Category: Daily Dose

Rich Vanderweit saw the loneliness of older people in the COVID-19 pandemic, and he devised a modest effort to ease their isolation. Vanderweit, an activity aide at Sullivan County Health Care in Claremont, thought: Why not match his nursing home residents with pen pals at Summercrest Senior Living Community 12 miles away in Newport? Both facilities had stopped allowing visitors because of the virus.

Soon, letters began pouring in, at least 700 from around the United States. The stacks of mail got so large that Vanderweit organized a pen pal club which gathers once a week to read the letters aloud and respond as a group. Sometimes they get simple cards that say “Just brightening your day, no need to write back.” Others send heartfelt letters.

To read the full story, visit https://apnews.com/cca85934a62530e92beb54d9addc6176

Many have shared that they often find themselves comparing themselves to how others are coping with COIV-19 and then judging themselves for not doing as well as someone else. This can a difficult trop from which to escape. Psychologist Jean Ayres reminds us that, not so long ago, a plane landed seemingly miraculously on the River Hudson. All 155 people came out alive. What did those 155 people feel as they stood on dry land and realised what they’d been through? Would they all have had the same reaction? Absolutely not! Many would have felt very distressed and upset – they nearly died, and they might decide never to fly again as it’s clearly too dangerous. Others might been overwhelming relief and happiness at having survived. Some might decide to live life to the full as a result of their experience, and be determined to fly even more. There could be 155 different reactions. Same event, different responses. It’s not the event which causes our emotions, it’s the meaning we give them. Those who interpreted the event as terrifyingly dangerous may feel very distressed, and be too anxious to fly again. Others will feel ecstatic as the meaning they gave the event was that they were incredibly lucky to survive.

Even prior to COVID, many of us led very hectic lives and often felt pulled in many different directions. Respected therapist Carol Vivyan shared her perspective on this a while back and it remains relevant today: When we are walking along the footpath, we tend to look just ahead of us most of the time, with occasional glances behind us and far ahead. We look behind as we need to know of anything approaching from behind or to see where we have come from, and look far ahead to make sure we are heading in the right direction to get to where we want to go. Most of the time though, we need to know where we are putting our feet.

If we were constantly looking behind us, then we would be walking into obstacles or tripping over. If we were constantly focused on the far distance, we would slip and trip over obstacles beneath us. (It can be fun to act this out!)

So it is with life. Sometimes we are so focused on our past, that we neglect the present, and wonder why we keep falling flat on our faces. Or perhaps we are so attentive to anticipating dangers up ahead, that again, we trip and stumble our way through life.

When we visit an online store, we tend to know what we are looking for. We know our shopping cartbudget, the item we want, the colour, the size, how quickly we need it, and so on. There may be hundreds of items advertised on the page, but we do not put every item we see into our shopping basket and buy them all. That would be crazy.

However, we do tend to buy into each thought in our mind’s online shop front, especially those thoughts that fit with the thinking habits we’ve got into. If only we could treat them the same way as the online store! Do I need to buy this thought, right now? Can I afford it? Is it going to be helpful? Is it really true?

Former Colorrado Rockies and Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle began sending daily notes of inspiration more than 10 years ago. They were a simple, small way of checking in with his staff to discuss leadership ideas, to offer support. He and his colleagues would share a “One up and one down,”something good from the week as well as something tough. Hurdle never planned to be an important voice to friends and acquaintances near and far amid a global pandemic. Yet what used to be informal group text messages have turned into much more — every morning, his Daily Encouragement emails go out to some 5,000 eager recipients. Today we encourage you to consider how what you feel are small acts of kindness you are alreay doing are having far reaching positive effects. Read more at https://apnews.com/20bc34bab3cfec813e1f5eb88ed1143e

We are often reminded that our response and adjustment to COIVD-19 is a marathon, not a sprint. This started for the US in January and we now find ourselves six month in with no definitive end in site. It times it can feel like an uphill battle. Sometimes life can feel like we’re struggling to drive or cycle up a long and steep hill, in top gear. The motor just can’t get us there. It works really hard, but it’s impossible to get up that steep hill in top gear. We need to change down a gear or two. Changing down gives the motor more torq, and is much better able to drive those wheels up that hill, albeit a bit slower. It can be like that with life sometimes. We try to struggle on in top gear, expecting so much of ourselves, of others, of life itself. Sometimes we need to change down a gear. Slow it down, reduce the struggle. Carry on, but in a lower gear.