A reflection on the state of the world

In the business world, we say we are looking for disruption from the way things have always been. We certainly have that in spades at the moment. It is not possible to maintain our pretence of 'business as usual'. Too many unusual things are happening to us and around us in the wake of the COVID-19 experience.

Is this what YOU thought disruption would be like?

What if the external disruption we are experiencing is meant to create heart disruption: dislodging unhelpful notions that keep us enmired in unhelpful systems, processes and beliefs that have never been questioned while making space to reconnect with the things we truly value?

Here is a poem I wrote as I have pondered the opportunity that disruption brings with it...

An Unexpected Opportunity

19-23 March 2020

When the world stopped

????????????Its incessant noise,

????????????Its frantic pursuit,

????????????Its 24/7 pace…

When the neon flashing signs

????????????Could no longer entice us to buy, buy, buy,

Flickering luridly over empty streets and vacant shops, and

Casting eerie shadows over wasteland monuments to greed…?

When work ground to a halt,

????????????Releasing us to return to our homes,

????????????Detaching us from the spinning life we knew,

????????????Threatening our creature comforts and the future we dreamed…

We discovered:

The death-like silence and stillness we’d feared

????????????????????????Was more alive and kinder than we’d guessed,

????????????????????????????????????Full of deep-seated rhythms and lilting music?

????????????????????????????????????????????????So long overshadowed by the manic drive

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????To achieve, to compete, to accumulate.

????????????Time ambled leisurely by,

????????????????????????Unhurried, unworried by what might be,

????????????????????????????????????Simply sitting with what is

????????????????????????????????????????????????For however long it lasted,?

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Allowing conversation rich and deep to flourish.

The things we had foregone in our pursuits -?

????????????????????????Those ‘one day later’ thoughts -?

????????????????????????????????????Resumed their rightful place

????????????????????????????????????????????????And we saw them truly for the treasure they are,

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????And mourned our wasted years.

????????????The riches we had thought to earn

????????????????????????Have paled before the beauty of everyday gifts:

????????????????????????????????????Starlight and twilights, moonbeams, sun on our faces;

????????????????????????????????????Breezes wafting clouds and scents and sounds;

Flowers, trees, and the joy of living, growing creatures;

????????????????????????????????????Kindly firelight and candle glow and dancing shadows;

????????????????????????????????????Family, friends and neighbours connecting?

????????????????????????????????????Over good meals and hearty laughter

With genuine care and warmth…

?????????????????????????

We wondered how we could have missed this for so long…?

When the world stopped,

????????????We began to question what we had and?

Where we were going,

????????????What we want,?

What matters and

What we had been told this life was about.

We breathed in deeply.

We awoke and saw where we were.

For all we thought we’d lost, we had gained so much more.

When the world stopped,

We received a chance to become alive once more.