Where are you going? In which direction are you headed? For times like these we better know the right direction to head because there is less room for mistakes to be made before resources run out. I’ve always felt that in order to know which way to go you need to know where you are at this moment. I don’t think we do this enough as people these days. We don’t take the time to really understand where we are and the truth of where we are.

One episode of The Hidden Brain that I have returned to often was first broadcast in January 2018. Lost In Translation: The Power Of Language To Shape How We View The World

The part that caught my attention was when Lera Boroditsky described her work in Australia. Below is an excerpt from what she said.

From the Hidden Brain – BORODITSKY: I had this wonderful opportunity to work with my colleague Alice Gaby in this community called Pormpuraaw in – on Cape York. And what’s cool about languages, like the languages spoken in Pormpuraaw, is that they don’t use words like left and right, and instead, everything is placed in cardinal directions like north, south, east and west. So the way you say hi in Kuuk Thaayorre, one of the languages spoken here, is to say, which way are you heading? And the answer should be, north, northeast in the far distance; how about you?

We all need to be headed in a direction. Knowing your point of origin will make your journey easier I suspect.

If you want to listen to the whole episode here you go!

During a time of great challenge, uncertainty and hardship like we are experiencing now the idea of opportunity might seem a bit incongruous. Really, how can there be opportunity in all of this mess?

• I better understand fear
• I see my neighbor differently
• My family is more important to me
• I see myself differently
• There is more time to learn
• I am trying new things

This list could go on. We have the opportunity to become better humans.

Most of the definitions for family were rather disappointing when I read them this morning. They were mostly matter of fact descriptions of people grouped by marriage and blood relations. There is the nuclear family, extended family, church family and work family. Leo Tolstoy made a statement in the first sentence of Anna Karenina – ”Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.“

What struck me as a little odd was how little there was about the interactions between family members. This is where my mind has always gone, to the interaction and to a certain extent the level of expectations and the support we get from family members.

Brené Brown has some great insights and this podcast has some that are timely given our current world situation. It is worth a listen if you have not heard this one already. Her language can get a bit earthy but not in this particular episode.

These are her notes for this episode – We have collectively hit weary. This is especially true for the brave folks on the front lines of this pandemic and for the people who love and support them. And, it’s also true for all of us. In this episode, I talk about strategies for falling apart, staying connected + kind, and giving ourselves permission to feel hard things.

Stay safe, stay connected.

March 27, 2020

Yesterday I picked up a couple bottles of beer from a local Craft Brewery I support (see yesterday’s post). That visit left me with a helpless feeling that grew into the evening and one that I woke up with. Helpless because there is no way that I can help that Brewery survive. I do not have the financial resources nor the capacity to consume enough beer to make a difference.

We like to think that one person can make a difference, one person can change things. This really is not true. One person can start things, that is true. But it takes people coming together to change things, to fix things.

Perhaps this is going to be one of the greatest awakenings of our conscious mind, the understanding that world wide recovery will require all of us to come together as friends, family, communities, nations and as humans.

It should be understood, together is hard and there is good together, bad together and meaningless together. We need to start thinking about how we can move forward together. This is the way 😎 !

Another tough word given the time we are living in. I now realize this is not an easy word. Not at all. First off, true encouragement does not come from a cheerleader on the sidelines. It also should never come in the form of false hope. False hope is after all just false hope.

Encouragement is not a pat on the back or a simple nudge to take the next step. I’m thinking that encouragement is more like making an investment in someone. It is not telling someone “things will get better soon” or “it’s not as bad as it seems.”

There is a certain amount of energy that transfers in the act of encouragement. It is this energy that concerns me at this moment. Encouragement is energy. To be honest I feel that level of energy right now inside myself is running low which means I need encouragement as much as others do. And if we all are running low on this energy as I suspect many of us are then where are we going to find it in ourselves to encourage others? How do we encourage each other when we all are running on empty? And if we are running close to empty now how are we going to make it in a crisis that may last for a very long time?

Here is what I’ve come up with, encouragement starts with belief. Belief is the spark that gets the motor running and once the motor is running the energy starts to flow. It is my belief in myself, my belief in you and your belief in me.

Note – In this time of the virus we are all wrestling with the spiritual, physical, mental and the emotional parts of life. We are all at different places in our respective journeys and all of us will look at these words from a different perspective. These are words all have relevance in the spiritual, physical, mental and the emotional.

”Fatigue makes cowards of us all.” – This quote is attributed to General Patton and Vince Lombardi. It doesn’t really matter who it came from. In one of our more thoughtful moments I passed this on to Paul to encourage him to get the rest that he needed and so that he might recognize the source of some of his fears while he faced treatment and uncertainty. You might need to sort through the logic for yourself.

The point is, fatigue can amplify problems, make them seem worse than they are and it can heighten fears. In no way should it ever be suggested that the problems are not there. To understand the role fatigue plays in how we perceive the here and now is important.

Understanding fatigue also can give us permission to rest, even in the middle of the day when we think we should be doing something. When we are rested better decisions will result and we are less likely to be frozen by fear.

One final note, there are individuals out there today who cannot get the rest they need. I’m thinking of all of those on the front lines of getting ahead of the virus. All we can do is encourage them as they run the race and in a small way it might offset the effects of fatigue for them.