Have you heard the story about the King who asked his subjects to paint him a picture of peace to hang up in his palace? Painting after painting appeared for the competition with beautiful sceneries of rolling hills and bubbling streams bathed in sunshine all looking so serene. However, there was one painting that the King could not stop staring at. It depicted a scene of a waterfall in amongst a thunderstorm, upon closer inspection, in the rocky outcrop was a bird comfortably sitting on a nest totally unphased by all that happening around it. That painting won the competition as the King realized that actually, true peace is not when everything is beautiful and calm but rather finding joy and acceptance in amongst whatever life brings.

Ultimate Peace is not the absence of storms but finding inner peace amidst the storm! What a great statement! How are your peace levels right now?  This week has been a tough one for me. Despite all my best intentions and decisions last week to keep calm, set flexible routines and manage expectations I have failed. There have been tears, there has been tantrums and emotions have run high all week long.

 Yesterday afternoon we packed away the learning and went for a bike ride, making sure we were keeping all the social distancing guidelines. The sunshine and fresh air were good for us all and I inwardly celebrated that it was halfway through the week and weekend was not far off. Then a realization hit me that literally made me catch my breath. This was only week one! We weren’t halfway through the week we were just at the beginning of a journey that stretched out before me without an end date in sight. The thought of that hit me hard – how the heck was I going to do this week after week? At that moment I realized that I needed something more than just counting down till the weekends to get me through the next few weeks and maybe months.

  I realized that I needed to accept this as my life right now. This was my new normal and it was pointless fighting it. What I needed to do was find peace in my now. This situation was not about to change anytime soon and for mine and all of my family’s sanity I needed to find something that worked for us all.

 My colleague sent us some reflections from a teacher in China who has come out the other side of lockdown [ you might have already seen this as it has been doing the social media rounds ]

 It reads “We are just finishing our 7th week of e-learning, seven weeks of being mainly homebound and seven weeks of uncertainty. We are healthy, we are happy and we are humbled.

As we watch the rest of the world begin their time inside; here are my reflections on the last seven weeks.

 1.    Accept that you have no control of the situation. Let go of any thoughts of trying to plan too much for the next month or two, things change so fast. Don’t be angry or annoyed at the situation make the best of the situation whatever that might be for you. Accepting it will make things go easier.

2.    Try not to listen to / read/watch too much media. It will drive you crazy - there is a thing as too much.

3.    The sense of community during this time has been incredible and I found that the quality of relationships has improved.

4.    Appreciate the enforced downtime. When do you ever have time like this? I will miss it when things go back to the fast-paced speed of the “real world”

5.    Time still goes fast. I still haven’t picked up the Ukulele I planned to learn, and there are box set tv shows that I still haven’t watched.

6.    As a teacher, the relationships I have built with my students have continued to grow. I have loved seeing how independent they are; filming themselves to respond to tasks while also learning essential life skills such as risk-taking and problem-solving that we as adults are still learning.

7.    You will learn to appreciate the little things; sunshine through the windows, flowers blossoming and being able to enjoy coffee in a café.

To those beginning this journey, you will get through it. Listen to what you are being told, follow the rules and look out for each other. There is light at the end of the tunnel this is not forever. Megan Rose.

 Great advice from someone who has been through what we have and is coming out of the other side. Let’s face reality I don’t think that this storm is going to finish anytime soon so let’s accept that for now, it’s here to stay and find peace in amongst the middle of it!