I could use a good spring rain right now. A real gullywasher, where there’s no question of going out in it unless one wants to get drenched. And then I would go out into that rain and feel it drench me to my skin.
There is something purifying about standing in a torrential shower. From the skin to the soul, rain washes away all the dirt of the day. It chills my skin, reminding me that I am alive.
What can I say that hasn’t already been said about love?
This is a difficult column for me to write, because I am the sort of person who wants to fix things, to do things, to make things happen. I don’t like getting into situations where I can’t make things happen.
I don’t surrender easily. I am convinced that if I beat my head against something long enough, I will accomplish it.
Some things, however, don’t lend themselves to beating one’s head against something long enough. A pandemic, for example. I sit here, helpless. I can do nothing. I can’t even sew well enough to make masks.
This is the point where I have to surrender. I’ll be honest, I don’t believe that God will take away the pandemic, or that it’s His will that millions of people will get this disease. My God, when I believe in him, gives comfort and strength and the clarity for us to use our minds to solve things. So I don’t surrender to God’s will. I surrender to my own imperfect humanity.
One of the most enduring traits of humanity is its ability to support each other during times of crisis. Just some of the supports I have seen during shelter-in-place are the following:
As a writer, inspiration is where the universe and my imagination connect, whether that be the world outside my door or the world inside my head. And where the two interact, sparks fly, and I am driven to put pen to paper and translate the gestalt impressions of the interaction.
Inspiration is open to all of us, not just creatives. It still marks the intersection point of internal and external worlds even if one is inspired to clean the kitchen or plant a garden.
How can we encourage inspiration? We can by being open to the world outside our heads. We have already experienced, and are always experiencing, the world inside our heads. We need something new to reflect on and to ruminate on.
A change of scenery helps. Sheltering in place during the pandemic makes for a monotonous experience, but one’s scenery can also be changed by reading or watching videos. All that is needed is inducement of the spark by external experience.
Open-mindedness certainly helps. We all interpret the world according to an inner framework, a set of rules that governs our perception of reality. Don Juan Matus, in Carlos Castaneda’s writings, called this the tonal, but that’s not important. What is is that our inner construct of reality filters our world for us. If we let go of it, even a little piece of it, just for the briefest moment, we can see our world differently and be inspired.
Right now, we need to feel inspired. We need to feel that spark to motivate us, whether toward mundane or glorious tasks. Inspiration will help us see our social isolation as opportunity and allow us to remodel our inner and outer spaces to be more creative, more pleasing, and more nurturing.
It’s easy to make a blanket statement that we should trust people more. This statement, however, is simplistic and wrong.
We should be careful who we trust. There are people out there who would use our trust to secure unfair financial gain from us. There are those who would use our trust to destroy our lives. There are those who would use our trust to elevate themselves to the level of a cult leader, which we have seen in the form of cults of personality, religious cults, fringe political movements, and militant cults.
We cannot blindly trust. So how do we manage trust safely?
1) Don’t use heuristics as a substitute for information. A heuristic is an information-sorting rule that substitutes, often poorly, for the actual information. We use heuristics every day to our peril: “He’s a clergyman. I can trust him with my kids.” “I heard it on TV — it must be correct.” “Nothing illegal could be happening in such a nice neighborhood.” We should be asking questions: What are this person’s actual credentials? Do they extend to the area in which we are trusting them?
2) Practice risk/benefit. Does the risk of having our trust betrayed outweigh the benefit of trusting? Use this to set a boundary around every decision involving trust: Would I trust this politician to take out my appendix? Would I trust the person I’ve just met to take care of my children? Would I trust anyone other than my spouse with my bank account number?
3) Weigh the emotional against reason. We often choose to trust for emotional reasons — relief, cease from worry, desire. Emotions can be powerful, but they can be countered by rational thinking as I’ve outlined above: information, risk/benefit. Force yourself to wait.
4) Be extra cautious in times of turmoil. We are desperate to trust, so we become less discriminating; we want to believe and so we give our trust to the unscrupulous. Remember that, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.
To some extent, we need to trust, or else we will miss out on our connection with others. We will miss out on having our needs met. We will not thrive. However, we can trust wisely and protect ourselves, in times of turmoil and in times of calm.
It’s difficult to reflect right now, as I am scared of what’s happening in the United States. But I want to keep my daily rituals as a method of surviving this mentally.
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Fire consumes. It destroys — houses, forests, lives. 
Fire warms and feeds. When we capture and contain fire, it becomes a lifesaving force in our houses.
Fire soothes, as we watch it dance in a fireplace.
Fire inflames — we use it as a metaphor for passion.
Fire reflects human complexity in its many, many aspects, which might explain why we’re so fascinated with it.
In this time of contagion, all of us are struggling.
We struggle through anxiety, isolation, sleepless nights. Essential personnel struggle with overwork and worry about their own health. We all suffer uncertainty about whether we can be infected.
We were created or evolved to be concerned about our tribe, to find comfort in each other. We were created or evolved to help each other in times of struggle. In our current case, it is hard to seek comfort in a time of social distancing. Hugs are prohibited, as are gatherings. We make do with the Internet. We comfort ourselves with the belief that this will not last forever.
In this, we are united with others worldwide — with China, with Italy, with all the world that has been touched by COVID-19. It is a sign of our shared humanity that we can worry, we can sorrow, we can all catch this disease. The world is our tribe, and although we may be powerless to help others through their struggle, we can at least think charitably toward others, even though they are not of our tribe. Because that is how we survive in struggle.
The dictionary defines justice as “the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness:to uphold the justice of a cause.” (Dictionary.com, 2020). We can break a discussion of justice down into procedural justice, that is the justice of laws and courts, and social justice, the justice dealt with in society and in philosophy and religion (Beyond Intractability, 2020). For this essay, I’m going to focus on social justice.
Dictionary.com (2020). Justice. Available: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/justice [March 22, 2020].
(Note to readers: I am struggling with intermittent panic attacks over the whole COVID-19 situation. I will, however, give you my best.)
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A craft is not a hobby. A craft, instead, represents a set of skills, tools as it were, used to create. We can create with words, with music, with wood or clay, with yarn or fabric. But the key is creation.
A craft requires a human capital investment in one’s creative and maker skills. This takes time and money. Practice, classes, mentoring — all of these are how the crafter hones their skills. This is why those in the crafts get frustrated when someone offers “exposure” for a handcrafted sweater or a sketch.
A craft brings beauty to the world, as it is an expression of the primal creation.
Words Like Me 