Finding the Positive

In a sea of negative, how do we find the positive? How do we grab onto that which will empower us through the negative? If I’m low in spirit and depressed, do I know what is causing that? How do I counteract that?

Here’s some thoughts I’ve had lately.

1.      Yes; I’m depressed. This is caused by gross ineptitude of my national government. It is further powered by gross politicization of every little thing. With 40% or more championing the hideous and negative, how can I keep my mind, values and principles on a high plane?

2.      The COVID pandemic has caused an enormous shift of attention and living habits alien to what I’m used to. How do I live with those without letting them get me down?

3.      Healthy family relationships. With kids not returning to their school buildings, someone has to remain home to supervise them, and assist them with virtual learning. How does the modern family with two earners manage this challenge without also torpedoing their financial standard of living?

4.      Virtual education of kids is not yet a perfected method. The education establishment is struggling to learn how to do this for maximum outcomes. How can we speed this up?

5.      What creative outlets can we tap to survive the pandemic isolation?

Here are my reflections on those six items:

1.      I shift my attention to my local governmental units. The municipality is doing well. They are working to maintain basic services – water, sewer, streets, parks, physical facilities for later use, police and fire protection services and emergency response support. They are doing very well in spite of all the challenges standing in their way. Local cooperation has been wonderful and continues to define the community itself. That positive enthuses and empowers me. The same with county government; they are doing well with all basic services in spite of challenges to the contrary. Library, school, parks and fire districts continue to adapt to their new operating situations. Schools will be the most difficult. It will require enormous cooperation within the community to make the most of a bad situation. Community spirit will need to step up to this challenge. I have faith that it will.

2.      As isolated as the pandemic has made us feel, at least we have modern technology to keep us connected with one another, our institutions, our churches and our families. Can you imagine what it would have been like with no computers, phones, cable TV, etc.? I feel the isolation more at times I would otherwise be driving out to see the countryside and feel its cultural reality. Can’t do that right now. I must focus on the things I can do. Finding purpose and doing it is the answer to this specific cause of depression.

3.      Healthy Family Relationships is tough on several levels. First is the immediate household in which we must deal with the people central to our lives. If you are alone, that’s one problem. If you are a couple without kids, that’s another level. With children, married or single, is yet another level of problems to manage. The more people in the household, the more complications. But then the company helps! Another level is keeping generations connected – adult siblings and their spouses, grandparents, in-laws, and all the other relations. How is this done without breaking quarantine and endangering one another? Facebook is one aid as long as you do not cast your eyes on the negative environs provided by others. Zoom family sessions is another means of keeping people connected. Frequent phone calls among the different households of family members is yet another method to use.

4.      Virtual education of kids is a challenge I know many thousands of professionals are researching and creating workable alternatives. It will take time and patience to allow this to have desired effects. Have faith; our society is very inventive and creative. We can do this!

5.      Creative outlets include the arts. We are all binge watching documentaries, films and TV shows. Finding musical performances from the past is another art form to pursue. Listening to audio and video recordings is yet another. Note the difference of cultural context between then and now? Wonder how to bridge that divide for the future? Consider actors who cannot perform ensemble projects right now. And musicians who cannot endanger themselves by singing or performing in close ensembles. How can these talented and creative people continue their art form and life’s passions in a time such as ours? Are there alternatives they can use to do this? Meanwhile, what art forms are buried deep within each of us? How can we develop these for expressive use to help ourselves and others?

I’ve raised more questions than actions here, but at least the process engages the mind and spirit as a diversion to our negative reality. Press on and find your alternative reality that cancels the negative. I know you can do it. I’m working on my own right now. Getting somewhere; inch by inch; but getting somewhere.

August 8, 2020