Thinking for yourself

I have recently finished reading a book, ‘The Machine Stops’ by E. M. Forster. Here is what Wikipedia says about that book.

‘The Machine Stops is a short science fiction story. It describes a world in which almost all humans have lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual lives in isolation in a ‘cell’, with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. Most humans welcome this development, as they are skeptical and fearful of first-hand experience. People forget that humans created the Machine, and treat it as a mystical entity whose needs supersede their own. Those who do not accept the deity of the Machine are viewed as ‘unmechanical’ and are threatened with “Homelessness”. Eventually, the Machine apocalyptically collapses, and the civilization of the Machine comes to an end. –Wikipedia

Reading it myself I could see how easy it would be for this to happen in the future as we lose the ability to think for ourselves. Many people take what they read or hear as the truth and never think of checking out what they hear or read to see if someone else thinks differently. There are always more sides to a story than are apparent. Although I rely on my gut reaction or my intuition as well as my inner knowledge of things I am one of those people who like to check out facts. From my own experience I know that statistics can be ‘played with’ to make them state what you want them to state.

When the pandemic started I did a lot of reading from various sources, scientific and medical and made up my own mind about it and what should or could be done. People have been asked to isolate or keep their distance from others even though we can now meet a certain number of people outside we still have to keep our distance. This is hard for many as social interaction is a large part of their lives and closeness to family and friends is important. Communications via phone and other forms of technology have become important as have ways of working from home. Forster’s book talks of this and how those in his book live purely via technology.

I feel that now is the time to think about what we really want our world to be like. We need to look at all the options that are there for us and make informed decisions. Take everything that is in the media with a pinch of salt and think about what is really being said. When this pandemic is over we need to have in place a good idea of how we want our world to look and how we want to live in it. Read and inform yourself then make your decisions.

What happens next?

As the time of staying home is slightly differing we find ourselves able to go out and meet one other person as long as we keep our distance. But where are we going from here with our lives? How much have we changed during this time? Have we decided to seek a fairer world where there is respect and love for each other? Are we ready to change our ideas about fashion and beauty? Can we become better at eating healthily? Can we holiday at home instead of wanting to travel all over the world adding a large carbon footprint and contaminating the atmosphere? Can we walk and cycle instead of driving and if we have to drive can we use a car which does not pollute the air so much?

There are many other questions. Can we value those who do the jobs no-one else wants to do? The cleaners, the shop assistants, the postman, the paperboy, any others who deliver items for us and are generally low paid. It’s fine to clap on a Thursday to show our appreciation but many of these people would prefer a better paid job. We need to look at how we see people in our society and how we treat them. Just because someone is a cleaner it does not mean we can look down on them and see ourselves as better people. We are all equal in the eyes of God, Spirit or Source and we all have our purpose in life.

This is a short blog as I am tired and full of aches and pains. They too will pass like this time will pass and I hope we can look back at this time as a time when we were able to find out who we really are.

The joy of being outdoors

I started to walk a short distance a couple of weeks ago and after walking each day I can now walk a bit further and get into my local country park. What joy to be out there! There is so much space and I connect to Mother Earth via my feet and look up at the sky. The trees are green, the birds are singing and the small river/stream is burbling away. I am so lucky to be able to do this as there are many who do not have that pleasure because of where and how they live.

I love the space and always have done. I hate being confined and I do not like lifts or elevators as they are called in other countries. It took me around 50 years to discover why I did not like to be in small spaces. But doing some work on the emotional ties connecting me to my mother I realised that this hate of confined spaces was because I was born during the war and my mother would not go into the bomb shelter but huddled in the space under the stairs. I remember this space well and it was not very big. So there was my mother huddling while pregnant and then after my birth I was taken into the space with her. No wonder I don’t like confined spaces.

But back to my walks in the park. There are the joggers and the dog walkers all keeping the distancing as required but we nod greetings to each other as we pass. I love to stand by the old stone bridge and watch the stream rippling away in the sunshine. I have seen thrushes which I don’t get in the garden and squirrels playing in the trees. It is so good for me to be out there and any depression I may have soon lifts. It is well known that being outdoors is good for mental health. I have chatted with friends this week keeping our distance as required but we have had some interesting discussions about our new world which is on the way.

I shall continue my walks as long as I can and enjoy the open space and clean fresh air. I am looking forward to when I can see the demoiselle damselflies which can usually be found by the stone bridge. I keep looking but they haven’t hatched out yet.

I hope you are able to get out into some green open spaces, they are so good for you.

Gratitude

I have been thinking of writing about gratitude for some time then this morning, my news feed on social media came up with all these memes about being grateful! Gratitude is something that has been lost for some time as people take for granted that their every need will be met so let’s look at what we can be grateful for in this current time.

Although the western world appears to be wealthy and every one has a home and enough food and clothes, that is not necessarily the case. Every large town and city has areas where there is deprivation of some kind. During this current crisis, many of these people will be wondering where the next loaf of bread is coming from never mind a new phone. We need to look at how we live and be grateful for what we have and share what we have but don’t need with others.

We are being encouraged to go out for exercise. If you live in a tower block and the lift is out of order, just going up and down the stairs will keep you fit but in our crowded cities and towns where is the fresh air for us to breathe? Now there is less air pollution being outside is much better but we are now being told that the air inside our homes is more polluted and we are using far too much electricity keeping all our gadgets charged and usable.

I am grateful this morning for the rain which has soaked the garden. It is more important to me than a mobile phone that does fancy things. I am grateful for the birds that sing and build nests in my hedge. They give me more joy than watching the TV. I am grateful for the fact that I can still get outside and have a short walk despite my widespread arthritis and myofascial pain. I am grateful for being here at this time of crisis so that I can take time to look at how I want my new world to be after the lockdown. What are you grateful for?

The new normal

I keep hearing people say how good it will be to get back to normal. But there is no going back to the normal we had before. Too much has changed. So would would you like the new normal to be like? Some weeks ago I wrote about my vision of the future and that vision is still true for me.

Social distancing has made people look to themselves and their families more and many have learned how important family are and how much love they can give and receive. Many have found ways to be inventive and creative and many have found that their connection to each other and the world around them is most important. A man stated on the TV that he had taught his young son how to ride a bike and that no amount of money could replace that feeling of joy and connection.

Many have learned to look inside their hearts and find exactly what they want to do and want to be, many have found out who they really are as well. They have learned to care for others, to often put the welfare of others first and but also learned how to care for themselves. Many will find that long commutes to work are not worth it and look for work nearer home. There are so many benefits to be found from this period of time. It is in many ways a gift to us so we can find ourselves and find ways to change our world for the better.

We can create our new normal simply by thinking about it more and not thinking about what the government would like us to think about. Thoughts are energy so use them wisely. Create the world you would like inside your mind and visualise it each day so that it becomes reality in the near future.

I watched a Youtube video last night and it speaks to me. It is called The Great Realisation. There are several versions of this but I like the one by TomFoolery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw5KQMXDiM4

Just think and create your version of normal. Stay safe.