Discover the Many Ways COVID-19 Has Affected Our Lives by Jennifer Scott

Nothing ever stays the same. This is a certainty that can’t be denied. However, change usually takes place over many years or decades, and it rarely happens without some preparation. The coronavirus pandemic did not follow these rules. We’ve seen changes that have taken place overnight, and we’ve learned to roll with the proverbial punches and continue on as best we can.

Changes at Home

One of the first places that coronavirus had an impact was at home. Suddenly, all non-essential workers were out of a job or thrust into a work-at-home situation with zero time to prepare. For the most part, this has worked, and it has spurred a remote work revolution that is unlikely to disappear when the pandemic is declared over. However, it has also brought the realization that some of our plans may have to change course. 

Buying and selling real estate is a prime example of how the world looks different now. Selling is a little more difficult since it’s harder to get buyers to break away from fear to enter an unknown location. Fortunately, because of rapid advancements in technology over the last decade or so, we can offer virtual tours that allow us to show our homes without the fear of cross-contamination. And although real estate prices have dropped slightly in some areas, people who have lost their jobs during widespread layoffs may no longer be able to take advantage of low interest rates. This means that some of us may not make planned moves until 2021 or later. 

We’ve also taken to adopting pets for socialization and company. Adopting animals, however, comes with a set of challenges all its own. Oakland Veterinary Referral Services explains that this can include anything from aggression to health challenges.

A New Way to Work

At work, we have seen both good and bad changes. Those who are returning to the office but do not believe that mask-wearing is effective can face another type of job loss. In most parts of the country, Bloomberg Law explains, employment is at-will. This means that employers that mandate a mask as part of a dress code policy can take action against, up to and including firing, any employee that refuses to comply.

On the bright side, sheltering in place has shown us all of the beauty and challenges of working at home. It’s also given us the chance to explore ways to make money using our passions and talents instead of clocking into a structured routine each day. 

Internal Upset

Perhaps the biggest change that most people have experienced is feeling rattled, shaken, and confused by recent events. COVID-19 is a respiratory illness, but it has taken a significant toll on our mental health, particularly those in treatment and recovery for substance abuse.

Moving forward, many of us are likely to live in a passive state of fear that we might see another pandemic or major event in our lifetime. We may also wonder how much control we should give the government when and if the next shelter-in-place orders are issued. 

Not all changes will last forever. But some will, and, for good or bad, we will continue to learn to adapt to them. One thing is certain, however, and that is that the human spirit is stronger than any of us could’ve ever imagined. We have adapted, and we will continue to change and transform so that we can remain in control of our environment.

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deep breath. start here.

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Get out of your own way and Allow yourself to Receive

–Rond de jambe [French rawn duh zhahnb] – An exercise at the bar or in the centre in which one leg is made to describe a series of circular movements on the ground. Both legs must be kept perfectly straight and all movement must come from the hip, along with the arching and relaxing of the instep. The toe of the working foot does not rise off the ground and does not pass beyond the fourth position front (fourth position ouvert) or the fourth position back. This is an exercise to turn the legs out from the hips, to loosen the hips and to keep the toe well back and heel forward. There are two kinds of ronds de jambe à terre: those done en dedans (inward) and those done en dehors (outward).-

Ballet. One of the oldest dance forms other than folk and ritual dance is at the root of most concert style dance which includes Modern and Jazz dance and is the foundation that helps with making sure you’re “on your let” as dancers call it. It is based around a specific set of fundamentals having its origins in the Italian Renaissance royal courts of the 15th century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia in the mid 16th century. When you are learning one of the 6 ballet methods you come to learn that they all have the same basic fundamentals they just vary stylistically. As you work your way up to become a professional dancer you spend hours in the studio perfecting your craft using strengthening and toning techniques that have literally been used for 300 hundred plus years.

When learning dance there is much to be accounted for within the body as you are often doing multiple things at once even if it might look rather something rather simple to the untrained eye. While all of the three major concert dance techniques have there challenges with certain moves for in the studio and on stage one of the of the more challenging ones is the “rond de jambe“. When doing a rond de jambe  your teacher/instructor will give you the note to stay lifted and or pull up in the hip of the working leg so that it can pass through from front to back smoothly. So you are thinking to yourselves by now “Darling why are you giving me a dance lesson right now, I thought we were talking about receiving?” well i am about to link it all together now. When explaining rond de jambe to new dancers the instructor will often say “Get out of your own way (I am smiling to myself because this is where it all comes together) so your leg can pass through”.

You see what I did? Well this rule applies to everyday life and I often have to remind myself and friends of this, get out of your own way and allow things to come to you. The act of receiving is hard for many people because we are taught how to give but not really how to receive but receiving is just as important. When you have a poor view of yourself, feel like you don’t deserve things, deflect things and so on and so forth you block yourself from receiving the things you really want. The reason we desire these things so greatly is because we believe our lives will be happier with the having of them and I am sharing that once you are fully happy without them you will receive all that you want.

If you don’t find your bliss before attaining the things you are waiting to receive you will be put into the place of trying to fill a hole that you can never fill because the hole is the space between your spiritual self and physical body. By not allowing yourself to be in the receptive mode you end up making the hole bigger and bigger and look to more and more external things to fill it.Once you implement this into your life you will find yourself truly happy and in alignment with yourself.

So this is a sure fire way to get the things in which you want but have yet to receive:

1st- Take time to love yourself for who you are

2nd- Be happy and have gratitude for where you are in life

3rd- Shift and allow your energy to be in a receptive mood (learn how to take a compliment for a start)

4th- Speak with intention and with words the put you in natural down stream flow of the currents of the river of life (start to say “I am open to receiving the things in which I have asked for” or “I allow myself to be in the receptive mode” and you will notice an active change in your world)

5th- Go on about your day and don’t dwell on the things in  which you have sent out to the universe unless you are doing so in a cheerful blissful manner, otherwise when doing so you usually introduce an element of  doubt, stressing out and what have you and that keeps what you what at bay

6th- RECEIVE

Once we actively shift our energy to the receptive mode everything we have cast out into ethos has no choice but to come to us. We are here to be happy first and foremost and when we allow ourselves to be in the state of bliss we open up the doors to bringing in more and more things to keep us in that place of elation. So once we move out of our own way and just be happy and thankful we can then watch the good times roll in!

Love and light,

Darling

Cause yourself to be Happy

   I have been getting back in alignment with myself and It feels great. I am one who usually has a sunny disposition and I know it comes from being high on life and knowing that everything is meant to work out in our favor. A favorite past time of mine is to people watch because it is so fascinating to see everyone going in and out of alignment and not be aware of what is going on around them.

   One of the things I have noticed is that time and time again people work so hard to be happy and make getting happy into this whole Broadway production and getting there is so much easier than that. We have been domesticated or programmed into thinking that we need all of these extra things to be happy and live the dream life on easy street and while it might be fun having the latest and trendiest and most updated whatever you are constantly trying to feel an whole that will never be filled because you must first set the proper foundation.

  So now you are wondering “What is the thing that will make me happy?” and the answer to that is… YOU! I know crazy to think that ‘All I need is me to be happy’, but it is. We don’t know how to  be happy with ourselves because we have been taught to look for our happiness externally, but when you do that it turns into the whole “grass in green” thing and you are left wanting what everyone else has and looking in the wrong places and so on and so forth

   When you look inside or yourself and celebrate you, you become evenly yoked with yourself. You might say “Well there is nothing I like about myself.” and I say well go sit down some place and find it, because until you come to love every part of  who you are you will forever be stuck in the revolving door going in circles and always chasing the white rabbit.

   For years I have gone back and forth with loving myself to liking myself to loving myself to hating myself to hating myself, to loving myself and that gets tiring after a while with the emotional roll coaster. finally had to sit down and face myself and get to the root of why I could not be in love with me all the time and what it was was I kept trying to make everyone else happy and put my self worth in others hands. Crazy isn’t it? I could not see the beauty in me, the success in  me, the creativity in me, the genius in me, the humor in me, the care in me.

   I was so caught up in what everyone else thought that I was always measuring myself up to everyone else and I kept coming out short because I put faith in “I need to make sure others like me to know that I am worthy and that it how I will know my self worth and that will bring me happiness.”. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. A good majority of us have done this and it is very telling because it is one of the key things that our society teaches. Let others give you reassurance, confirmation, a gold star and that will make you happy, but true happiness with the self can only come from your hands.

   Once you give yourself the gold star and the proper recognition for how awesome and beautiful, and smart, and witty, and funny you are you will find that you don’t really need all those other things because you then enter into a state of true euphoria and are content with yourself.

   So I share with you take some time out of your day to write out the positive things about yourself, if its only one thing you can see right now then write out over and over again until it be comes two, then three, then four and so on and so forth and watch how things start to shift around you!

I see your light,

Darling

I’m here!

Hello all, I’m glad to say that you will now be able to see where all my inspiration comes from. And boy it is some powerful stuff so be ready for this tip because once you start there’s no going back!