Daily Questions

Today I am grateful for a phone conversation with my brother Morry on his birthday, and for a game of Yahtzee with my boys. These helped ground me in these unsettling times.

I am also grateful, and give a big thumbs up, to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and his team, and all statewide leaders who have worked tirelessly these last weeks. Governor Walz is clear and concise in his explanation of decisions and the rationale for them. Minnesota will have a "stay home" order in place from tomorrow night at 11:59 p.m. until April 10 at 5:00 p.m.

Many of us have already been limiting our travel and contact with the public. This tightens the restrictions further, slows more businesses and interactions, and asks for everyone's cooperation. The goal is to buy time for our state to get better prepared with more hospital beds and medical supplies to better serve the ones who will become most seriously ill with COVID-19 over the next weeks and months.

This is all being done in the hopes of saving lives. My family and I will do our part and we hope that all will honor these restrictions and the significant reasons behind them. We are truly in this together, so we need to act like it. Let's support one another, check on family and friends, connect in the ways we can.

So it was fitting that my sister Danita sent me this article from Mary Jo Dilonardo at Mother Nature Network:

6 questions to ask yourself daily for a healthier quarantine mindset
https://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/daily-quarantine-questions-healthier-mindset

It was inspired by Brooke Anderson, San Francisco photojournalist, and this picture she took.
Good questions for us to each apply in our daily lives at this time:



Here are some of Anderson's words at the end of the article:

"I know for me personally that I always feel better when I get outside. There's a particular trail in the redwoods that I love, that I go to when things get hard. And that moving my body helps — running and climbing in particular. I've also found gratitude to be a big antidote to anxiety and fear. I have so much to be grateful for," she says.

"I've also really noticed the days that I don't move my body (i.e. I'd intended to run but then it rained, and I said I'd do pushups, etc. but then don't). Those days I'm more anxious, less patient. But that's true pandemic or no!"

Thank you to these two writers for helping me find some clarity today! Gratitude is an antidote to whatever challenge I face.