How hard could it be to find hope in a time of crisis? How did the Covid-19 pandemic challenge you? In this episode of Wisdom of Ages, host Ayn Cates Sullivan and guest Forrest Rivers talk about how hope, spiritual awakening, and meditation empower individuals in times of crisis. Furthermore, they added that this is the perfect time to become self-sufficient while showing genuine love for others. Tune in and listen to Ayn and Forrest as they explain why this age of crisis paves the way to human enlightenment and is considered the sacred season of spiritual revival.

Ayn Cates Sullivan:

Welcome friends and mystical travelers. This is Ayn Cates Sullivan, host of Wisdom of the Ages where we invite the Sacred into modern-day reality. So each week, I offer stories, interviews, and spiritual monologues to inspire, heal, and uplift the soul. And you can listen to many more episodes on superpowerexperts.com/wisdom-of-the-ages. And you can find many more inspiring tales with messages for evolving humanity on my publishing website, infinitelightpublishing.com.

So, since I own and run a publishing company, I spend a lot of time reading books. And every now and then, a truly thoughtful book crosses my desk. And that’s what we’re going to be talking about today. My guest is Forrest Rivers, and his new book, COVID-19 and Humanity’s Spiritual Awakening, is one of these special books. Truly a message for evolving humanity.

So I just have to put a little connection in here. My maternal grandmother’s name was Rivers and she was from South Carolina. So, she’s taught me this deep love of nature and whispered about our indigenous truths. She told me that the Appalachian Mountains are alive and that Earth can speak to us. So I really believe that.

Ayn Cates Sullivan:

Well, I read the book, I couldn’t put it down. And then, this morning, I had to share it with my kids. We were all having breakfast, so I was reading passages. And so, I hope, at the end, you’ll read that passage I really liked.

Forrest Rivers:

For sure.

Ayn Cates Sullivan:

So, it’s great right now to hear something that’s upbeat. So in your book… So COVID-19 and Humanity’s Spiritual Awakening, I mean, it’s a great title. You write that the virus has been a catalyst for spiritual awakening. And I would just love for you to just say more about that.

Forrest Rivers:

Yeah, absolutely. First, I want to say that, undoubtedly, there has been tremendous suffering that has come out of this. So I don’t want to, in any way, downplay the amount of suffering, whether it’s people who died from the virus, whether it’s people who have gotten very sick from it and are still recovering, whether it’s the mental health impact of the isolation and lockdowns, whether we’re talking about people who lost their jobs, the impact of COVID-19 has been one of mass suffering.

Ayn Cates Sullivan:

Yes.

Forrest Rivers:

But out of that suffering has emerged a very important opportunity for spiritual work. And oftentimes, what we find, right, Ayn, is out of the darkness or out of difficult periods of adversity come periods of light and greater understanding. And I really believe that when we look back at COVID, we’ll look back at it as one of many light posts on our path to awakening.

And in the book, I outline a number of ways in which COVID-19 has helped us awaken. One of which is, for the first time, many of us have had to come to terms with our own mortality. We’ve had to face down the barrel of death. We’ve had to come to terms with death. We’ve had to ask those deeper questions. What does death mean? What happens when I die? Where do I go? Is that the end? Is it a transition? All of those deeper questions we’ve been asking about death. Knowing that death is all around us in the case of COVID and has been, how does that alter the way that we live moment to moment?

That’s one way I would say it’s helped us awaken. And the reason I say that is because in every spiritual faith, which I’m sure many of your listeners are very familiar with, working with death is considered essential to learning how to live consciously in this incarnation now. And certainly, we’ve all got a tough lesson in death, a very difficult and painful lesson with it, but nonetheless, an important one that may help us live.

Now, another way that COVID has helped us awaken is more people than ever have been exploring, have been searching, I should say, for deeper meaning. I think we all know somebody, and I cite many examples throughout the book, of people who have used this past year as a time to reassess what really matters to them in their lives. Isn’t it kind of funny, Ayn, right now, that so many people are not returning back to work?

Isn’t that interesting? And the media will try to spin it and tell all of us that, “Hey, they’re lazy.” Or “People just don’t want to get back up off the couch and do all that.” I have a different interpretation, and I look at it more like this, maybe people aren’t returning because they felt underappreciated, or what they were doing in their line of work wasn’t bringing them meaning and they’re searching for a deeper purpose. And I think we’re seeing a lot of that. A lot of people, for the first time, were reconsidering their careers. What are my points of emphasis in life? Can I take money and fame and status with me when I die? Or is it about my relationships? Is it about the spirit of service? Is it about loving-kindness? And I think there’s been a big reassessment that we’ve seen of people searching for meaning during this time.

Ayn Cates Sullivan:

Absolutely. It’s so true. It’s so true. Okay. So, when we get back from the short break, we’re going to keep talking about these subjects, we’re going to go dive into it. We’ve had some great guests on this show like William Peters who went into death and dying and how that helps with spiritual awakening and so forth. Anyway, so let’s really dive into these subjects. I’m really looking forward to it. Where can people find you and your book? What’s your website?

Forrest Rivers:

So you can find the book on Amazon, on Barnes and Noble. It’s available on both paperback and Kindle additions. And I’m soon to have an audio recording of the book. You can-

Ayn Cates Sullivan:

Great. Yeah.

Forrest Rivers:

You can also find it through my independent publisher, Conscious Living Media. And you can connect with me on forrestrivers.com. And you can send me a message and you can find me on Facebook as well, Forrest Rivers.

Ayn Cates Sullivan:

Wonderful. Okay. So stay tuned. We’ll be right back.

To listen to the entire show click on the player above or go to the SuperPower Up! podcast on iTunes.