Category: Living Well

How Giving Back Helps Us NOW

You can reduce YOUR anxiety by giving back.

We recently wrote about the importance of  giving back during the COVID-19 virus. Today, we consider how  giving back helps us NOW. Especially with regard to the anxiety and stress we feel.

Marty Nemko,  recently wrote about “Giving as Healing: A Tool for Enhancing Your Mental Health.” Published with Psychology Today:

After a talk by famed psychiatrist Karl Menninger, an audience member asked what to do about a patient who felt a nervous breakdown coming on. Everyone expected Menninger to recommend drugs or in-depth therapy. Instead, he suggested, “Leave your house, find someone in need, and do something to help that person.”

Indeed, my clients and I have found that giving can be healing. That may be especially important today. The double-whammy of the COVID lockdown and racial roiling is making many people sadder, angrier, or more anxious.

These are three giving ideas from Nemko — which will help you feel better too:

    • Do something for neighbors without their knowing it. For example, toss the newspaper from the sidewalk onto their doorsteps. More generous: How about doing a task your neighbor would appreciate, for example, pulling the weeds from his or her front lawn?
    • Do some pro-bono work. For example, mental or physical health professionals might see some more clients for free.
    • Put a flower on someone’s doorstep, anonymously or not.

For other ideas from Nemko, click the image.

How Giving Back Helps Us NOW
Source: Pixabay, Public Domain

 

Quotes to Keep Current Events in Perspective

Come together, right now.

In so many ways, these are tough times. And the death of George Floyd has made these times even tougher. We ALL need to be better. Consider these observations.

From Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have  a Have a Dream” speech on August 28, 1963. Not this week!!!!!! Please read both paragraphs:

So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. 

 

Further Quotes to Keep Current Events in Perspective

As Marina Khidekel, Head of Content Development at Thrive Global, notes:

In times of stress, sadness, and uncertainty, sage words from great thinkers of the past can help ground us, inspire us, and put things into much-needed perspective.”

Consider the following from her article:

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” — Aristotle 

“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one will. We ourselves must walk the path.” — Buddha

“The planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds.” — Dalai Lama

For more quotes, click the Khidekel link above.

Quotes to Keep Current Events in Perspective
Come Together Right Now

 

Low-Risk and High-Risk Activities Activities

On this Memorial Day, and every day thereafter, please be careful. See what activities are risky or not.

In prior posts, we looked at Coronavirus Thoughts from a High-Risk Perspective and Lighthearted Look at Possible Activities.

Now, we turn to a valuable list of low-risk and high-risk activities from NPR:

“It has been around two months of quarantine for many of us. The urge to get out and enjoy the summer is real. But what’s safe? We asked a panel of infectious disease and public health experts to rate the risk of summer activities, from backyard gatherings to a day at the pool to sharing a vacation house with another household.”

“One big warning: Your personal risk depends on your age and health, the prevalence of the virus in your area, and the precautions you take during any of these activities. Also, many areas continue to restrict the activities described here, so check your local laws.”

“And there’s no such thing as a zero-risk outing right now. As states begin allowing businesses and public areas to reopen, decisions about what’s safe will be up to individuals. It can help to think through the risks the way the experts do.”

“‘We can think of transmission risk with a simple phrase: time, space, people, place,” explains Dr. William Miller, an epidemiologist at Ohio State University. Here’s his rule of thumb: The more time you spend and the closer in space you are to any infected people, the higher your risk. Interacting with more people raises your risk, and indoor places are riskier than outdoors.’

To see what is low risk and what is high risk, click on an activity:

Low-Risk and High-Risk Activities
Image by Meredith Miotke for NPR