To cheer up her neighbors isolated in their homes by the coronavirus, eleven-year-old Merry decided to offer a violin solo outside her home in County Durham on the moors of northern England. Unable to resist the fun, her little brother Calouen, three, decided to join in. I love the way Merry responds to his jubilant interruption.
In Danville, Vermont, people respecting the guidelines of social distancing found a way to honor a beloved neighbor with the only kind of funeral possible. They drove slowly past his house with their headlights on.
Across Europe people are emerging just far enough outside their front doors to engage in some heartfelt coordinated applause for the health care workers who daily put their own well-being at risk to help others through this crisis.
There are so many ways to share gratitude, art, compassion, and kindness during this extremely hard time. Like the Practice of RadJoy, when we apply it to wounded places, these ways are free, accessible to all, completely adaptable to individual circumstances, and profoundly important to the givers and the recipients alike.
Let us all make it our mission to create beauty every day, and with particular mindfulness during this pandemic… and to take beauty into ourselves with all our being when it comes our way.
Image Credit:
- Merry Violin: Harriet Sams
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