People are always trying to hold on to love.
Some try to lock it down, like Dumplin and Jody, who clicked their love shut just before the actual lockdown. How have they fared during the pandemic? Has their love been strong enough to withstand quarantine, whether together or apart?
And what about those who have had to remain at a distance from their loved ones? How lonely are they?
Some couples enjoy their good fortune of spending more time together—for others it causes friction.
Families may feel closer, but also pushed to their limits—forced into being teachers as well as parents.
Is there a secret combination that gives us an answer to every uncertainty?
I don’t think so, but I do believe we should continue to hang on.
Because although we find ourselves reacting differently to our global circumstances,
we are still one people, forever joined as the human race, linked together in the circle of life.
Photos © Sondra Sula.
Take a walk with me by reading my most recent daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.
If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.
When I feel stressed and must get a lot of things done, it is counterintuitive for me to spend time outside in nature. I feel selfish and extravagant, as if I’m simply procrastinating the tasks at hand. And yet that is exactly what I need.
Staring eyeball to eyeball with a miniscule creature perched on a tiny flower is sure to release a few much-needed endorphins. And catching sight of a retreating red ladybug among vivid purple blooms makes critical deadlines retreat to their proper place.
If an itsy-bitsy fly or bee mimic can traverse a wild world of wind gusts and predators, I can nimbly pick my way through corporate quagmires.
A Mendocino paintbrush reminds me of my true nature: painter of images and words. Sometimes I forget this simple truth.
So the next time I’m out of sorts, I’ll visit with a bee. After all, her job is spending time with flowers all day long.
The good news: I can get to a trail in five minutes from the front door of our house. The bad news: the trail is marred with every conceivable type of litter. I kid you not. From a burnt out car to computers to baby books.
Is the garbage ugly? Yes and no. It is jarring to the eye to see something that doesn’t fit into the landscape. I am soaking in the sweeping pines, impossibly tall redwoods, blooming rhododendrons and then, what’s that? A circuit board? A bed sheet? A banana-seat bike?
Yet as I’m drawn to photograph these out-of-place objects, I begin to see their complex compositional qualities and pleasing shapes. I am aware of the irony of context. We happily drive cars, use computers, ride bikes, wear shoes, sleep on bed sheets. And we find many of these things aesthetically appealing. As a society we have collectively agreed to dispose of our no-longer-useful items in a commercially dug pit in the ground, or in an otherwise approved fashion.
I can always be a witness. Witnessing something means I’m not ignoring it—I am aware. I can modify my own behavior, perhaps consume less and recycle more. I can try to understand all facets of the problem. I can brainstorm with others to try to come up with a solution. I can continue seeing the beauty in everything because that is what I’m good at, the outlook with which I’ve been blessed.
All photos © Sondra Sula.
Sondra Sula's Blog: The Nature of Spirituality 