the situation to the best of our ability with the circumstances and information we have.
If you feel anger remember that where there is anger there is always fear at the root. Identify your fear, recognize it for what it is and remind yourself that you are in control, not the fear. Take a pause before reacting, speaking, or commenting online. A dear friend told me once. “Always ask yourself – do I want to be right or do I want to be kind? before responding.” Great advice in a time when there is so much judgment and nastiness online.
I believe we all come here to learn, to expand our understanding, to enjoy the human experience and play on this beautiful playground. A very wise man and friend, Franco DeNicola, tells people that this is an incredible opportunity for humankind to expand and grow beyond our old programming, beyond our fear and enter into a time of more compassion and love for our fellow humans.
Even though this crisis is causing much hardship and heartache around the world, let’s take this opportunity to come together as humans, in spirit if not in body, by offering help where we can, encouragement, compassion and tolerance. We are in this together.
