Category: Current events

Categories
Current events Engagement

Remember

… what life was like five years ago when the pandemic started?

In a very short time, our lives changed forever.

Here’s one important lesson I learned from the experience: “A crisis can be very clarifying. When you have emerged from a crisis you learn to cherish what really matters.” Scott Cochrane

While we’ve learned to live with COVID-19 (thanks to advances in medical/pharmaceutical science), we continue to face challenges in our chaotic world.

That brings me to another important lesson I learned during the lockdown: the importance of self-care that’s reinforced in asking these questions:

  1. What am I GRATEFUL for today?
  2. Who am I CHECKING IN ON or CONNECTING WITH today?
  3. What expectations of “normal” am I LETTING GO of today?
  4. How am I GETTING OUTSIDE today?
  5. How am I MOVING MY BODY today?
  6. What BEAUTY am I either creating, cultivating, or inviting in today?

These questions are helpful in reinforcing what matters: caring for one’s self and others who may be struggling these days.

Originally posted online during the pandemic as “Daily Quarantine Questions” (source unknown), the questions are timeless.

[Photo by Anastasiia Krutota on Unsplash]

Categories
Current events Engagement

News Got You Down?

Photo by 愚木混株 cdd20 on Unsplash

“What fresh hell is this?!”

That’s what I ask myself almost every day when I wake up to devasting news.

Airplane crashes, wildfires, floods, mass shootings, economic challenges, job layoffs, fears for personal and family safety, government upheavals, wars, etc.

How are we supposed to cope with so much grief and anxiety?

What I’ve found helpful, besides surrounding myself with supportive people, is revisiting “A Guide for Emotional Recovery: Fifty Things You Can Do When There is Nothing Else to Do”? It’s the subtitle of “A Light in This Dark Valley” by Gilbert Brenson-Lazan and Maria Mercedes Sarmiento Diaz.

Initially written to help victims of a catastrophic event, this invaluable guide was updated several years ago and is useful for anyone in need of “survival, recovery, and growth.”

The article, available in English and Spanish, can be found in GFSC’s free online library. I’m proud to be a part of GFSC (Global Facilitators Serving Communities), a volunteer facilitator network that provides materials, methods, and mentoring to help communities in crisis.

When you’re on GFSC’s library web page, check out other helpful articles in the library that includes emotional first aid; resilience; anxiety, stress, and grief management; and crisis intervention and leadership.

[Image credit: photo by 愚木混株 cdd20 on Unsplash]