Truth be told, I like them both! Here lately I have discovered that I feel much more secure with toilet paper, coffee, and other essentials in my home. These last few weeks have left me feeling like the kid on the playground who gets picked last when no one picked me for the toilet paper game! I thought I had a decent hand as I laughed at the frenzied craziness unfolding while knowing that I had already placed a pickup order at my local store. Butt, I wasn’t laughing when my order got wiped out by a royal flush as Corporate, unable to fill them, canceled all orders on my pickup day due to the act of the disappearing toilet paper!

I really wasn’t laughing after that as I am one of many who has been on the hunt for toilet paper ever since. The toilet paper hoarding debacle has become a national joke. As funny and bewildering as it may be, I believe what it represents isn’t a joke. Scarcity mentality and fear are the driving factors and all the toilet paper in the world can’t wipe those away.

Whether or not you have been personally exposed to the Corona Virus or not, the Corona virus has exposed us all in different ways. This unprecedented situation has allowed us a rare opportunity of slowing the cadence of life allowing a shift in perspective and exposing the heart issues that were suppressed beneath the surface. In a society where filters and false pretenses abound, heart issues are often obscured and on a simmer until a pressure situation like Corona brings them to a boil at the surface.

I now have a choice: I can watch it boil at the surface and ignore it allowing it to burn myself and others. Or, I can accept the challenge that this unique exposure brings.

I accept the challenge that this passive aggressive enemy named Corona brings. By accepting, I determine to ask myself tough questions about my responses and I resolve to make the necessary changes. Will you join me in the challenge?

My Personal Heart Exposures & Self Inspection Questions:

• How much of my identity comes from endless busyness and all the events on my calendar?
• How much of my security comes from the material things around me?
• A realization of how much I like to feel in control and how fearful I feel when I realize I’m not.  How much wasted time and energy do I give to trying to control things?
• How present am I with my family and how much quality time do we really spend together amidst the hustle and bustle of this crazy life?

I know many people are struggling with fear, doubt, uncertainty and many other tough emotions in this time.

Right here, right now, in the middle of a seemingly negative quarantine, sitting in our living rooms, around our kitchen tables, on our porches and decks we have been afforded one of the rarest opportunities in a lifetime.

We have been given a chance to pull back, reevaluate and assess all the things that the Corona pandemic is exposing and revealing in us. We get to decide how we will respond and redesign our lives moving forward.

Here’s a fantastic story of a redesigned life; a response to a rare opportunity of mistaken identity:

Alfred’s brother died of a heart attack and the news reporter writing the obituary mistook him for Alfred and named him “the doctor of death.” This afforded Alfred the unique opportunity to read his own obituary and re-think his life, what he stood for, how he was perceived and the legacy that he would leave.

It is said that Alfred Nobel changed his influence and impact on the world after getting this candid glimpse of his life from the outside looking in.

You may know him as the founder of the Nobel Peace Prize, but he was also the inventor of dynamite and made famous for developing different explosives.  

Alfred made changes in his life and in his will left his massive fortune to the establishment of the Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded every year to those who confer the greatest benefit on mankind!

WOW. What a mind shift.

As a writer I spend a lot of time re-writing, re-thinking, re-doing. As of now, this is the fifth re-write of this post. While writing this and thinking through it, RE just kept Reappearing and Resurfacing.

Re- a simple prefix meaning again. We have a chance at a restart. May we choose to develop from the negatives that have been exposed in us.

It’s doubtful that any of us will have the opportunity to read our own obituary. Most of us will not be involved in a mistaken identity situation or even have people in our life who are candid enough to hold up such a unique exposing mirror.

God’s Word can be such a mirror if we allow it. COVID-19 changed our world overnight. God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and His Word never fails.

What are the truth principles that you want to live your life by moving forward?

Principle: a fundamental truth that serves as a foundation.

Let’s build a foundation now for a better life moving forward! Developing and growing is a life-long journey. May we be ever grateful for this positive paradigm shift…..a rainbow amidst a giant storm.

Don’t forget to check out the healthy “RE” Actions and Truth Principles in the graphics above to get you started on your journey. Thanks for joining me on the journey. Please leave any comments or questions below. I would love to connect with you!