Healing is a slow process especially as we get older. And yet, we all have the capacity to heal and to help each other heal. What is the best thing to help with healing? What is the best thing that helps speed up the process of healing?
To me, it is connection. We humans, who are animals, are herd creatures. We need our herds whether we realize or accept it or not. We NEED each other in some form and capacity. And this is not more apparent than right now as we all struggle with the stressors that the coronavirus pandemic has placed on our lives and us. However, the connection that we need in order to start healing and survive is NOT the virtual connection, but true, authentic, face-to-face connection. We need to be touched by our loved ones especially in stressful times of crisis, which is exactly where we are right now.
Ever notice that when the lockdowns were first put into place, people went into panic mode and bought up large amounts of toilet paper and other strange “necessities” and then as we all started to accept to some degree or another that our lives were on lockdown for some time, we developed a sense of “well, I had better make the best of it” sort of attitude about the lockdown. And suddenly, virtual happy hours were the new rage. Not to mention all sorts of other virtual ways to “connect” with one another. And for a short time, the virtual ways of “connecting” seemed to be helping people cope and start to heal from the stressors of the lockdown. And then time, passed and people started to find that the virtual happy hours were “not making the cut.” People started to get restless and finding themselves thinking “why I am doing this virtual happy hour, when all I am actually doing is drinking by myself at home?” And so, slowly the pain and hurt of the realization of what the lockdown actually meant, was creeping into the herd. And this pain and hurt lead to fears. Big fears and big uncertainties. Suddenly, our system was realizing that we were isolated and essentially cut off from our herd, and that set off alarm bells in our system. Why the alarm bells, you ask? Because we are herd creatures, who are designed to BE with each other and not through virtual applications. We NEED physical touch and being in close proximity to each other. We need to be able to sense each other’s energy and be there in the flesh for each other in times of crisis. This is not something we choose, we are hard wired this way and without our connections, in the ways that we are “programmed” for, we slowly start to die. We find ourselves spending more and more time doing things that aren’t productive. We find ourselves not eating and sleeping well. We find ourselves not wanting to “connect” as much virtually. We find ourselves slowly sinking into depression and anxiety. We find ourselves “exposed” without out our herd in times when our survival depends on being connected to others in our “programmed” way.
To me, this is why the practicing of social distancing was so hard at first to “wrap our heads around” and why social distancing efforts are floundering at best in our society. I do not believe it is because people are not aware of the risks of the coronavirus and being in close proximity to others in social settings. I do not believe we are that stupid. I believe that our systems have been kicked into overdrive because of the isolation and we are now being “driven” in a sense, to reconnect with others in the way that our program says we need to connect. And I do not believe this drive is all by conscious choice.
We are now being driven by our internal hard wiring to connect with each other so that we can all start to heal from the immense stressors we have all faced recently and are still facing. We are herd animals. We DO need each other, especially right now.
Just my thoughts……..
Namaste, my friends.
The "SEMI" Traveller 