Sylvia's Journal

This morning during my early morning meditation the word ‘Cosmic Swing’ walked into my consciousness. Then, when I looked outside I saw large fluffy snowflakes fall out of the sky. It is mid-April, we should be seeing something other than snow, however lovely and fluffy the snowflakes. Then the cosmic swing lurched up and the sun shone and the buds opened up. Sometimes the swing goes very fast up and down and sometimes it has a more moderate pace, as the seasons are supposed to swing.

Focusing on the breath, and how it moves through the body is like a swing, in and out, up and down, which is probably why the words came to me though I am not sure it’s cosmic. But the pandemic does feel cosmic, with all all 7.8 billion of us sitting on the same swing.

Today I learned from my daily science briefing that babies may well enter the world without any viruses but their guts are invaded within a month. Apparently, these are friendly viruses that infect harmful bacteria. It’s hard to think of viruses as friendly but apparently many are. That’s good to know.

And now, a few hours after the snow squall, spring returned. The daffodils I planted last fall are emerging everywhere. They are my favorite spring bulbs because I like their shape and colors. I also like that the squirrels don’t eat the bulbs during their winter scavenger hunts. 

Unfortunately, the squirrels do seem to be as attracted to the flower buds as I am. Maybe they look appealing to eat, and so they bite them off and then, not liking them, drop them. It’s very sad to see those decapitated daffodils. It reminds me of sharing my precious Dutch licorice with American friends who then spit out these ‘dropjes’ I like so much. Daffodils or dropjes, I can’t undo what’s done. The pandemic sometimes feels like that – we can’t undo it. But then I push the swing back up in my mind and recall all the good things that are already happening and may come out of this, both on a personal level (families coming together, more time for kids to be with their frequent traveler moms and dads, no awful and lengthy commutes), on a planetary level (less pollution) and on a cosmic level (higher consciousness).