Vital Signs
In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, we're all experiencing an extreme disruption. In case I'm misinterpreted in what I'm about to write, let me be crystal clear at the beginning: that disruption is bad. A lot of people are going to be hurt by the disease and by the societal problems cascading from it. Everyone, please take care of yourselves and your community by honoring the physical distancing steps recommended by public health experts.
But disruption also creates opportunity. Sometimes, by forcing us to reconsider "normal" and all that comes with what we usually call normal.
One way I'm using this time of disruption is to check on some vital signs for my life. Not just the pulse, BP, temp, and other signs that my body is functioning well, but the vital signs of my spirit.
This pandemic, with its forced isolation and the disruption of activity, creates the opportunity for us to really consider our inner lives. It invites us to reconsider the quiet places of our hearts, the parts that are usually drowned out by the bustle of the lives we sustain. As we withdraw into private spaces, we also have the opportunity to experience quiet. And in the quiet, we confront the vital signs of the spirit.
Capacity for stillness. When I am still, do I easily become restless? Can I remain still for a moment without becoming anxious?
Patience. Can I endure inconveniences with an appropriate emotional reaction? In other words, do I fly off the handle because a child is being louder than I like, or become enraged when I'm forced to wait for moment?
Clarity of Concern. It's okay to have concerns. A healthy spirit is not simply without any sort of desire for things to be different in the world! Indeed, we easily become too comfortable with injustices or the presence of broken systems! But a healthy spirit can discern what it is actually anxious about. It understands what is making it uncomfortable, precisely, without remaining anxious in a general, diffused way.
Joy and Gratitude When I am healthy in my spirit, I have joy! I may have struggle and pain right along side of it, but I can also consider the things which bring me life, facets of my life that I can name with thankful joy. The lack of elements of joy in my life is a sign that my spirit has been distorted.
Healthy Detachment A person with a healthy spirit is engaged with the issues of her community, but can also recognize that what is happening around her is not the same thing as what is happening in her. there is a way of engaging without becoming passively entailed with the emotional currents around me.