Trial and Error

As the entire country continues to cope with Covid19 and teachers everywhere learn how to use remote learning, it dawns on me that we all need great patience. Not just in conversation or as an idea but as an application. We need to be patient with ourselves and this new reality. It's fine to read it in an email from administration or to suggest it as an idea to a friend or loved one, but what about actually applying it. Be honest, we know we aren't. This new situation requires a lot of trial and error and with that we need a reinforcement of patience. Again, not as a buzz word that we don't really inhabit or embody. Students and parents everywhere are doing their best just as teachers are doing their individual best. Trial and error takes time to find a smooth working equation. Sure, take some deep breaths and go on a long walk by yourself, but underpinning all of that find a new sense of patience. If you are a new piano student, does a Chopin Nocturne just fall into your fingers because you wish it would? Absolutely not. As a new student to yoga, can you automatically touch your toes and stand on your head? Again, absolutely not. We develop deeper tools to help us see the bigger picture. When the emotions get elevated, remember we are a very entitled society, and now some of our luxuries are being temporarily withdrawn. That is fine. We will get through his. Things will look and feel different after, but in what difficult situation has impatience and frustration actually been the helpful solution? I will start this Tuesday from a place of knowing that with patience I will try to get to everything on my list. If I need a fresh air break, I will take one and then get back to this new reality. If I need to practice yoga or meditate, I will and then get back to my list. Our objectives are more manageable when we forgive ourselves for not being able to make everything immediately back to normal. This is a new normal. I am also going to plant some cucumbers in my window box to teach me about patience.