At the end of a recent Zen meditation retreat, my teacher Susan told a group of her students: “We’re all monastics now.”

In this global pandemic, we’re in an era of isolation, retreat. We’re also in an era of heightened uncertainty.

This can be a terrible thing, and drive us to loneliness and distraction. Or it can be a time of practice, reflection, and deepening.

We can choose to see ourselves as monks deepening into the stillness of a monastery.

It’s our choice.