{"id":231,"date":"2020-07-10T20:17:03","date_gmt":"2020-07-10T20:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/?p=231"},"modified":"2020-07-11T21:45:29","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T21:45:29","slug":"suddenly-everything-changed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/2020\/07\/10\/suddenly-everything-changed\/","title":{"rendered":"Suddenly, everything changed…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Entering the Light…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Viral Days<\/em> <\/strong>by Barbara Helvey-Hughes, 2020
 
I began writing this essay on March 17, 2020 the week Peter and I entered self-isolation.
 
Humans: so weirdly eclectic and wonderful, so kind, so toxic, so everything. As the days spin out and our Reality tunnels in, we each experience individual realizations that perhaps, just perhaps, this unique experience (ie new and universal but unique to our time frame) might afford all of us the time to think: to re-prioritize and re-evaluate our lives ~ how we live and why. 
 
At one point or another during our lives, most of us think about the Big Questions: Why am I here? What is my purpose?  What am I to learn from this existence? What am I to do, to think, to BE?  
 
I doubt any of us arrive at \u2018chiseled in stone\u2019 answers, which we keep for our entire lives.  Why?  Because our lives consist of a series of moments, of experiences and each one requires we exam it and arrive at a belief, an action, an assessment.  Some require reactions, some demand responses, some simply don\u2019t require anything \u2013 or, at least, that\u2019s how we choose to approach certain moments.  And, everything changes continually ~ a constant flux vibrating all around each of us.  I wonder if we EVER get used to it.  It\u2019s amazing how deft the human brain is, to be able to think on many levels.
 
And so, we fill these Gifts of Moments with a variety of activities: emotional, Spiritual, physical, and mental.  We go for walks, we wander outside and examine the plants and foliage in our yards (probably something many of us seldom have the time, or inclination, to do) because, suddenly, forced into Isolation, we yearn to be outside, yearn for sun and fresh air and activity.
 
We read.  We find we covet the written word.  We read cereal boxes, online articles, dusty books we couldn\u2019t previously delve into.  Even those of us who, normally, are not drawn to the written word, abruptly, find ourselves reading ~ about the Virus, the government, about the devastation of places far and wide.  Eventually, we grow weary of the sad news and we veer to social media, where we read, watch, stalk and get both ticked off and elated by what we see there.  Briefly, we consider whining or complaining, but decide against it, not wanting to look bad.
 
Some of us pray, generate and release Intentions, create Gratitude Lists and think about how fortunate we are ~ or, how awful and long these days are ~ some meditate, find a quiet space and dive inward.  I once read \u2018boredom comes from thinking about ourselves too much\u2019.  I\u2019ve come to better understand that quote, because even in the midst of these days (yes, still a mere twenty-four hours long) Peter and I, around 5pm, when we prepare to begin making supper, look at one another and exclaim \u201cWow! This day just flew by!\u201d or \u201cGee, where did the day go?!\u201d or \u201cI though the days would slow down, but they haven\u2019t!\u201d The Gift of Days just keeps rollin\u2019 along and if we don\u2019t, with gratitude and grace accept it, then the loss is ours.
 
How many times in the past have you thought or uttered \u201cGosh, I wish I had the time to\u201d (you finish this sentence) and simply had to walk away from projects, goals, desires or dreams? 
 
We are greatly set upon by the business of our lives.  Even in retirement many of us don\u2019t make the time to live our intentions, discover our hopes, engage in our dreams.  I am so guilty of \u2018wasting\u2019 time.  I\u2019m so guilty of feeling guilty!  I have lofty goals, but the exhaustion I\u2019ve felt over the past four to five months has made it nearly impossible for me to return to high gear ~ yet.  So, maybe the key is to simply go with the flow.  Tuck and roll as per the circumstances.  Practice Gratitude and do as much as we, physically and emotionally, are able to do.  Stop punishing ourselves.  Be comfortable in our skin; comfortable enough to sit still and be.
 
The Virus has changed everything.  We may as well face it and embrace the fact that maybe things will never return to what they were, but maybe, just maybe we all needed this break in our over-active, mindlessly busy lives to re-access and do personal re-sets. 
 
I would love to hear how the virus and the ensuing isolation has affected you and how you\u2019ve adjusted to this strange new world.  Please feel free to comment and join your thoughts to this thread.  Thanks for reading.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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….entering the Light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions\/237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}