In these unprecedented times, here are some wise suggestions by Lynn Unger, a Unitarian minister in USA. As a growing number are in lockdown at home or in care, or dealing with changed circumstances at work these strategies offer some positive ways to deal with the corona-virus.
What if you thought of it as the Jews consider the Sabbath— the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now, on trying to make the world different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those to whom you commit your life.
Center down.
And when your body has become still, reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils of compassion that move, invisibly, where we cannot touch.
Promise this world your love–
for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, so long as we all shall live.
Let us also pray for all our carers and others in the medical profession as well as those who have become over-anxious or fearful in changing times.