It’s a chilly Sunday morning as I venture outside to try to find some inner peace. I zip up my insulated jacket and search for a pair of mittens in my hall closet. One fire engine red glove is all that I find but that will just have to be enough.
When our Stay at Home directives were implemented this past weekend, I started to prepare mentally for all of the challenges ahead. I needed to begin deep breathing as well as putting into use, simple guided meditation techniques that I learned immediately after losing Barney.
My mind immediately traveled back to a bygone era. I thought about the blockbuster movie, Home Alone, where a young boy, was able to fight off “potential burglars” while totally alone with creative prowess and lack of fear.
That’s who I wanted to be. A Wonder Woman of sorts. A warrior able to recognize, acknowledge and let go of all of these scary thoughts while fighting the unknown.
I knew being still would be helpful so I closed my eyes and started to meditate near the pond which reflected white marshmallow shaped clouds. Mind you, I am only a novice in the art of quieting my mind, but this is a practice that only gets better over time. Even when we are so isolated, meditation can bring awareness to the fact that all beings are connected. When practiced for brief periods of time, we can slowly reduce some of our negative thoughts and that’s exactly what I was able to do.
As my walk came to an end, I decided a good belly laugh was needed. For the next hour and forty-three minutes, I watched Macaulay Culkin become a hero. Given our current situation, all of us around the world are just looking for that happy ending. We want the credits to roll and the lights to come back on so we can once again feel safe.
