elegant aspirations

What’s next? What do we do now? Where do we go from here? Stranded in the epicenter of a global pandemic, everything feels different, and questions abound. We are experiencing a shift in awareness of epic proportions. What we value and consider essential has changed in just weeks.

Everything is so new that our rational minds are scrambling to keep up. As we formulate and re-formulate our plans, we seek answers to help guide our journey into the unknown. We are at a pivotal moment in human history and need all the courage and wisdom we can muster. It would be easy to succumb to fear and confusion as we peer into a distant horizon that seems to recede the closer we get.

So, understanding that there is much we don’t know, what can we do for the best in these uncertain times? I believe that COVID-19 itself has lessons to teach us. On a fundamental level, we are witnessing the earth respond to a decrease in human activity so spontaneously and wondrously that the message is clear: when we take from the world without giving back, it is better off without us. It is humbling to recognize that our home planet doesn’t necessarily need us.

The choice we face is stark: we can either act as integral parts of creation and co-creators of our world, or we can be takers who never give back, destructive in our pursuits until nothing is left.

The beauty of co-creating applies equally to our lives. As powerless as we may feel right now, we can take total responsibility for our conduct. We can give, reciprocate, and interact with those around us with love, kindness, and respect, no matter who or where we are.

Everything we do matters more than ever: every choice we make, every word we say, and every action we take. Who we align with and what we support are choices that either erode the type of world we want or help create the kind of world we aspire to inhabit.

This responsibility—to ourselves, to others, and to the planet—is imperative at this moment in history. To embody the change we wish to see in the world and become the antidote to hopelessness and despair is the most powerful position we can take. By choosing to be the light in the darkness in this way, we will naturally attract others who care as much as we do, and together, we will co-create a brighter world as we move forward, whatever the future may hold for us.