Leo Buscaglia’s words often have the effect of opening my heart wider. He is known as “Dr. Love” and would say things like: 

“Don’t spend your precious time asking “Why isn’t the world a better place?” It will only be time wasted. The question to ask is “How can I make it better?”

This is a sad, scary, and challenging time for all of us. We don’t know what’s next. Financially we are being tested and scared how will I make a living now for some or when can I get back to a normal way of working without my kids needing me 24/7 or what now that my spouse lost their job? Hard, challenging questions to say the least. Only time will tell. We are hopefully doing as the experts say and continuing social distancing, staying indoors, washing our hands obssessively, and staying healthy and well.  We are isolated and finding new ways to connect with others virtually. 

Last night I received one of those virtual calls from my grandaughters in Arizona. They are a little bit older and understand life is different now. They talk about the virus and ask me how we are doing. 🙂 My seven year old ask questions like, ” What is the worst part of your day now?” And when I ask her in return she says, ” Not seeing my friends.” We play virtual games, sing songs, read and listen to each other. Last night we did several sentence completions with each other and shared dreams. Then the 14 year old said, ” okay, if you had three wishes what would they be?” ” And it can’t be more wishes!” She knew that would be each of our first wishes! LOL It wasn’t’ easy to come up with at first. Each of us wanted a cure and vaccine for the virus as number one. We also each wanted wings so we could fly and see each other easily. Virtual hugs can only get you so far, but I am loving this time doing google hangout with them. I then said, ” I guess I would want peace and love on earth.” My older grandaughter was very philosophical and said but how would you know if you never had sorrow or challenging times. She reminded me of Leo Buscaglia quote above and Kahlil Gabrin. His poem on Joy and Sorrow came to mind…..

 

I want to focus my time on noticing the little joys I see along side all of this sadness that can overwhelm me at times. So my list begins here:

My grandsons smile, seeing my husband, daugther and son-in-law throughout the day ( I know how lucky I am to have them near me), the flowers blooming outside, a ray of sunshine when it comes in the window, the people clapping out their windows to say thank you to the medical workers on the front lines, waving to a mother with a carriage and dog from way across the street just to say yes, I see you, we are in this together even if we are social distancing, my sister-in-law who delivered some joy of flowers and a note to an elderly residence in Birmingham, my niece who sends me updates from London and her husband enjoying the sun as he works from home ( new normal ), my clients who share something good they can focus on like time with the kids or no commute time!, friends calling just saying hey, how are you?, really?, having popcorn while watching a very stupid movie so I don’t have to think to much with my daughter, taking the time to meditate and do my yoga and BREATHE.

I will continue this list and notice the small things in life that bring me joy and uplift me during this challenging time. Please share  your list below in the comments section. It might help us all and uplift us too.