Humainologie creative dialogue Nov10 on the Pandemic as Opportunity to Build Our Enthusiasm for life

“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” - Marcus Aurelius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor Frankl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Frankl

“Of all the virtues we can learn, no trait is more useful, more essential for survival, and more likely to improve the quality of life than the ability to transform adversity into an enjoyable challenge.” - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi

The Stoics saw any setback, misfortune, or difficulty as an opportunity for growth and personal empowerment. We can think of the current pandemic, for example, as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. At our dialogue on Wednesday November 10, I’ll suggest we explore The Pandemic as Opportunity to Build Our Enthusiasm for Life.

Here are some good questions to help your creative thinking levitate:

1. Based on your own lived experience before the pandemic, what are some things (activities, projects, initiatives) that lift your spirits (increase your joie de vivre)?

2. Of your activities since the pandemic began, what things (activities, projects, initiatives) have helped you keep your spirits up?

3. Now imagine at least one thing (activity, project, or initiative) that you have not yet tried - and that you could get started right away, before the pandemic ends - that you think might build your enthusiasm for life (joie de vivre) if you devoted time and effort to it.

Here is the Zoom link for the dialogue provided by Shinobu:

Topic: Humainologie Dialogue Session Time: Nov 10, 2021 06:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada) Every week on Wed, until Dec 29, 2021, 9 occurrence(s) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89600374916?pwd=OXg2dkF4NEtsMmNzSkdRdW1kdUV5UT09 Meeting ID: 896 0037 4916 Passcode: 12345

Before our dialogue on Wednesday, I plan to send you my synopsis of a book by Kelly McGonigal, The Joy of Movement: How Exercise Helps Us Find Happiness, Hope, Connection, and Courage. For many of us, exercise is essential for keeping our spirits up, and this book is full of ideas and information that can inspire even a couch potato. I have appended herewith some other resources for our dialogue, including a TED talk by Kelly McGonigal with a surprising perspective on stress.

“Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.” - Booker T. Washington https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._Washington

Arthur

Kelly McGonigal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_McGonigal suggests we change our attitude toward stress. Here’s her TED talk on that subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcGyVTAoXEU

The philosophy of stoicism is an essential resource for building resilience in everyday life. Helen Keller https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller - who certainly had to deal with more than her share of adversity - expressed the idea of resilience a bit differently: “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” The pandemic has closed a lot of doors. What doors has it opened for us?

One answer appears to be that forced solitude has sometimes brought unexpected benefits, according to one study of lockdown during the pandemic https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/thousands-of-people-enjoyed-enforced-alone-time-reading/ My source for all sorts of good news, not just related to the pandemic, is https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/ and it’s a good thing to know about.

Valuable resources for personal well-being are provided by some of the major medical centers such as this one from Johns Hopkins:

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/the-power-of-positive-thinking