The twentieth ‘virus funny’ for the morning pings on my phone. Armageddon emails jam my Inbox. Conversation circles like birds of prey on the down draft, evaluating the state of play, waiting for opportunity or hint of change. House bound vistas framed by an ever- lowering ceiling, declare the faithfulness of an oblivious green canopy. Goodness beyond the pane/pain, of the COVID vortex.
Blindsided we batten down hatches as the very buttresses of capitalism are battered, the security of familiarity is struck a blow and an altered reality constructed. Life between the sliding doors of comfort zone and new normal, in this petri dish of, “Godzilla, King Kong, Frankenstein all in one” is surreal. But it’s not new, it’s just very different.
As my amygdala, dedicated to detecting the emotional salience of stimuli, rumbles with a tinge of anxiety, flood of fear, discomfort in the disorder and confusion in the complex; misgivings of the moment threaten to dwarf me. “Somewhere in the world, the wrong pig met up with the wrong bat” and has redirected the trajectory of life as we know it immediately.
Reigning in the potential for an infection of the negative, or the pestilence of pessimism, I’m reminded that past performance often predicts future behaviour. That somewhere in this mire of the muddled, my hardwired defence system of mental weaponry awaits reactivation. This endoskeleton apparatus and cybernetic dashboard of inbuilt options boasts of long-range resilience, ballistic bravery, torpedos of tenacity, motivation missiles, an arsenal against apathy and anti-anxiety artillery. It’s armoured up with countermeasures for courage, hardware for hope, grenades of gratitude, a payload of patience, forcefield of faith and the protection of prayer.
Activating this multiprocessor of mindpower is not a panacea for this pandemic, or vindication from virus but a solid reminder that “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” Dumbledore.
THE WISDOM COLLECTOR 