top of page
Forest for the Trees Logo

Finding Grace in Triggering Times


Question mark on brick wall

There comes a time in every little girl’s life when she must pull on her big boy pants and call it how she sees it! Let’s just say I’m one leg in. Intentionally so. Amidst the unprecedented times we are facing I have more common sense than bullishness to lay all my cards on the table in such a public forum, but it would be remiss of me to overlook the big, fat, glaring elephant in the room.



So, it’s time to touch on the P word, the C word and the V word.


HEADS UP, this won’t become my soap box platform, nor is it a debate on the pandemic ethics behind it all. The key take out I hope for all is that we continue to see each other as free will, loving human beings and not land ourselves at arms in fear and anger.



Who pulled the trigger?


This weekend my trigger was pulled point blank. I’ve blessedly been isolated from the isolation conditions which have been imposed across Australia and throughout the world. For any shortcomings to rural living, it has had a major upside as we have escaped the lockdowns upon lockdowns our families and friends have endured.


Saturday afternoon this all changed.


Before many throw their hands up in warranted rage that I could be triggered by my first lockdown, please hold fire. It wasn’t the direction to stay at home that unleashed my anger, frustration, and emotion. I had been anticipating the order for weeks as I watched our little town become an island of freedom amongst the regional closures creeping in around us like falling dominos. It was not unexpected and really, makes very little difference to the way I go about life.


The trigger was the crashing of the tsunami-like energy wave that knocked my feet from beneath me. I’d been feeling this garnering force over the past few weeks way out in the collective conscious ocean.


I read it in comments on everyday joe’s posts like “Shoot all the unvaccinated” and “Lock them up”. I watched it as borders within our country closed on those who don’t prescribe to the larger narrative. I saw it in families fighting amongst each other over it. Ah... mine for one! I heard it when a man in our town became barred from entering our supermarket as, despite being mask-exempt, he was branded disease-ridden. I felt it as I phoned around psychologists in just one local municipality in Melbourne, where they are into their sixth lockdown, and was told time and time again, our wait list is 4-8 weeks. Some clinics with 20 psychologists, other individuals, yet all with the same message, “Sadly, covid has been great for business.”

All this combined with the timeframes and details I’ve channeled personally alongside a friend of mine on how this may all play out and “BANG!”, the gun was fired.



Fight or Flight for what Plight?


The hysteria is building, it’s evident world-wide with protests, passports and propaganda. In fear, we ignite our fight or flight response. A human condition; and one we need to acknowledge, settle from, and use all the information at hand to work out the level of threat we are really under and from which direction.


Two themes came up during this week in what I witnessed, DISRESPECT and OPPRESSION. I decided to channel a universal perspective on these words as something for us all to ponder and hold in our hearts over the coming months. I hope this helps us treat each other with dignity as we each make our own choices for what we individually feel is best.


It really CAN be this simple:


If you do choose the v, congratulations you have made a choice to protect yourself.


If you don’t choose the v, congratulations you have made a choice to protect yourself.


We must not allow an irreparable rift to form based on available data that doesn’t support such extreme and explosive division.