12/04/2020
“Down Under Lockdown Musings…”
by Yours Truly.
It’s nothing short of weird and surreal.
This sitting here at home.
On a Monday morning. And a Tuesday morning. And actually, all mornings forthwith - for who knows how long?
Doing, well, nothing.
Nothing much work-related now anyway…
The city that I’m looking out on looks the same, but it doesn’t sound the same.
Or feel the same.
A quiet sky – with no consistent hum of planes flying overhead.
Overtaken by kids playing at all times of the day around our property’s perimeter.
Increased bird life it seems.
Or perhaps it’s just more easily heard.
Down here in Auckland, on the beautiful (and now even more preciously remote) islands of New Zealand, the quiet is something that’s taking a while to get used to.
I used to be able to hear the city (of man) waking each morning.
Grinding to a start.
There’s no grind now - just a gradual, natural, sound-filled quiet…
Is there such a thing?
It can be disheartening – eerie even.
This halting of civilisation.
Lockdown is not a futuristic word anymore.
But I’m not opposed to it at all.
I’m actually quietly hopeful, because we have to be, no?
It’s now April - my usual Southern Hemisphere wind-down period for a month or so - and it feels uncertain.
That’s because there’s never been more global uncertainty, ever.
Usually I’d simply be excited about my upcoming hibernation.
A relishing of the calm.
As opposed to this gentle daily reminder to breathe deeply - ‘it’ll all be okay.’
Hopeful.
Daylight savings finished on the weekend.
Spring forward, fall back they say.
Who are ‘they’ anyway?
The temperatures are going to slowly drop soon, the glowing fires slowly sputtering to life.
‘Keep the home fires burning’ taking on new meaning, they say.
There are lots of recipes, mind.
Sourdough becoming the new challenge, cookies lining the tins.
Soups being the hearty go-to.
Grounding, hearty eats where Uber once was.
Tired dogs.
And all this for what?
For life, that’s what.
It’s ironic (and a touch funny), no?
That for all our might, and our strength, and our so-called power, we’ve been told to go home, stay home.
By something that the naked eye cannot see for its size.
That childhood game, played for the good of humankind, by all of humankind, but this time our lives depend on it.
Virus vs virus.
Home isn’t so happy to some, it isn’t so safe.
I’m lucky it really is where my heart is…
Aotearoa – ‘the Land of the Long White Cloud’.
But many others are much less fortunate than I.
Which makes me wonder about how many of us really will be okay.
This is going to run deep.
To humankind’s core.
And for a long time yet.
So, it feels like mental health has never been more important.
Friends reaching out to friends.
Families hunkering down together, forced reconnection amidst the calm where previously it was just chaos, business, busy-ness.
Lovers too – remembering why them.
Communities have never felt closer, despite the forced distancing.
At a time when showing affection is suddenly a weapon…
Yet keeping distance is love.
Bubbles being the operative word.
It’s time to get brave, real brave.
It’s time to rethink the paradigm and to lean into new ideas, scary ideas, sustainable ideas.
To rethink ‘normal’, whatever ideology that was.
To let go of greed, selfishness and ego.
It’s time to care for those not self.
It’s time to downsize.
It wasn’t working, those good old days.
It’s time to not retreat back, but to flow forward.
Mother Earth breathing a sigh of relief, I hear.
Let’s listen in, collectively.
Let’s change, for Her.
Sit at a distance, stand as one. When the time is right, we welcome you. But for now, listen. Papatūānuku (our earth mother) is breathing. ------------------...
