Unlocking lock-down

It took us a while to click, but then this has been a safe place during this miserable corona year. He stood at the door telling us the building supplies firm had only one person working, the rest were off with covid. That’s down the road. Here in our little town once so devoid of the bug. But on the eve of this latest lock-down, smart cars and 4x4s suddenly arrived filled with second home owners escaping highly infected London and the SE, bringing us the virus! So here we are joining this year so nasty for so many, we, only a month ago in paradise, now swelling with the bug, even the little cottage hospital down the road has closed because so many of its staff have been hit by covid.

A friend, so careful because he works at keeping infections at bay, a man so prudent and logical and so attentive all the time, got it. He thinks it was either forgetting to wash his hands after reclaiming his dustbin on bin-day, or perhaps when two maskless young walkers pushed past him on a narrow path. Those were the only mishaps he recalls. Wow, it’s that simple to get infected by this new variant!

And so back to the person standing in our front door - the joiner replacing our rotten doors and windows from which bits constantly fall off. Though needing his skills this midwinter, the virus feels all too close. Lovely as he is, as he works he keeps forgetting the danger, stepping close, taking off his mask, entering the house, jumping back laughing as we laugh that we must also be careful for we too forget these things occasionally, after all, this is our home where we feel safe and it’s hard to see it as a war zone. We’re only human but this bug demands we forget our humanity and become distanced from one another, be utterly selfish, protect ourselves, thus protect one another.

That isn’t easy. However, this is the life we have and to survive we need to be mindful of our actions and space. Being locked-in, clocked-out, blocked-down can either be torture or we can turn the negative into a positive by creating special training sessions in living with awareness - (link to these 2 pdfs appreciated by hospitals and the charity MIND).

The rewards are more than physical health - you’ll experience little periods of being in the moment. If you keep at it, it’ll will make your mind brighter, you’ll be less anxious, happier and more alert to the small things serendipity tosses at you. Litter your lock-stop days with a series of such joyful moments (repetition ensures it grows stronger).

Linger with the light falling over there, absorb the sounds surrounding you as if they were some strange new music, sink into the feeling of the air touching your skin. Gripped by agendas, motives, desires, we hardly notice life is here, right now, waiting, waiting for us to engage with it! Disengaging from our usual bumbling selves, we slip into life's warm balm. Go on, it’s worth a try.