Newsflash!
It seems that it is easy for us humans to fall into the trap of forgetting life, at best, is only two minutes long. Not much matters except how well we take care of each other. Of course I realize that at age 79 it is relatively easy for me to accept that life is only two minutes long. It was just the other day that I was in first grade wildly in love with my teacher Mrs. Williams and heart broken when she announced she had married another man. Despite my acute existential angst life went on. I would experience many joys and disappointments over the years. Sometimes, if awake, I would move from disappointment to seeing an opportunity.
As schools, companies and other organizations are responding to the coronavirus by increasingly going on line for meetings and classes. Seth Godin in today’s blog “ The conversation - A short manifesto about the future of online interaction” suggest that we now have an opportunity to reexamine the purpose and format of meetings. Experts have known for a long time that our ability to attend in meetings in very limited, especially when someone is talking at us and not with us. All too frequently whether in the board room or the classroom someone is talking at us and not with us. Perhaps we are the one talking at people. Mr. Godin is suggesting that we have an opportunity to consider having conversations with each other. (sethgodin.com)
Once again, I am reminded when anyone of us are presented with something such as the coronavirus and all the changes which are being made in response we can either wring our hands and complain or we can embrace the opportunity to be creative and to reexamine our dance of life. Even for those of us who have a daily practice of being intentional about our spiritual goals for the day it is easy to see and “not see”; to look at situations and events with the same myopic vision or hear with the same expectations and boxes we have practiced for a long time.
What can we learn from the visit of the Coronavirus? At the very least we can learn or relearn:
I can embrace the arrival of the coronavirus as an opportunity to learn how to more effectively live my life in community with others and mother earth or I can wring my hands and miss an opportunity.
Written March 17, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
It seems that it is easy for us humans to fall into the trap of forgetting life, at best, is only two minutes long. Not much matters except how well we take care of each other. Of course I realize that at age 79 it is relatively easy for me to accept that life is only two minutes long. It was just the other day that I was in first grade wildly in love with my teacher Mrs. Williams and heart broken when she announced she had married another man. Despite my acute existential angst life went on. I would experience many joys and disappointments over the years. Sometimes, if awake, I would move from disappointment to seeing an opportunity.
As schools, companies and other organizations are responding to the coronavirus by increasingly going on line for meetings and classes. Seth Godin in today’s blog “ The conversation - A short manifesto about the future of online interaction” suggest that we now have an opportunity to reexamine the purpose and format of meetings. Experts have known for a long time that our ability to attend in meetings in very limited, especially when someone is talking at us and not with us. All too frequently whether in the board room or the classroom someone is talking at us and not with us. Perhaps we are the one talking at people. Mr. Godin is suggesting that we have an opportunity to consider having conversations with each other. (sethgodin.com)
Once again, I am reminded when anyone of us are presented with something such as the coronavirus and all the changes which are being made in response we can either wring our hands and complain or we can embrace the opportunity to be creative and to reexamine our dance of life. Even for those of us who have a daily practice of being intentional about our spiritual goals for the day it is easy to see and “not see”; to look at situations and events with the same myopic vision or hear with the same expectations and boxes we have practiced for a long time.
What can we learn from the visit of the Coronavirus? At the very least we can learn or relearn:
- The extent our time and energy allocation align with our professed core value system.
- Whether our health care system is designed to serve everyone or just those who are especially privileged, and those at the lower end of the economic ladder.
- The extent we appreciate how our individual and collect behavior affect everyone on the planet.
- If we are clear about the purpose of our educational system. Is the purpose to teach that success is having more than more neighbor?
- If all or most of our interactions with others is designed to enrich the lives of us and them, to obtain or deliver a service or profit at the expense of others.
- If our goal is to dominate and subdue the earth/universes or to learn how to live in harmony with it?
- What we can learn from each other.
- Who would help us if we were suddenly without financial resources.
I can embrace the arrival of the coronavirus as an opportunity to learn how to more effectively live my life in community with others and mother earth or I can wring my hands and miss an opportunity.
Written March 17, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
RSS Feed