January 6, 2021
I woke up and started my day pretty much like every day before; opened the blinds to gaze upon the glory of a new dawn, hugged my spouse, made my bed and then joined him for our morning coffee chat; routine, gratitude-filled start to yet another day in our hunkered down Covid-19 reality.
Like so many other Americans, later in the day we tuned in to watch the joint session of Congress that had assembled to count the electoral votes and formalize the election victory. While we were anticipating a few displays of political theater grandstanding – there is nothing that would have prepared us for what we were about to witness.
The whole world knows the horror that happened next.
Like Star Wars Stormtroopers, disbelief, sadness, fear and anger . . . descended upon my peaceful state of mind and shoved their way past my stronghold of peace and calm. “What in the world!” I shouted, “Where are the police” and of course “How could this happen?” Like many of you who were also trying to digest what was unfolding . . . we were in utter shock.
Americans have been here before; early morning on 9/11, everyone watching in real time simultaneously shared the same unthinkable assault on all of the senses. Only this time it wasn’t planes piloted by Islamic terrorists – it was radicalized American citizens storming our Capitol and threatening our democracy.
As in other protests we witnessed this past year, those who came to peacefully march together had no power to stop those who had devious, dark intentions to hijack the occasion and carry out their own lawlessness. Heartbreaking and helpless, all any of us could do is sit there and watch . . . and grieve.
January 7, 2021
After a restless night, I woke up. My routine was the same as the day before. For all intents and purposes, sitting here at home in the quiet, peaceful comfort of my safe cocoon – nothing changed. And yet, everything changed.
“Who is in control of the quality of my life?” I asked myself. “When my soul is under siege, what is my recourse?”
I told myself . . . “at some point you have to wrap your soul in protective gear, free your mind of hate and fear, choose calm over chaos and disengage yourself from those who love conflict more than civility and that is OK. The time has come.”
I am fully aware going forward I will daily have to combat the urge to retreat from it all; indulge sticking my “head in the sand” and ignore my inner warrior who wants to confront and combat every narrative which fuels hatred, lies and divisiveness. And occasionally I will. But for now I will relish the wisdom in these words a girlfriend shared with me today . . . “I am only one, and I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.” Helen Keller
America, beautiful America . . . may we all discover the higher vision of your purpose and be inspired to come together once again.
The Zen Den
Hello and welcome to The Zen Den. My name is Alison and while I am passionate about many things, my most inspiring driving force is human connection. Blogger, content writer, orthopedic exercise specialist, motivational speaker, international yoga pro, published songwriter, avid poker player, mom and wife are just a few of my titles. But when I do my job at NASA, I am known simply as “The Fairy Zenmother” a role I deeply love because people invite me into their space to help them find their center, relax and stretch their muscles and destress their mind. Here in the blogosphere version of The Zen Den, I invite you into my world where I will explore ideas for creating a better tomorrow and a kinder today. And hopefully, with insight, authenticity and humor; my words, observations and experiences will help you feel calm, centered, intellectually challenged and spiritually enlightened. Alternatively, if you have something you would like to see covered in The Zen Den, just let me know. Your feedback is welcome and valuable to the success of this blog. Finally, my heart is filled with gratitude to have this opportunity to share with all of you.
