PRESS TO RESET

I don’t know about you but I’ve been doing a great deal of reflecting back over my life recently. I guess because I’ve had a lot more space in which to do it. Loss of the ‘day’ job, spending a lot more time indoors under lockdown, losing friends and colleagues to COVID-19. When you consider the fall out effects of this virus most of us have probably had that extra space to be. To think. To reflect back…. Has that been good or bad? Uncomfortable or beneficial?

None of us asked for this space. But the planet, the virus, decided in their ‘wisdom’ to offer it to us at this point in our evolution. Yet, in so many other circumstances, would we not welcome an opportunity to stop and take a breather from the incessant treadmill-running of life? Is that not why we normally work long hours, saving up so we can enjoy more leisure time. More downtime? Strange then that we are all finding this period so damned uncomfortable. So challenging. So revealing….

In counselling work we build in natural breaks, at least every six sessions, to give the client chance to review where they are on their journey of growth and self awareness. To take out the metaphorical compass and check to see if we are still on a trajectory that feels right; that feels appropriate for what the client wants to currently be looking at in their life. However, these scheduled progress reviews often initially feel a little stilted. Why, if we are steaming along nicely, do we need to stop and contemplate for a period? Won’t that interrupt the flow and perhaps risk losing the unquestioned, forward-focussed momentum?

These mini ‘helicopter’ views, as I like to refer to them, literally do give us the chance to see things from a higher perspective. To consider who, and where, we are from the outside looking in. Is this then what is happening on our planet right now? Is this enforced global reset acting like a therapeutic review so that we all stop, look, listen and ponder? Who are we, what have we been doing up to now and what do we want to do next? Or possibly what do we need to do next?!

Mother Nature has an intelligence to her that is beyond our comprehension. She has a way of rebalancing that which goes out of balance. Because, if the delicate and exact tipping point is reached, things start to break down. The natural order of things falls into disarray. Is She reminding us right now that She is our higher, insightful therapist? That She is asking us, requiring us even, to stop and to have a review?

Viruses are not actually alive. They are miniature packets of genomes - genetic material - which can only replicate in living cells. Trees, plants, animals….. us! Viruses force us to adapt in their presence. And, of course, they adapt too. They mutate, evolve and change. As does everything which possesses a form of intelligence. Of ‘forward thinking’.

Despite the obvious dramatic and ruthless consequences of this newly mutated coronavirus, there appears to be a remarkable number of ‘intelligent’ parallels which offer us a higher perspective of our effects on this planet. As She chokes from our incessant pollution, and as her lungs are slowly destroyed through the decimation of the rain forests, so too are our lungs affected by the toxicity of this virus. As we struggle to breath, so does our home. As we are forced to artificially distance ourselves from one another, we now crave the closeness of human contact. Contact that we once took for granted.

So much that we used to take for granted, the people who look after us and care for us when we’re sick or in need, we now see with fresh and more grateful eyes. The money that once bought foreign holidays and ever faster cars seems to hold less value. Less meaning. The old rat-race and treadmill aspirations somehow feel emptier, less seductive.

And what are we left with? When so much of what we assumed was important is now being stripped away by the higher perspective of our insightful Mother Nature therapist. Well, we’re left with ourselves. Our family and personal relationships. Perhaps even some old demons that we would normally busy ourselves away from. Our mortality.

And yet, hidden in all that challenging stuff, is our opportunity to heal. To awaken spiritually. To take more responsibility for our part in the greater whole. To individually do our bit. To eat less meat. To consume less. To look after our bodies better. To do work which enriches us spiritually, and not just monetarily. To treat each other more kindly… If we, ourselves, continue to act like toxic viruses, infecting the planet to destruction, then the innate natural order of balance will seek to right itself. As it appears to be doing right now.

So, as with any good course of therapy, we are getting to look into the mirror at the stark reflection of ourselves and of our ego-centred journeys up to now. To realise the personal responsibility that we are now being handed by Mother Nature. Is She pressing that reset button? Is this the part of the wisdom of our planet, rebooting itself in the face of a looping, stuck and selfish ignorance?

Can we now use this responsibility to channel our personal power away from self serving pursuits and into more inclusive, creative aspirations? To think more holistically and less singularly? “We’re all in this together.” The only way out, it seems, is by acting together. By accepting that we’re all the same, when it comes down to it, and that we’re all inextricably connected. Is this the ultimate lesson of the ‘intelligence’ of this viral teacher?

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