For the last two years, we have focused on safety, survival and coping. We have worn masks, gloves and face shields. We have wiped down everything with antibacterial wipes. We have routinely cleansed our hands with disinfecting gels. All to prevent getting COVID and spreading COVID.
We also have experienced isolation and the loneliness that comes with lockdowns. We have tried to stay in touch with family and friends through phone calls, Zoom, and FaceTime . But we have learned along the way that digital communications helps, but it is not the same as in-person connections.
With all that we have done and needed to do to make it through the last two years, we have lost one very important thing in our life, namely joy. Joy is an inner feeling, and happiness is the outward expression of it. Joy helps us endure hardships and connects us with meaning and purpose.
Given what we have experienced, I think we are loosing the cellular memory of what joy feels like. Our lives have become isolated, over scheduled and busy for so long that we have forgotten that joy is a choice. It is based on a recognition that life should be lived by design rather than default.
Anne Lamott in her book called Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers (Riverhead Books, 2012) writes that asking for help “is the first great prayer.” Giving thanks is the second and that we should do it not just when things are going well. It also is beneficial to seek gratitude for hard truths and tough challenges. And “wow” is the joyful expression of wonder in response to astonishing moments, both great and small.
At the end of the book, Lamott writes that there is a fourth essential prayer, namely “amen.” For me, this is the one where the previous three come together. It is the moment I choose humbleness and joy, recognizing that my life’s journey is one part of a larger cycle of life.
As we look to the next two years and the continued challenges at work and at home, I believe we need to rediscover the moments where we seek the union of gratitude, humbleness and joy. We need to create moments where we experience awe and can share in the amen prayer. We need to build and maintain relationships with people who inspire us by their convictions and dedication to serving others. For when we have these regular experiences and surround ourselves with a network of people who live and breath purpose filled joy, we rekindle it in ourselves and rediscover that hope is possible in the midst of a global pandemic.
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