darren r hill

the creative minimalist

Tag: coronavirus

  • Pausing at a Pace

    pausing at a pace - journal page

    It is always good to stop and pause. It feels to me like this past year, with lockdown and the virus, has all been about ‘pause’. But it hasn’t, not really. Things have been happening. Nothing really stands still. We continue to eat, drink, breathe, move.

    The problem is that it feels like we are on a pause. Because of this, we don’t take time to actually stop and take a moment. A moment to give thanks, to be grateful. A time to remember all that we have even in this time of loss and restriction.

    We should take time to pause at this moment because soon, things will begin to move at a pace. Then we will have even more need to pause, but at least we will know why.

    Take a moment to pause, to really pause and be grateful.

    Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
    namaste
    d
    xox

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  • Imbolc and fresh starts

    imbolc journal page with the words within and waiting, life lies beneath

    I’m no expert on the Neo-pagan festivals, but over recent years I have found myself drawn to the natural seasonal cycle to which they relate. The solstices and equinoxes create four astronomical festivals and the other four find themselves pretty equal between. Which brings me to Imbolc, which traditionally is celebrated from the evening of 1st February to the evening of the 2nd. Although, astronomically speaking, it actually occurs about 3pm on 3rd February (GMT).

    Imbolc1 is all about new beginnings after winter. Bulbs begin to sprout shoots, ice begins to melt and life, that has lain dormant through winter tentatively emerges. It is a metaphor that resonates more so this year with our world in the grips of the coronavirus.

    • Life has been dormant beneath the ground and within bare branches.
    • Life has been dormant while we endured lockdowns and loss.

    Like the shoots budding on the trees and the snowdrops and bulbs thinking about breaking through the earth, there are hopes. We now have vaccines and better treatments for those who suffer are being developed.

    Like a late winter storm or spring frost there may be further setbacks. Imbolc doesn’t say winter will not go without a few cries. Imbolc does say that spring is on the way. It is the herald of new life, new opportunities and new hope. That for me is a good feeling.

    Imbolc blessings my friends, may you find hope in the lengthening days ahead.

    1 This is only in the Northern Hemisphere. But each festival offers its positive outlook on things. Wherever you are, may you find hope for the future.

    Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
    namaste
    d
    xox

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

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  • The real meaning of Advent?

    Lit Advent candle

    advent noun
    1 the arrival of a notable person or thing: the advent of television.
    2 (Advent) the first season of the Church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four preceding Sundays.
    Old English, from Latin adventus ‘arrival’, from advenire, from ad- ‘to’ + venire ‘come’.

    Advent has arrived. Of course, there is a certain irony to think of a period that looks forward as something that is here now. But thoughts like that seem particularly poignant this year. Every month, or week, or moment, I have thought we have got somewhere, arrived, only to realise that things have not improved or changed.

    Things are different.

    Primarily because of the pandemic and partly due to my laziness, I haven’t got an advent candle this year. It’s the first time in several years I don’t have one. I have found great comfort in the moments spent meditating and contemplating ‘stuff’ each day as one number at a time melted away. I don’t need a numbered candle for that but every symbol helps and is a gentle reminder that there is more out there than my own personal bubble of fears, worries and concerns.

    The pandemic has disrupted things. It has disrupted routines. It has disrupted structure and function and forms of living. Whether any of the things it has disrupted could be called normal is debatable, but what is certain is that our regular has been disrupted.

    Back to my lack of a candle: disruption to my regular. It is easy to focus on the negative of this disruption. To focus on what I don’t have and what I can’t have. The challenge is to look forward.

    • To focus on the horizon
    • To the way ahead
    • To the vision of what will be and what is to come
    • To know that what I do now is paving my path ahead, strengthening the tunnel through all of this

    I don’t have a candle. You may not have a candle, or struggle to find any light, but it is there. We can all hold on to a little hope, a little faith, a little miracle. Despite all that the virus and 2020 si throwing at us, there is hope and there is light. The tunnel may be of indeterminate length but it will have an end and as we travel along the light will brighten. This is Advent.

    Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
    namaste
    d
    xox

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

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  • Give thanks It’s Thanksgiving

    It is a day to give thanks. It may seem like these dark times will never end, but they will. We will look back and say,

    ‘do you remember when… ‘.

    Situations change like the seasons. The sun rises and sets, the moon waxes and wanes. A time for all things. New things will come to pass and we will give thanks for those too.

    In the meantime, I capture, collect and curate in my journals. I give thanks for all I have and realise that despite the frustrations and issues currently on my mind and besetting me (and others), I am blessed beyond all measure.

    Thank you

    We don’t do thanksgiving in the UK, which is a shame. Giving thanks and showing gratitude is an important thing. It should be a daily occurrence, and I try… another thing I attempt to capture in my journal and remember as I meditate and pray. It’s a double shame that we don’t do thanksgiving when we have imported the related, yet self-centred driven, Black Friday.

    Having a day or a set time to give thanks enables us to pause. This year it can help us step back from the pandemic and take a moment to realise what we have, how precious those things are and to protect them until we step into the post violating world.

    Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
    namaste
    d
    xox

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

    Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest