For the last one to two months, most peoples of the world have been in a lockdown situation, of varying degrees. The pandemic rages on, unleashing untold suffering and death, rising and falling on a daily basis, as we eagerly await resolution.

But the question today that we are focussing on is “In these weeks at home, in isolation, alone, without many distractions, what have we learnt? On an individual level, and on the collective level? Have we learnt anything at all? Or are we just waiting, biding out time, for the lockdown and pandemic to end, to go back to our old ways? Or are we genuinely learning lessons and are honestly going to change ourselves by incorporating these lessons into our daily life? How many of us are just swearing at the virus and asking for a reset immediately, to the pre-virus days?

Some changes are forced upon us, and in that, we are passive. Not able to go out, shop, travel, spend, throw parties, go to school, college of work—in these areas we don’t really have a choice.

Let us look at what changes we could have made, in certain key arenas of our lives. Every crisis is a choice point and always carries within it a hidden gift, if we choose to search and find it.

1. Health: Staying at home, eating healthy home cooked food, sleeping well, relaxing with the family, finding time for oneself, hobbies, friendships, exercising the body and mind—these are some of the things we have accidentally discovered during this period. We had forgotten the pleasure and nourishment of a healthy home cooked meal or a good eight hours sleep. We used to live by the clock, chasing deadlines which never seemed to end. There was a motor attached to our back, constantly driving us all day long. Now, this motor has gone silent. We are on our own. We are in free fall. Will you make any of these changes permanent? Will you invest in health, eat, exercise and sleep sensibly, and cut down your lifestyle diseases? The virus seems to have specifically targeted the old and unhealthy, and is a wake up call for us, to get healthy asap. The difference between life and death, if infected by the virus could well be our good health versus our bad health. Will we? That’s the key question here which will determine our future
2. Job: We have all compulsorily had a break or a partial break from the kinds of jobs we were doing. Are we happy with our jobs, or are we slogging it out only for the money and to pay our bills? Is there purpose, joy and accomplishment in what we do, to earn a living? Is our job killing us, by degrees? Are we forsaking our mental and physical health, our dreams and passions, our purpose, for our jobs? Deadlines, targets, sales figures, projections, strategies, plans—-all have disappeared, showing us new ways, and showing us that there are new jobs we could do. Will we change our jobs and job profiles after the epidemic, or will we all be back to square one, learning nothing? Job stress is a killer, not only directly, but also by causing stress related diseases like obesity, hypertension, diabetes, acidity etc. Are we going to let our jobs ruin our quality of life and health? Another key question that will determine our future.
3. Money: Although related to the previous sub-heading of jobs, money is another matter which needs deep thinking? How much is enough? How much should we save and put away for a rainy day? Will the quest for money ever end? Does money have its own balance, where earning more is often offset by more spending? Is it worth running behind money, being obsessed with it, and doing whatever we do, only for the money? The lockdown has taught us to cut unnecessary expenditure, and to live frugally and in minimalistic ways. Will we continue the same, or will we go back to chasing money, cars, vacations,  branded items, and luxuries? If so, at what cost?
4. Relationships: The corona virus pandemic has brought relationships into the forefront. Who matters and who doesn’t? Which relationships are worth investing our time and energy in and which are better let go of? When push comes to shove, who will be there by your side? How many of your relationships have helped each other during this crisis? How many have even bothered to ask “Hey, how are you coping? Can I help in any way? How many have gone underground, never to surface, in their own fears and panic? Who matters most? How important is my family? Questions and more questions
5.  Purpose: When faced with so much time on our hands, and when we see people suffering and dying for no fault of theirs, when we see healthcare workers and other emergency service personnel brave the virus, and go out there into the battlefield and struggle for people like you and me, we realise what a divine and genuine purpose they are fulfilling. And what is our purpose in life? Are we fulfilling it? Or are we just existing from week to week, surviving, and making two ends meet, often with a struggle, and often drowning out the voices of our soul with our distractions? Did we take birth here to study, find a job and pay bills, or is there more to life? What is our role, our place, in the larger scheme of things? Is there any purpose at all to human existence? Hmmm, time to put on our thinking caps (along with our masks, of course)
6. Divinity: Is there a divine power beyond all of us? Is there a God ? Do we have a soul or spirit, or are we just body-mind complexes, who are born, grow, age and die? Does the soul come to earth on a journey of learning and evolution? Does karma exist? Are we all just in payback more due to karma, in this current pandemic? Will our past sins determine our outcome now? We don’t know, of course, but this lockdown is one of the best times, to go inwards and to connect to our deepest core, our being, or soul, or spirit, or godliness, or whatever you call it. We do know that there is an energy source in us, which enters before birth, animates and powers us, and leaves us at death. The lockdown is good time to look deep at this force, to study it, to understand it, to see how it determines our day to day living, and to try and expand our consciousness.
7. Love: Finally, what we all facing now, is fear, panic, unease, worry, anxiety, frustration, irritation, anger, sorrow, separation, and stress. What we are having trouble feeling is the opposite and balancing quality, of love. This pandemic is an opportunity, to open our hearts, and to pour out our love, sympathy, empathy, compassion, forgiveness and altruism, on others. Can we use this time to move, from fear and anger based consciousness which we have been living with, and move to a more love, acceptance, tolerance and joy based consciousness?

So many questions, so little answers. And yet, in my opinion, life is all about remaining flexible and constantly changing. Change is the only thing that keeps us alive, fit and surviving. Rigidity, dogmatism, inflexibility, hardness, stiffness—all are eventually going to break us. We need to learn how to become the blade of grass which sways in the wind, rather than remain a rigid tall tree, which invariably snaps in all natural disasters.

Sit down today, and make a list of what life lessons you have learnt, and what you are going to embrace and what you are going to change or let go, when this pandemic ends. That alone will determine your future life, post corona. And if we have, individually and collectively attracted and invited this virus into our consciousness to learn a few lessons, then we better learn them fast, for that itself will ensure, at a vibratory level, the disappearance of the virus.