Viral Vicissitudes

Seafarers, Seas Faring, See Yourself Faring: Staying Afloat ? How Ya Doin'? How are you faring these days, the waning days of February, 25 days following the snowy day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where Phil emerged from his burrow and, seeing his shadow, proved his perennial prescience once again in declaring there would be six more weeks of winter? Are you better, worse than yesterday, than last week, than last year at this time? You know, about the time that we started hearing about this new virus that eventually held the world hostage? And put Wuhan, China on the map as as one of the least likely ports of call we would endorse? Speaking of ports of call, for anyone who is the least bit nautically inclined, the parallels of our individual and collective experiences throughout 2020 and into 2021 now, associated with COVID-19, with those encountered at sea are compelling. And inescapable if you watch/listen to any newscast at length... Sailing Along: That we were, as our most pr...

Pleasant Pandemic Ponderings: Hot Stove League Play Ball! The words many of us long to hear any mid-winter, signaling the beginning of a baseball game, and the strong association with springtime. We further hope, in the summer of 2021, to hear this once again in person, up close and personal, in the company of other fans, even if still masked (it is inevitable someone will patent a 'rally mask' --oops, just gave away another idea!). Until then, we have the perennial hot stove leagues, in which newspaper columnists, radio DJ's, and other media personalities devote a lot of their off season to speculating what baseball teams will be favored and why, what players will be traveling across the country due to trades, etc. This, all before spring training and the "Grapefruit League" has ever begun. Gathering around the hot stove (appropriately distanced of course) rather than the water cooler for genial conversation...conversation that can often become, of course, heated...

Our Children's Mental Health, Our Nation's Future Wealth (?)  Compelled to Comment: Catchy phrase, compelling idea, this is...coupling our children's collective well-being with the future riches of a nation. This (the above) was actually an intro to a presentation a few days ago on the current state of the mental health of our youth, in the presence of the year-long pandemic now. While there were many points of great interest to all of us that few would argue with (who doesn't care about the well-being of children after all?), I am here once again to offer some points of view that hopefully provoke both thought and action by those who take the time to read this (thank you again). The right questions, questions the right way? Articles regarding the toll the restrictions on social interactions outside the intimacy of family, the shutdown of schools, and the pressures of having to teach while managing a household, trying to otherwise maintain a quality relationship with yo...

Talk About Mixed Messages! It's What's Trending... In or Out, Off or On, Open or Closed... Would ya just make up (our) minds?! The news these days are full of changing alliances, shifting positions, 'fickled friendships' -- love 'em, hate 'em, or what? Can we just take a position and keep it for a while?! It's so confusing!  Probing, home and away: probing for microbes, that is. On the same day I read an article in my daughter's Critical Care Nursing Journal entitled, "Antimicrobial Stewardship", which discussed the judicious use of various agents to kill these little buggers that can harm us (in the ICU and beyond), I read another article regarding scientists having found microorganisms thriving in the Atacama Desert in Chile, a finding which in turn suggests that microbes, either living or fossils, could be found in similar clay layers on Mars. Followed by an interview with one of the engineers involved in designing the largest and most sophi...

A Knotty Problem, Tied up in Knots! "I'm at my wit's end, at the end of my rope"  An interesting way to start a conversation, wouldn't you say? Well, this quote, which is familiar to most of us (whether we have been the issuer or the receiver), is a common way for people to describe what prompted them to call my office (more so these days, it seems). It happened again the other day. Which, together with a discussion on "Knot Theory" (I'll get to this a 'bitt' later), prompted me to think (you're already wondering if I have to much time on my hands), how many metaphors, idioms, and terms we use to describe challenging experiences (as well as some which are more genial) which have to do with ropes and lines, as well as what makes them up, such as thread, yarn, fiber, etc. Only space enough here to share a few and experiences 'tied' to them we can all relate to... Tied Up: Talk about cross training...this can either mean temporarily ...

Quick Post, Public Service Announcement: Exercise Your Rights, Exercise! For those prepping to travel to the UK, that is... Yesterday the UK announced that, due to the COVID cases and the varmint variant, for those arriving at Heathrow, be prepared to quarantine in a nearby hotel...on your dime (or whatever part of the pound that is). And, for those who want to maintain an exercise regimen, you will have to do so under "house supervision" (you mean you're going to provide me a personal trainer--how much extra is that gonna cost me?!). A public health official cited that, "all that motion might be a spreader..." I sure hope this Cockney craziness is not contagious.  But take heart, because if you are traveling there as an aspiring student, they (the Brits) are submitting a bill to 'limit limits' on free speech on campus, given some recent trends to squelch certain points of view (to prevent the "chilling effects of silencing and censoring on campuses...

Out of reach? Things are...looking up! Casting A Gaze: A few days ago I welcomed you into my personal 'space', how I start each day, when preparing to leave home base, by casting a glance to the sky, in part to appreciate how each day the panorama is at least slightly different from the day before (if I look long and close enough), as well as to wonder, if only for a few seconds, "what's up there?" A wonderment I/we share with the most earliest of earthlings. Even those who are gifted to live in places that sunrises and sunsets remain unshrouded almost 365 days a year are able to discern subtle differences in the array of clouds and other atmospheric dimensions. While some may poke fun, that such reflections are a sure sign of aging, it is something we used to do while sitting on the swing set at a younger age as well (while contemplating other perplexing questions, such as "who was here before God created...."? and which usually finished with "so w...

Disquieting Tones: It's a Long, Long Way from Temporary🎝 Piercing the Silence and Solitude: Too soon, in my opinion. Shortly after I enjoyed the serenity of silence and the associated uplift I mentioned in yesterday's post, I heard a few messages yesterday and early this morning that struck a tone that was far from melodious to my ears. Messages of a varmint variant that may at least slow the pace if not preclude the success of the vaccination campaign in some geographical regions (e.g. South Africa). Messages that some businesses, especially retailers and restaurants, after being shuttered and curtailed for so long, may not come back at all. And messages that students, despite the valiant efforts of educators and parents, may have a degree of 'learning lost' that might not be retrievable. Finally, messages that, despite the return of some activities in most locales, remind us we are still a ways from a complete return to normalcy. A condition we convinced ourselves ab...

Sounds of Silence...Music to My Ears Giddy from a Glimpse: I am still enjoying some endorphin like tail wind after a pre-dawn respite yesterday. While sweeping the driveway and sidewalk -- sweeping,  so as to not wake others  sleeping , a 'good neighbors' policy (sounds like a State Farm commercial, eh?) at such wee hours of the morning, I caught myself marveling at the sights and sounds (and lack thereof) of such a beautiful scene set for just ME...literally crystals floating and dancing in the street light, some of which came to rest on my face while others dusted the walk I just swept. They're playing games with me, taunting, teasing me I thought to myself...I could not resist the urge to stick out my tongue like we used to do (to catch a few flakes, NOT as a triple dog dare by licking the street light like in "A Christmas Story"!). As I watched this continuance of a crystalline cotillion, I was also reminded that we learned early on that, just as we were all c...

  Perspiration, Inspiration...Comic Relief! Dedication Reprise:  In addition to the strategy for sustaining myself in times of weariness I shared with you here three days ago, I also rely on humor at such times. Given the number of times I have pushed you to your physical limits I have decided you deserved a day off, and am hereby granting it through this post dedicated to comic relief. "What About Bob?" Bob Newhart, that is, one of my favorite comedians whose career I followed for several decades (not just because he portrayed a psychologist on television in one of his varied roles), known for his creativity and deadpan style. One of my favorite 'schticks' he made popular was, while holding a phone receiver, having us imagine who was on the receiving end as well as their responses, many times transporting us through time as well. Today I'm going to try my best imitation in written form, by having you imagine, shortly after the phone was invented, a farmer ("...

Life as a (non-contact) Sport   Super Commercials: "This is your life with contact...this is your life with no contact..." I expect that, if not during the Super Bowl today, some marketing guru will seize the idea in the near future to capitalize on the experience we have endured the last several months, as an ad campaign, most likely for a messaging app...an extension of "Reach out and touch someone" commercials aired by AT&T in the 1980's, mashed with the "This is brain...this is your brain on drugs" commercial from 1987 (featuring eggs, remember?).  "Is There Anybody Out There?" From Pink Floyd's "Wall Live" (1980-81), a live album and a live rendition of  "The Wall" (well, not lately). As explained to us by Genius: "...in questioning whether anybody is out there, Pink begins to realize the expansiveness of his wall and the consequences of his self-imposed reclusion..." Walled In, Out: First, there was...

Weariness, Despair (Sadness), Anxiety, and Beyond! Dedicated to the Ones We Know My Dedication to You: In case you have not been privy to my several posts dedicated to the emotional, mental, and physical toll the last several months have had on most of us, I suggest you simply troll through a day's worth of articles from various news outlets. Collectively, they inform me that as a mental health provider my job security is assured. I have written here not only about the various strong affective associations we have experienced with the 'viral vicissitudes', but also provided you with specific mental, physical, social, and even spiritually based strategies available to sustain us through this tough period. Now I am about to share with you one of the simplest but powerful strategies available to all of us, all the time (what have I been waiting for, you ask?!). A strategy I rely on whenever I am feeling weary, in moments of low motivation, during times of despair, and the comp...

Bridging the Divides: TikTok to Tipperary "Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends" -Proverbs Familiar Territory: For our nation, our world, and ....this blog. Issues of divisiveness, that is. I have written about being a 'house divided' and as recently as last week refuted accusations in the media that our nation is "helplessly divided". Some recent local, national, and world events have prompted me to comment on this recurring theme again. Perhaps once and for all, certainly in the spirit of 'all for one'. Factions, Fractions: "Rival factions within ... between ..."  The fact that fighting between individuals, between as well as within groups, battles within and between families, violence between nations as well as domestically (as in "we are gonna have another civil war here") has been a hallmark of our national and world history should not be news to anyone reading this. It...

Groundhog's Day 2021: Wuhan Wanda Seems like yesterday, yesteryear: Things have sure changed around here as well as in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania since a year ago, just a month or so before COVID-19 became part of our vocabulary. Now, we hear about it every day, like each day is like the day before, rinse and repeat, like "Groundhog's day all over again". This post is to honor GH day but will be a slight revision, so as to at least create the illusion of variety. It will be short in content but long on meaning (casting a long shadow?)... Re-envisioned: Since just about everything else has changed throughout the last year, why should this 'holiday', traditionally marking a demarcation of sorts, with all its poop (I mean pomp) and circumstance, be any different? It calls for a recasting, and for this unique GH day I think it calls for someone who is more salty and acerbic and thus, I choose none other than...Roseann Barr! Well, who else?! In your blog you can ch...

Regaining Our Senses: Resuming Our Mind-Body Connections (?) The COVID Assault:   The arrival of COVID-19 brought with it, among other unwelcome features, both a frontal assault as well as one that proved more insidious in nature, eventually involving all (5) of our senses, in one way or another. In other words, "Have you completely lost your senses?!" has taken on new meaning: On the one hand we have experienced a dulling of our senses, whereas at others we have found ourselves in states of hyperarousal, 'sensory overload'...what gives?! It's as if we have become disconnected, at least discombobulated! Well, I'm here today to help you get you back into alignment. First, a quick survey of our senses and how they have been affected: Near Sighted, Shrouded Judgement: While wearing a mask itself hasn't interfered with our line of sight, most of us have found ourselves making judgements about what we are seeing from a greater distance than that we are accustom...