Playing the Covid Miracles Forward, Something We Can Control!

Starting with the reality, we are in a severe situation with this pandemic and it’s affecting our whole planet. Most of you reading this will, by now, know people who have contracted the virus. Some of you will already, and I suspect many more of us will, know people who die from it.

There are many, many people whose jobs and work, and as a result financial stability, have been affected. As one politician here in the UK was quoted last week as saying “this is the worst crisis since WW2”. To which, surely, most of us responded “no shit, Sherlock”. There will be very few people on this planet unaffected.

BUT, this is a wake-up call to us all AND WE HAVE A CHOICE.

Choice A: We can focus on all the negatives and tragedy (just turn on the telly or read the papers) and look for someone to blame for everything; choose to treat it as a disaster.

Choice B: We can create a better world as we emerge from the pandemic. We can re-imagine a kinder, fairer, less greedy and more generous world. And we can take action towards it.

Pie in the sky? NO!

Not if we pull on the energy of all the positive things that are coming from Covid-19 and, bizarrely, there are lots of things to be grateful to covid-19 for (you just don’t see that many of them in the headlines).

• When has the whole nation united in one moment as it has on the last two Thursdays in a collective mood of positivity and gratitude? I don’t know about you, but I found that quite emotional: I could feel the love and the positivity, and the connection.
• The world is benefitting from a massive drop in pollution: the planet is breathing a sigh of relief.
• We are recognising as a society the real value provided, not just by NHS Staff, but people who clean, who serve us in shops, who deliver things to our houses, and so on. If you extend it, perhaps you could properly recognise the value everyone brings to you.
• And there are many personal stories that don’t get shared in the news. My favourite was someone on a call I was on the other day who told us how her mum and her gran spoke for the first time in 8 years and that it was the first normal conversation they’d had in many more years than that. And she spoke with her grandparents for the first time since she was a child.

These are the miracles of covid-19, and we need to look out for them and share them.

I’m inviting you here to share your positive stories from this time using the hashtags #CovidKindness and #CovidChangeCatalysts. It might be a big thing you saw on the TV or read about on the internet, or even better, it might be something that happened to you or locally to you.

My first one this afternoon will be a personal one:

My parents who are in their late 80s and live 150 miles away have got onto Messenger so we can video-call for the first time. They can “visit” with us and their grandchildren more often #CovidKindness #covidchangecatalysts

I’d love you to share this blog with as many people as you can, asking them to share their positive stories.

"Create The Future"

For you personally, now is a great time to start thinking about what you want your world to be like as we come through the other side of the pandemic.

Try to answer these questions:

• What sort of person do you want to BE?
• What qualities do you want to bring to the world?
• How could you be more sharing, caring, and collaborative?

There are three things in this world: things we can control, things we can influence and things we can’t control.

• We can’t control that there is currently a pandemic
• We CAN control whether we choose to find the positives and to choose more fulfilling lives (whatever your interpretation of fulfilling is) now and beyond corona
• We CAN INFLUENCE what the post-covid world becomes by the way we are, the actions we take, and what we give our attention to.

Never underestimate the power of many people choosing a kinder, more collaborative world: imagine taking that positivity, sharing and community from the 8pm NHS appreciations on the last two Thursday nights and spreading through every day of your life.

Remembering that not to choose is also choosing: it is your choice. Let the greed continue, or be part of creating something new.

Even if you disagree with what I’ve said, share this with your network, with your comments, and let them decide for themselves.

With love and good wishes,

Dave