Each day I check my calendar to see what’s happening, what’s come up, and what’s coming soon. Occasions like birthdays and anniversaries, e-mail from friends, and the like to answer or move on.
These days, things continue to move slowly ahead at a snail’s pace. Everyone has stories, naturally, about how spectacularly governments have failed at obtaining vaccines and having them distributed to ordinary mortals.
But eventually, things move forward. One has shot #1, then 2, as do family members and communities. And in the fall, perhaps, the youngest will get their shots to complete the long drawn-out vaccination cycle round. And after that, who knows?
It’s been hard to be cut off from family and friends and the olde normal. We all continue our sleeps, meals, and personal home routines and chores. We all have to exercise daily and eat properly given the hit that sedentary lifestyles have had on our bodies. And what of our minds and souls?
We have to stay mentally active and distracted and this means more reading and less viewing. It also means diversions like puzzles, word-games, and projects–the various challenges that keep blood flowing in the cerebral cortex and the two hemispheres.
One may as well face the basic fact that we are each of us responsible for the state of our bodies, minds, and souls plus getting sunlight and fresh air in Nature. Above all, maintaining movement of many kinds. As they say, “If you don’t move it, you lose it.” And truer words were never spoken, especially during a pandemic.
A word, too, this morning, about the importance of charity–especially donations right now to Canadian Red Cross (now tripling donations), Salvation Army, blood banks, and food banks–real tangible ways to help others and stay meaningfully connected to others in need hither and yon. And if one wants money to go to someone specific, as in the case of Red Cross, one can always specify “for India pandemic” and the like.
And, finally, the importance of hearing music and connecting with the Arts and Great People of all time on a daily basis, to lift our deeper selves and raise our somewhat depleted ideals. In this tragic, devastating pandemic, we must ultimately minister unto ourselves for the succor and inspiration that motivates and keeps our goals and purposes high. In the end, we are all much better than the oppressing, depressing daily news about en masse global human pain and suffering.
Anyway, some possibilities for plans.
