“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Viktor Frankl
This pandemic is giving some people a lot of space, especially those of us who have been in self-isolation for over 70 days. At some point, you get used to it. You get used to sitting by yourself, in your own thoughts, and it’s not as bad an experience as it used to be.
You learn to pause before you react.
At some point you realize how many behaviors are deeply wired in your system that you never really stop to think about them. However, now that we’re all going through a period of collective stopping, it has become easier to stop, reflect, and respond rather than automatically react.
In other words, you learn to mind the gap.
You also learn to listen to your gut.
During last week’s all-staff meeting, FLD, my co-host and fellow wordsmith, Hope Mutua and I prompted everyone to discuss an inspirational quote that’s been helping them through these days, and one of the responses we got was “Be still, because only then would you be able to listen to your gut.”
Before this pandemic began and my gut feelings used to be internal voices or incessant thoughts that won’t stop until I act on them. I know this might sound woo-woo to some people, but nowadays they’re more like a visceral jolt to the stomach.
They’re pretty hard to ignore.
So something to reflect on today is this, Why is it so hard for us to be still? Why do we feel this need to keep jumping from one thing to another? What are we running towards? Or rather, what are we running away from?
That’s it for today.
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