My writings - and those of others.
Resilience in Pandemics
Mainstream press is full of ideas to keep us sane when we add a holiday to the stress of living in a pandemic for the better part of two years. Some of the ideas are mainstream, but one is quirky enough that you might enjoy giving it a try.
Take a set period every day to do things that you personally enjoy. You can set your own time limit - even 15 minutes of painting or playing the piano will help.
Chat with supportive people - in person if possible, but online if that is the only option. Strengthen those bonds and avoid people who weaken them.
Find moments for optimism - even among those that contrast with them.
In contrast, give yourself permission to feel stressed when it happens and is real. You don’t have to feel guilty about your feelings. The good thing is that feelings come and go.
One place near the door for everything you need when going out is a big help. Mask, umbrella, keys, purse, credit cards - seeing the items will remind you to take just what you need and make the load lighter.
Organize your fridge. Wasted food makes us feel guilty as well as costing us money. A Lazy Susan is a good device. So are glass containers that stack so you can see what is inside them. A whiteboard can remind you of what is left over. A generic shopping list pinned to the door means you can circle items for the next trip.
Do a short workout - seven minutes will refresh you. Call it an exercise snack.
Maybe you do all those things already. But here is something different. Watch Jellyfish:
Meanings
We used to say “climate change” - a fairly unemotional term that didn’t suggest much beyond differences in weather in different locations. Many of us were even hard pressed to know the difference between weather and climate,- including a certain defeated president - but then the media shifted to “global warming”. What we are hearing more often lately are words like “emergency” and “catastrophe” - and rightly so. We need to feel threatened if we intend to do something about it.
Remember “greenhouse effect”? We don’t hear that one any more. Linguists like Todd Ehresmann at Babbel, which checks word usage, points out that “Global Heating” would get our attention as an accurate description now. Activists have helped increase the intensity of the language. That’s helpful because scientists are often cautious knowing the media will exaggerate their claims to sell products through fear - not to arouse the best in us. It’s good that activists lobby for the proper degree of accuracy - and that media watchers like Babbel ensure that we take responsibility for the changes that are happening.
Gratitude
I’m cheating by one day to try to post twice a week - but the last week was a busy one. As the American Thanksgiving weekend winds down and the news that Black Friday online shopping was lower than in previous years, perhaps we are discovering that being grateful is more satisfying than acquiring more stuff. In fact a recent article written by a physician and published in Fast Company backs that up. Here are ways to be ensure it. Nearly all religions and philosophies tell you the same things:
Be thankful for the beauties of nature and its constancy. The sun rises and sets each day
Compared to other living species we have been blessed with consciousness.
Good conversation enlivens us.
Love and encouragement of friends and family assures us.
Giving thanks in the morning and evening reminds us of how fortunate we are.
Writing thank you notes reinforces our gratitude
A journal allows us to record the good things that happen.
Seeking experiences rather than just buying things gives us pleasure.
Making gratitude a habit helps us through sorrow and challenges - so that we can remember that there are other good things waiting for us.
Teachers
It is quite wonderful to discover an interesting character in a novel and then find that it is based upon the life of a real person. In this case it is Suzanne Simard, who appears in Richard Power’s The Overstory.
What she has discovered after years of forest research, and its dismissal by other scientists, is that trees in a forest, like people, have relationships - and one tree may act as a protector of other younger ones. We can learn from the forest’s wisdom. We know that people use networks; what she has found is that there are similar patterns in the plant world. In the same way that thoughts and feelings are hidden within our unconscious, there are similar ones in the plant world unseen and underground.
I’ll le her speak for herself here:
COP 26 - the Takeaways
These are the key points of agreement after two weeks of COP26 conferring.
Fossil fuels were named in the final report for the first time. The young were furious when language was weakened, but the words were at least used, if watered down. Now that the need to reduce their use is on record, no matter how weakly, a new degree of accountability can begin.
A fund for loss and damage is not included. This, of course is terribly discouraging for those who have been the most damaged by fossil fuel use in the richest countries. Some of them are already under water.
A 1.5 degree target increase still exists - but in a less than adequate way. Projections of actual results based on current realities and the announcement of actual future plans lessen the possibility of it happening.
The timelines for report national results are higher. That, at least, is good news. Most countries want to have good reputations and there are now better methods to separate results from aspirations or as Greta would say, blah, blah, blah.
The young are awake and aware. One hundred thousand of them were present for the conference and many of them were not old white men, but young women of colour. The young are getting older, will have increased influence and they are not going to depart from activism any time soon. Politicians who want to be re-elected need to take note.
All in all, some progress, but there is still a glaring need to speed things up. Let’s hope the young people keep on the case, and inspire the rest of us to support them.