The pandemic brought about a range of experience for me. The most important being, I started to value time and understand the power of collective thinking and influence we all have on each other.

When lockdown began, I realized how the atmosphere created at work and home influenced my productivity. I learnt to be more disciplined in my routine and realized the importance of having a designated physical space for my work/meditation/spiritual studies. Also having a time table for all the activities to create a balance in all aspects of life was critical because with everything being online and so readily accessible it’s like I didn’t know where to give my attention to.

I really appreciated the silence in the atmosphere initially, while there was a lot and still is some uncertainty, the cooperation of communities in staying at home keeping social distancing was very touching to see. Respect for the elderly and just general courtesy it seems was more apparent. I personally enjoy being at home, so being able to stay in and step away from friends and other social activities and focus on deepening my spiritual practices was a huge benefit. I was able to give more of my time to help serve with the Brahma Kumaris by doing weekly classes in various topics. Because of all this internal focus I was able to visibly remain calmer, uninfluenced by the anxiety and fear from COVID. I was able to share at work how meditation is extremely essential for mental well-being.

Covid has put a lot of things in perspective, like what are my priorities and has triggered me to make a more conscious effort in reaching those goals.

It’s also made me look into how much fear I hold on to, how media and negative talk can eat away at me.

It’s been a great time for introspection and opportunity to serve by sharing a more positive outlook and encouraging others to remain strong.

By Jaymini Patel

Senior Manager at William Benato And Libby, Atlanta

Georgia, USA