Maintaining connection during a time of social isolation

I’ve been thinking about “social isolation.” 

What has changed exactly?

Apart from keeping a safe distance from others in an attempt to flatten the curve, what comes up for me is this:

Just because we previously had the freedom to go about our daily lives, doesn’t discount the fact that the majority of the world were not already socially isolated and disconnected prior to this pandemic.

If we talk about this within a national context, a loneliness study on psych week suggests that one in four Australians reports feeling lonely at least one day a week. 

So what’s changed? Well for one, we’ve had a lot of time to sit with ourselves and finally face the music within. 

What has this time provided for us?

Well for one, there’s no time to hide behind a mask anymore, all we have is our own reflection to look at, and with every minute that passes, we are being forced to take an honest look within, and really ask ourselves:

Who’s life am I living? Am I honouring my true desires? Am I being authentic? Am I honouring myself and others, am I happy? Are the goals I’m chasing my own or a product of inherited beliefs that don’t belong to me?

From birth, we’ve been conditioned to conform to this very intricately woven cultural narrative that is imposed upon us through many obvious and subtle variations.

This cultural indoctrination yielded us towards following the path of least resistance, aka just accepting the status quo, because at the end of the day, if we challenge the herd mentality we become the black sheep, and the threat of going against the tribal mind messes with our immediate basic needs.

Our first immediate need is to feel safe, but that safety is an illusion if we’re biting our tongue suppressing who we truly are as a result of not having the courage to act on our highest aspirations at every given moment.

I understand I speak from a place of privilege, my parents worked hard for me to be able to have the education to be able to even type this. Not everyone has the same capacity, resources and ability to respond to their outside circumstances as half of the world is not having their basic human needs met. 

For those that are reading this right now, I believe what we’re currently witnessing the manifestation of the suppression of our own true authentic collective nature.

We are now beginning to awaken to the masks and identities we’ve created that have blocked us from recognising who we are in our truth, we are now In the early stages of being in recognition of the inescapable interconnectedness that we all share.

During this time of “Social distancing” we’ve been presented with an opportunity to put more thought towards asking ourselves the most delicate and pressing questions. 

What has come to me is this, if I were to die today, is there anything I would regret? Have I made choices from a place of fear or love? I think this is a great yardstick to get to the point very quickly.

A recent 85 year Harvard study suggests the longevity of our lives is determined by the quality of connection we experience within our relationships. 

Connection starts from within and when we’re unable to see and receive ourselves for who we truly are, we’re limiting our ability to see and receive the totality of what makes our lives rich and meaningful.

So now that the actual framework for our social-cultural narrative is collapsing, we are being given an opportunity to wipe the slate clean.

We’re being given the time and space to discover who we truly are, what really matters to us and excites us.

We’re beginning to look toward the future in a way that will align with the highest good of our highest individual and collective evolution. 

Most importantly, we’re beginning to recognise that the most powerful force on this earth that binds us together is love.

The best part of all of is this:

Love is who we are, it just took a bit of bat soup for us to realise it.