Thursday, May 7, 2020

Community and Connection in a Time of Isolation

There is a growing sense of isolation as the pandemic continues to reach deeper into the world. Family life has been disrupted. Schools have closed, replaced by remote learning and essential workers continue to work tirelessly, combating the far-reaching effects of a deadly illness. When I chose balance as my one word for 2020, I did not imagine a world that would be so far removed from the one I knew. 

Today, I reflect on this new normal society we all live in. Realizing that each one of us must help establish a sense of "we-ness" in our immediate world, we must think beyond self,  connect with others, and build community strength if we want to combat isolation and fear. Now is the time to reimagine living, working, and learning but this is not easy. Faith, creative thinking, and vision are needed. 


Days range from gray to sun-filled; moods change daily. Listening to the Governor's daily briefing, reflecting, and connecting with family, albeit remotely, are musts. Taking walks, sharing photos, and writing, allow me to draw inspiration from the beauty of nature.   

Earth has no sorrow that earth cannot heal. - John Muir
No sorrow that heaven cannot heal. - Revelation 21:4

 Listen to Crowder's song, Come As You Are, to lift your soul.


Thoughts from one of my rainy day walks:

nature sheds her tears
slushing through neighborhood streets-
mankind prays
©CV2020

I have been adding a bit of inspiration to social media this past month with the design of my upcoming global gallery of artistic expressions, #NatureNurtures2020 at my blog. You can find a growing collection of #digitalinspirations at Nature Nurtures! padlet

Sending inspirational connectors around the globe is my small contribution to #SharingPlanetBeauty. "How Good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity!" -Psalm133:1
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It's the first Thursday of the month and my friend Ramona Behnke from the state of Washington is hosting Spiritual Journey Thursday. She chose the theme connection and community as our prompt for today. As a gift of thanks for hosting, I created a digital inspiration for my gallery using one of Ramona's beautiful tree walks with thoughts gathered from her blog. 


Never Cease Connecting with Life. Nature is a Healer! 
We Will All Get Through These Trying Times.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for this post... the daily walks, lovely... and for all your good wishes, Carol. Please visit me at https://kceastlund.blogspot.com/2020/05/mays-spiritual-journey-connecting-with.html

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    1. I am wondering if I have a daily walk today. It is rather dark outside. You can take a virtual walk today at my Poetry Friday post: https://beyondliteracylink.blogspot.com/2020/05/colors-of-spirit.html. Have a great day, Karen.

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  2. Carol, there is so much to love in this post. Your poetry, your wisdom: "Realizing that each one of us must help establish a sense of "we-ness" in our immediate world, we must think beyond self, connect with others, and build community strength if we want to combat isolation and fear," and of course, the way that you create from our photos and words. Thanks for using my photo and collecting my words. I need you to create a virtual class for the skills you have. Also love your poem that ends with these words, "mankind prays." Keep writing and creating and inspiring, Carol!

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    1. Ramona, it is so wonderful to have a faithful supporter and friend. Your comments always help me process my next steps. Yes, I do remember that we were going to have an intro class to designing digital inspirations. Keep reminding me. I have a couple of huge projects in front of me, including a newsletter for my language arts association and preparing a full Nature Nurtures 2020 Gallery.

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