Mind the Gap

In the time that I have lived in London, this alert has become part of my daily life. It is written everywhere on the underground and is often repeated in stations where there is a significant difference in height or a potentially dangerous space between the platform and the train when the doors are opened. It is a reminder that everyone hears and memorises automatically. You can't forget it if you don't want to risk getting hurt.

Well. To you who are reading this blog right now, I’m sending the same message with all my heart. “Mind the Gap.” But what kind of gap?

I see 2020 as a vast and deepening gap between our past and our future. It is as if, in a completely unexpected and sudden way, 2020 has marked our history with a tear that is continually expanding and can no longer be mended.

Mind the gap. Be careful not to fall.

Don’t buy into the illusion that we will go back to what we knew. That world no longer exists. Whenever big changes have been imposed upon people’s habits, going back has not been an option, even if this change was of an emergency nature (think of the transparent bags for liquids imposed on flights, introduced in 2007 and never removed).

Masks, plexiglass and antibacterials are the new elements of our daily life. It doesn't matter if they are needed or not. They have entered into our habits and are contributing to a very dangerous subconscious effect: increasing our sense of alert, keeping us in a state of insecurity, suspicion and fear. What effect does this have on our nervous system? It feeds stress. When we are stressed, we get sick more often because our immune system is not functioning properly. 

Using masks, we are also no longer able to look at each other and study one another’s expressions, which reflect our emotions, and this contributes to making communication more complicated and less natural. Keeping at a distance, not being able to touch people, is another factor that limits our expressiveness and impoverishes us in terms of communication. Alongside this, suspicion is growing; it is virtually impossible to know who is infected and who is not, so we feel at risk in every social interaction. 

Be careful not to fall into this spiral of suspicion and fear; these emotions have the ability to make you sick in a much deeper way than Covid-19 ever could. But also be careful not to take rigid positions for or against everything, because the truth is no longer anywhere. We have entered a phase of total chaos, where everything is the opposite of everything. Lambs can bite you and wolves can be hiding beautiful wings.

What can you do to stop yourself from falling into this void of certainty that is being created under your feet? Look and unfold your inner point of balance and stand on it. You are not a poor, small, limited, powerless human being who needs someone else’s guidance to survive. You are a sophisticated multidimensional being, equipped with a very precise inner navigation system that allows you to 'feel' the truth from within at any moment. Clean the mechanism if it has rusted, or familiarise yourself with it if you have never used it, because this inner compass is the only thing you can count on to avoid falling into the void. We are in the eye of the storm of an epochal change where any external reference we had will soon be erased and if you are unable to stand alone, you will risk falling apart.

Never before has it been more essential to really know yourself – I’m not talking about the person you see reflected in the mirror every morning. Any excuses and justifications that you have knowingly or unknowingly used in the past to avoid this encounter with your deepest essence may become the noose that will strangle you if you don't get rid of it now. Go inside, clean up all the sedimented emotions that stop you from being agile. Go inside, let go of the conditioning that has built invisible walls around you. Go inside, make your own inventory of your talents and abilities so you can be quick and ready to use them. Go inside, look at your fears, because they are the gates that are showing you the way. Go inside, develop the strength, stamina and flexibility to launch yourself over the gap.

But above all, be alert, be awake. "Mind the gap." Don't forget it exists.