COVID Comfort
by Mirra Price
For the last six months, we have all been living through a pandemic, the likes of which most of us have never been through or dreamed was a possible reality. I have good days and bad days. Some days I am engulfed in frustration that I cannot just go to the grocery store whenever I like as it may be too crowded for someone like me who has pre-existing conditions that put me in the high risk category. On these days I often feel isolated and lonely, taking some comfort, though, in Zoom meetings and classes.
Other days, especially when I have one of those rare in-person meetings with a friend, I feel more hopeful, that someday this pandemic will run its course, that this new normal will meld into a newer, less scary reality with more possibilities for connection and entry back into a life of engagement and productivity.
This is a time of distance, physical, psychic, spiritual, and emotional. This distance is within me, as well. Often I feel estranged from my core, out of sync with my emotions, and my best self. I strive to take care of my health, meditate, exercise, eat well, and keep in touch with friends by phone and Internet as much as possible. It isn’t as comforting as being in the physical presence of others, but it is some contact…and contact is what I am really missing. In my mind I hear the words, “Is anybody out there?” These words echo and race around and around inside my being.
One time I got a pretty good answer coming back to me. In the wee hours of night, in the middle of a deep sleep, some words suddenly blared loudly inside my brain, waking me, prompting me to jump up to a sitting position in bed. It was someone singing a particular chant, “Baba Nam Kevalam,” “Love is All There Is.” Who had so abruptly woken me up from such a deep sleep chanting these Sanskrit words? I looked around me, still groggy with sleep. There was no one there. No electronic device was on.
It’s a mystery. I’d like to think it may have been an answer to the question running around my mind, “Is anybody out there?” Shall I venture a guess that it was my Higher Self, or God reaching out in my despair. My spiritual teacher has said, “You are never alone or helpless. The force that guides the stars guides you, too.” We all need one another in these challenging times. We need to show one another that there IS somebody out there. We are all one.WE are who is out there. Each and everyone of us. That thought does give me some comfort here during this strange time of COVID-19. May it be of comfort to you, too.
