I am going to talk about the positives of the largest global catastrophe I have ever witnessed.
I start each day with a meditation and a run through my neighborhood.
Families walking the streets, playing with their kids. Neighbors waving to one another… beginning to recognize the familiar faces. Far fewer cars to worry about. I don’t have to spend hours of every day of my life driving and adding to the pollution problem. My friends who are normally struggling to hold their families together amidst the life of a touring musician are now homebound getting to spend every day with their kids. I see people going out of their way to spread positive vibes and practice random acts of kindness because everyone is going through it together.
Don’t get me wrong, I have massive intense waves of stress, grief, and concern for the wellbeing of humanity through all of this. My Mom is a nurse and has been researching and keeping us informed since before anyone else was talking about it. With every new story of its intensity, spread and potential impact on society, a new wave of anxiety hits. Then I work out, meditate, play music and prepare myself.
Those of you who know me well enough know that in the last few years I have experienced multiple bizarre and out of the blue events that have been anywhere from life-shattering to world-changing, traumatic, and life-threatening. What I found was that every one of these experiences forced me to level up and really think about what was important to me. To conjure all of my focus and do the absolute best I could in the moment. To find within myself as much psychological stamina as I could muster. Because when you are in a crisis, there is no room to fail. There is no room to get overwhelmed with emotion. There is no also no room to bottle it up and act irrationally. You have to stay calm, grounded, and keep all the energy flowing through you. You have to take good care of yourself so you can perform at your best, and then find everything you can do to help those around you.
Every one of these events in my life was followed by an enormous growth spurt. Yes, there was an unprecedented amount of pain, loss, heartbreak, anxiety, financial burden, and uncertainty. Through this, there was also focused energy, manifestation, hard work and soul searching. Each time, the growth in the aftermath was so explosive that I come back stronger in the end. Farther along than where I was before. With a newfound perspective that keeps me in a state of constant gratitude.
For the last year or so I’ve been living at the foot of these gorgeous mountains of Pasadena. I jog through the neighborhoods, admiring the unbelievable beauty of the snow-capped mountains with palm trees swaying in the breeze in the sunshine in the foreground. I think to my self, ‘one day, way back in the history of the Earth, plates collided and those mountains were formed. That could happen again any day.’ Enough out of the blue things had already happened to me that when I found myself getting caught up and stressed in daily life bullshit, or stressing over what I’m doing with my life or whether I’m good enough or working hard enough or all the myriad of things that eat away at our 21st-century minds... I’d step back in my perspective and think about the day those mountains happened.
There are some amazing things happening that sadly may not have happened without a catastrophe to bring it out. In no way do I say this glossing over the horrifying impact of it all. I have some wonderful friends in Italy and in China that I have been extremely concerned about, and many friends in the United States with family in these other countries around the world. As I start to see communities in our country struggle, I don’t take for granted anyone’s safety or wellbeing. Oddly enough I had 3 people that meant a lot to me pass away in the couple of weeks before this hit the US so the feeling of not taking anyone’s presence in this world for granted is extremely fresh.
This type of giant psychic shift that everyone is undergoing to process stress and readjust their expectations would only happen on a mass level if a global situation like this prompted it. I see people getting creative. Working together to find solutions. Coming up with inventive new ways of staying connected despite physical isolation. Enjoying the abundance that has actually been surrounding them every day that they never had time to notice.
The challenges are going to keep mounting, no doubt. I am praying every day for the masses to level up to the challenge, rather than become savages in the stress. Every little thing makes a difference in this, every person’s efforts make a difference. So, you know, if civilization crumbles then perhaps we’ll at least have some more positive inspiration and examples for when we rebuild. What can I say, I like to look for the positives.