True to form, Marianne is not just being mindful of her own heart and spirit during this time but also the hearts and spirits of others. This compassionate mindfulness is being manifested in an ongoing series of videos and audios that she's releasing on her various social media platforms on pretty much a daily basis. I haven't tuned into all of them but I did watch last Friday's video, and it very much resonated with me. In it Marianne talks about why it's okay to be sad and heartbroken at this time. She also says the following.
We can't look at this [crisis] as something other people will handle because clearly they didn't and clearly they're not. So if we want an America on the other side of this where we can feel secure in the knowledge that even when bad things happen, we are prepared as a nation to weather the storm in a stronger boat than we have now, we're going to have to make some changes; and those changes are only going to be made if we ourselves become much more active in that decision-making. What we have now is a product of who we've been and how we've operated. And if we want something different, we're going to have to change and we're going to have to change our operating systems.
Martin Luther King said, “Your life begins to end on the day you stop talking about things that matter.” We've stopped even thinking about some things that matter. . . . So it's not too early to think about the changes that we want on the other side of this, because this will be over. Let's think about what we want to be different on the other side of this. We want a country that is far more conscious of investing in the long term good of all of its citizens; a healthcare system that would support us in a moment like this – all of those outer things. But there are some other changes too. Let's pray to be better men and women – more conscious, more responsible, less self-centered.
. . . I cried today. My mother used to say, “You need a good cry; sometimes you just need a good cry.” I was holding it together until I heard Bob Dylan's new song. It's okay that we all have a good cry. Some tears can be very purifying. Just know you're sad and that everybody else is too. . . . [This crisis is like] a storm . . . but we will make it through.
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Hope and Beauty in the Midst of the Global Coronavirus Pandemic
• A Prayer in Times of a Pandemic
• Quote of the Day – March 17, 2020
• In the Midst of Crisis, Learning Resistance and Vision-Seeking from the Indigenous and African-American Experience
• An Infectious Disease Specialist Weighs-in on Covid-19
• A Prayer for the Present Moment
For more of Marianne Williamson at The Wild Reed, see:
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Marianne Williamson
• Marianne Williamson and the Power of Politicized Love
• The Relevance and Vitality of Marianne Williamson’s 2020 Presidential Campaign
• Caitlin Johnstone: “Status Quo Politicians Are Infinitely ‘Weirder’ Than Marianne Williamson”
• Marianne Williamson: “Anything That Will Help People Thrive, I’m Interested In”
• Marianne Williamson On What It Will Take to Defeat Donald Trump
• “It's Time to Take a Stand”: Marianne Williamson Endorses Bernie Sanders for President
• “A Beautiful Message, So Full of Greatness”
• “I Learned So Much From the Experience”: Marianne Williamson on Her Presidential Bid
Related Off-site Links:
COVID-19: It’s OK to Feel Overwhelmed and Be Unproductive – Susan Biali Haas (Psychology Today, March 25, 2020).
Why You Should Ignore All That Coronavirus-Inspired Productivity Pressure – Aisha S. Ahmad (The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 27, 2020).
Coronavirus Has Upended Our World. It's OK To Grieve – Stephanie O'Neill (NPR News, March 26, 2020).
We Shouldn’t Go Back to the Way Things Were – Kandist Mallett (Teen Vogue, March 24, 2020).
David Kessler and Brené Brown on Grief and Finding Meaning – BreneBrown.com (March 31, 2020).
Lessons in Taking Things One Day at a Time, From People in Recovery – Zachary Siegel (Slate, April 3, 2020).
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