what is essential?

What is essential? That has been a big debate during this corona virus time. What businesses and activities are essential and what are not. For those in leadership having responsibility of making policy decisions on the city, state, and federal levels. For those giving feedback on those decisions.
Making decisions about how we "open back up" and recover a more normal operation of society involves public safety and safe economic activity upon which we all depend.  We cannot isolate forever - for many reasons.

And while the policy makers, health care experts,  and economic planners have their roles to play we all have the responsibility too. From giving feedback on the subject to planners, as necessary public input, to our own planning in the upcoming interaction in society. And it provides us an opportunity to examine our own situations, priorities, and plans for what is essential to us. What can we live with, what we can live without, and why? What are our priorities.

How do we go about determining what is essential and what is not? I think we need to drill down to the basics. And I want to take some time and share some thoughts and resources to help us all make those decisions. In college (or perhaps in high school) I learned about Abraham Maslow, an American pschologist, who in 1943 developed a theory proposing a hierarchy of needs. It explained 5 different levels of human needs and how until we have the most basic needs met we can't attempt to pursue the higher levels. In practical terms if we are lacking basic necessities - water, food, shelter - we are operating on a purely survival level, and the needs of anyone else are out of our caring capability.

In my next post I want to explore that and share how that works. For now please google Maslow and read about his hierarchy. Knowing the pathway of needs will help us all determine what is essential and what is not.  The first step is safety - please be safe everyone.

Perspective

Is the glass half empty or is it half full? It depends on your perspective.
Is rain dreary, or invigorating, or just there? It also depends on your perspective.
Are you trapped at  home during the "shelter in place" restrictions, or are you "safe" at home
protecting yourself and others from illness? in depends on your perspective.

It also depends on your personality and your principles. If you are an extrovert you are probably going crazy not being able to go to all the places you normally want to go. Why? Because you draw your energy from people and parties, and this current situation leaves you frustrated and physically drained. If you are an introvert like me you are probably enjoying the peace and quiet and less of the hustle and bustle, since you recharge in silence and calm.

It also depends on your principles and beliefs. If you tend to be skeptical of "official" sources and rely on "word of mouth" sources you might think that the danger is not as bad as people think. And if you think it is over-hyped you may struggle against the restrictions. If you believe that the danger is real and trust experts you be more likely to "wait it out" and give the restrictions the benefit of the doubt.

Many people can view the exact set of circumstances and situations and come to very different conclusions. At the same time we all need to be careful in our actions. Taking care of ourselves and others is important no matter our conclusions. Helping struggling and hurting people, and allaying fear is never wrong.  And we must always remember that any of us can be wrong, and be prepared to admit it.

For me, I tend to emphasize exercising an abundance of caution, and being an introvert, am content to wait it out. There are plenty of things I can do from the comfort of my home.
I am a rain lover, so I walk in the rain, get invigorated by it, and love the windy, rainy, coolness of the local rain climate. I spent enough time in the blazing desert heat of Phoenix  I will never get waterlogged, no matter how long it rains.

And as for the water glass question I take the middle ground. Forget debating the existential notions and just drink the water.

What's your plan?

What's your plan? This is the question of the day. For Mayors and Governors, wanting to open up their cities and states to more economic activity. For businesses large and small wanting to avoid further loss of income and business. It is the question for sports and recreation to answer for healthy activity.  It is also a question for all of us.

All of us will have to decide when and how, and how much we venture out of our houses, into the neighborhoods and businesses around us. We need to decide what is important for us, what we need to do again, how much risk is acceptable, and what we really want to do.

And beyond that, we need to spend some of this quarantine time thinking of where we want to be beyond the challenge of coming out of quarantine.We need to ponder what this time has taught us about what really is important and spend more of our time doing those things, pursuing those goals instead of just working to get by.

When freed from the visible restrictions think about the invisible restrictions that hold us back.
The expectations of others, the doubts, the messages of youth about what we should or shouldn't do.
And plan to tackle those barriers. Just like we need a plan to come back out of isolation we need a plan to not just get back to what was before, but to go beyond that to a better, more fulfilled us.

Don't wait around for others to plan, make sure you have a plan to go out and beyond. So....what's your plan?

The Beauty around that will help us get through

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so the saying goes. But the problem is we tend not to look.
And in the days of the corona, and the constant reminders on the news of the bad - through the constant drumbeat of stat after deadly stat - we need reminders of the ever- present beauty all around.
I was reminded of this while trimming down my cache of photos, in prep for a new laptop.

One of my favorite flowers is foxglove, with its self -seeding habit and its tall rows of painted flowers.
The O poppy starts out like a creature from outer space, but then bursts out with brilliant color 
And the green growth comes in different variations



often with other colors mixed in. Please take time today to look around you and see the beauty that is there. Take a literal "breather" from the chaos. It will do you a lot of good and help us get through.

connections

Have you ever experienced a time where you wanted to toss your computer out the window?
You got so frustrated with the resistance you were getting while just trying to do your job, or
seek information, or just connect with someone. And you found that the "HELP" section was "helpless"? Despite our high tech society there seems to be so many places where interruption of service happens. And whether it is your home internet connection, your computer or laptop, your work connections, you can get cut off in an instant. And it usually happens with no warning, and
worse - when it comes back on you often don't know why.

And the worst thing is, when you try to get help reconnecting,  nobody knows how, or takes responsibility for the problem. It's always - "it's not our system , we're fine. It must be yours"
To be sure connection issues can be complex, and computers do have personality and gremlins.
But it seems many times people want to wash their hands of it, blame it on someone else, or just give up when it's not them that is having problems.

Those are the times I remember how I love to garden. Things stay where I plant them And most often they grow and flourish if I make the simple effort of giving them good earth, enough sunlight and water, and simply dig in the dirt.  i can wrap my hands around the process and plants and I can get answers when I need by simply asking fellow gardeners, who are always ready and willing to help.

It's not perfect, like my current crop of bulbs which are resisting growth. And I am limited on space
But I am in control of the process and it is therapeutic having hands on experience,

It is that way with communication. It isn't complicated. Even in these days of self-quarantine we can still reach out and communicate It's not in person very much, except for those we share living space with. But we are in control of the process. When miscommunication happens we have the ability to make it right, ask what happened, take the time to mend fences, and we benefit from the shared pleasure of touching base with another human soul. If we notice that we have not heard from someone in a while we can call, email, text, even write to catch up, And it can happen across thousands of miles, or just next door

And maybe that is a positive to the downside of physical distancing. We have the time to reach across the distance to if nothing else commiserate in our mutual "isolation" Take the time to walk away from the technology and reach out in real conversations.

Bird Houses for the Vulnerable

There are two of the bird houses from the forest trail behind our local library. There are over a dozen and I have walked by them often during the time we have live here. I have enjoyed them and the birds that live in the forest nearby. But today I looked at them differently - the openings are not the same size. Not all of the birds that live here could use them. Most of them have holes the size of the one on the right- too small a hole for the jays and crows and other medium sized creatures of the air. They are the size that would accommodate quail and chickadees and finches  the more vulnerable.  And I believe they were built and set in place for that reason. To help those more vulnerable,

As it is in nature, so should it be among human kind. Not everyone can be like the woodpecker who can hammer out their home. Or the majestic geese who can soar away, or the owls who hunt by night.

The small are at the mercy of the large, just like those who were not born into money, fame, or position are much more vulnerable when the storm and earthquakes come, or the virus hits and the economy plunges.

So we cannot expect everyone to react to the struggles the same, nor need the same amount of help.
Just because we can work from home, order out groceries online, and don't have to venture out into the danger zones, doesn't mean that everybody has that advantage. We see everyday those who are on the front lines of vulnerability - whether they are first responders or just in "essential" jobs who can't just "shelter at home".

And in the recovery we have to make sure that those who struggle to survive have the protection of affordable healthcare, protection against both downturns and disasters. and a safe place to call home,

Try to remember to think outside your own "birdhouse"

the benefits of a quiet time

The benefits of social distancing - or as I like to phrase it - distance socialization.
We all chafe a bit at this 'sheltering at home" situation. Even introverts like me, who love peacefully curling up with a good book and not moving for hours, can get cabin fever. One thing that gets me through is my daily morning walks. I imagine there are extroverts out there that are tearing their hair out and bouncing off the walls, deprived of their energizing interactions with the crowd.

We know that it is for our own good, and that it will pass - eventually. But all too often we focus on what we can't do and miss the things we can do. We have the time to slow down and ponder, meditate, and maybe do more careful examination of and planning for our lives. We have quiet to hear ourselves think. In the midst of not running around gathering things we can think about what we really need. As some have said, don't automatically rush back to what and where you were before.
Maybe we can leave some of that "baggage" behind.

In the midst of lack, be grateful for what we do have and realize that we may not need all that we think we do. Minimalism is not a bad thing. In the absence of the crowds, be grateful to the ones we have and hold close.

And we do have the ability to connect with others. We all have phones and their not just for setting appointments and meetings, etc. They can be a lifeline to friends and family. This is a 'round to it" moment, taking advantage of the time to connect. And our social media is another way to connect.

Those of us who are in the Toastmaster World have made the transition from in person meetings to conducting our club meetings online and keep up communications with lots of laughter as we struggle with the technical connection issues. And we even conducted speech contests online.
Zoom is now my friend. And we have been able to make contacts across the country and around the world. We had recent visitors from India and South Korea, who like us in the US are dealing with sheltering at home.

Please use this time to contemplate and grow, spend some time on making an impact on those people and tasks you have near. And don't be too eager to rush back to your "former" life. The world will still be there, no hurry.