mariakoropecky By Maria Koropecky, Ammolite Wellness Coach
My teacher cast me as “Envy” in our 3rd grade class play, Pandora’s Box. The choices from the seven deadliest sins also included: Wrath, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Pride and Lust.
Pandora’s box was one of the Greek myths featured in Hesiod’s Works and Days and the story was about Zeus, Prometheus, Epimetheus, Pandora, and a mystery box.
Cut to Zeus sitting on his throne on Mount Olympus. He was angry at Prometheus for giving people the tool of fire and so he started plotting his revenge against the world. Zeus decided to commission Hephaistos to make a beautiful woman out of clay, whom he named Pandora (which means ‘all-gifts’) and sent her down to earth bearing a wrapped, sealed and locked box.
Zeus told Prometheus‘ brother, Epimetheus, to marry Pandora and instructed him, “Do not under any circumstances ever open the box – but here’s the key, anyway.”
Meanwhile, Pandora was dying of curiosity about what was inside the box. She begged Epimetheus to let her open it, “Oh, please, please, please let me open the box” she cried.
“No!” was always his answer.
Finally, one day when Epimetheus fell asleep, Pandora took her chance and stole the key. She opened the box and before she could say, “boo,” she ended up unleashing all kinds of nastiness into the world, including sickness, fear, scarcity, dismay – all of the spin-offs of the Seven Deadly Sins on top of Zeus’ anger and Pandora’s stealing that showed up in the beginning.
Nowadays, Pandora’s Box has come to mean, “a source of unexpected troubles” or “a present which at first blush seems valuable but then turns out to be a curse.”
Pandora tried with all of her might to catch all of the escaped evils after they flew out of the box but she could not. They were like leaves blowing around in a wind storm.
As Pandora sat there crying over her opened box, she was surprised by the last spirit to fly out – it was hope. Hope showed up at the last minute.
The Pandora’s Box myth reminds me of this current COVID-19 Pandemic. It is the plague of our day and has brought with it a whole host of nastiness which has changed our world for better or worse.
But even in the midst of all of this fear, disease and uncertainty, there are also gifts. Remember the name Pandora means ‘all gifts.’
I agree that sitting in place and twiddling your thumbs may not seem like such a nice gift, but it’s all in how you look at things. I’m not saying to just hang your shingle on the gift of hope alone but it’s a good start.
Look for at least one other gift that may have arisen out of this crisis. If you can think of something, share it in the comments below. Remember, at a minimum, there’s still hope and hope has friends.
Things will get better and we will come out stronger on the other side. And now that places are opening up again, things are already starting to look up.
And if you’d like some wellness coaching to help you deal with all of the other stuff like stress, weight gain or insomnia that may be showing up for you (that may have even started before lockdown and now has just been intensified), please book a call with me. Let’s have a conversation.
I specialize in helping people deal with stress or health issues that may be coming up while they are stuck at home, or in relationships, or in situations that are no longer suitable or fitting, so they can feel free to take off, spread their wings and fly again!
Stay healthy!
