Ross Finney
Ashland, Oregon United States of America
First off, I am very fortunate to have remained healthy and safe throughout the pandemic. Neither I, nor anyone in my immediate and extended families, have contracted the COVID-19 virus. Health is wealth!
Generally, my experience during COVID has been quite like that shared by others. After many years spent commuting daily to an office, I began working from home last March. My two daughters, Ava (12) and Mina (9), also came home from school at that same time and began “remote learning”. In the beginning, it felt quite disorienting, but now, 10 months later, we have somewhat settled into a new daily pattern that seems relatively “normal”. As I am sure many can relate, Internet bandwidth is one of our biggest challenges to home operations.
My wife, Denise is an artist. She creates beautiful paintings from home in a detached studio. Her life has been disrupted as much as the rest of us. I work in her studio, and she spends much of the time on school days helping our children with school. She has adjusted as best as possible, and now works mostly in the after-school hours when I can be with the girls.
Working from home has brought many benefits. I am much more in touch and connected with my wife and children. It has been enlightening to see what our girls are learning in school, and rewarding to help them with their lessons (though I am still trying to lean the “new math”). I enjoy contemplating my wife’s paintings while working in her studio. Hopefully, I have shared some helpful insights with her on paintings in process. Lunch time and breaks are spent taking short family walks or bike rides in nature. Our Ashland Jivana group changed to a morning meeting time. Given that I no longer have a morning commute, I can participate on those calls at a much more supportive time. Finally, my work performance in 2020 was the strongest it has been for several years.
So much has happened in our country since the onset of COVID. Massive demonstrations for racial justice began in May and continued throughout the summer. In September, a wildfire started in Ashland and spread into our nearby communities burning thousands of homes and businesses. We held a presidential election in November which was fervently contested by the losing side. Now in January, our outgoing President instigated an unprecedented insurgency on the U.S. Capitol. As all these events have unfolded, being at home to help our daughters process these unimaginable events has been a great blessing.
Throughout this time of great change and hardship in the outer world, I have found refuge and balance in the inner world. I am profoundly grateful for the ongoing support from Ācārya and everyone associated with the Sadvidya Foundation and Jivana Yoga Program.
Namaste