… Of Covid-19 and Anything
We can always find the good in the bad if we look for it. Sometimes we might have to dig for it, even excavate deeply for it. But it’s there to be found, and the more we look, the more we will find. When we regularly practice finding the good in the bad, that good habit becomes a way of life and the better our lives will be because of it.
Tune out the negative for it is invariably blown out of proportion. I can testify to the fact that Media 101 training is to get people’s attention using shock and fear.
That is the advice we’ve been given from every marketing, media, copywriting and PR company, coach and training encountered over the past decade. To use tag lines and copy that grab people’s attention through the psychology of shock, fear, gossip and curiosity.
And we’ve never done it… never followed that advice. Some intrigue maybe… the occasional clever turn of phrase, like the way you might intro a story you’re getting ready to tell a friend to peek their interest, but never shock, fear, gossip, negativity or horror.
We’re About Human Potential and Possibility
Negative media plays into human fears over human potential.
But there’s another way.
Don’t give a moment of your attention to this nonsense. Negative reports are out of proportion to the good.
There’s always good to be found, even when hidden under lots of bad. Follow the light and you’ll find your way to more light. Finding the good in the bad gets easier the more you look for it.
Focusing on positives was at the heart of stoicism as practiced by some of the ancient Greek philosophers. The goal was to lead a tranquil life through appreciation and gratitude.
“In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.”
~Khalil Gibran, Lebanese-American writer, poet, visual artist, 1883-1931
Finding the Good in the Bad
Covid-19 Isolation Benefits
One of the Covid-19 resets is less consumerism. People not going to work don’t need to spend as much on clothing, restaurant meals and gas. Instead, they might spend it on art and craft supplies, food to cook at home and they may do more walking around the neighborhood than driving.
People have a chance to get more rest with a less hectic pace of life. The dogs and people get more walks and so become healthier and more balanced. It’s also a time to reflect, meditate and reset toward greater purpose.
Those are positives, (unless of course you work in some of the retail industries affected). Daily walks provide greater opportunity to connect with your neighbors, and thus friendships grow.
During this historically unprecedented time, there is much good arising. Here’s our list to jumpstart your own.
Covid-19 Benefits
- Families spending more time together – strengthening bonds
- Combining resources and effort helps everyone
- Adult children having more time to grow familial friendship roles
- Less hurried and harried pace of life
- More people reflecting on purpose
- Less consumerism – less shopping and eating out
- People considering adding more meaning to their life https://www.icreatedaily.com/what-is-the-point-of-life/
- Start a side hustle job that could become full time
- Time to catch up on unfinished project and creative aspirations:
- Crafts
- Art
- Writing
- Finish that book
- Finish that course
- Marketing / setting up a shop for your social account
- Creating & updating social account
- Creating/learning increasing
- Time to catch up on communicating with friends and family
- People reaching out to help each other and strangers
- Time to take courses / learn new skills
- Become more conscious of conserving
- More aware of the many everyday blessings we take for granted
- Greater appreciation for friends and loved ones
- Home maintenance and renovation time
- Time to plant and tend a garden / grow food
- Time to landscape and beautify the yard, patio or balcony
- More gratitude – counting our blessings
- Not taking our health for granted
- Time to focus on physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health:
- Exercise regularly
- Eat healthier home cooked meals
- Home spa care, from face and body scrubs to soaks in the tub
- Self mani-pedi and massage
- Yoga & stretching
- Meditation
- Dancing
- Singing
- Walking, jogging, biking
- Get out in nature daily if at all possible
- If isolated in an apartment get and tend houseplants
- Tune into uplifting and elevating possibility and empowerment content online
- The internet providing the world at our fingertips
- Time to vision the life we want to live
- Create a quarterly plan / set daily goals
- Do what we can toward this vision – don’t focus on what we can’t do, for ever it is that what we focus on is what grows in our life.
Some Humor
For a FUN rendition of the consumerism saga, this is a favorite George Carlin discourse on STUFF.
Send Us Your Discoveries of the Good in the Bad
Please add any of your “Covid-19 Benefits” that aren’t on this list (and/or mention your favorites that are here). Also, your discoveries in general of finding the good in the bad of any situation or circumstance.
You can send them to us and we’ll add them with tribute to you.
Lockdown Poem
Meanwhile, here’s another lovely tribute to the good of these times. A poem by a monk that went viral because of the beautiful truths in it. Brother Richard Hendrick was able to find the good in the bad. If you haven’t seen it… or even if you have, you will likely enjoy it again.
Lockdown
By Brother Richard Hendrick
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.But,
~Poem written March 13th 2020, by Brother Richard Hendrick, a Capuchin Franciscan living in Ireland
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary.
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
Animated Video Rendition of Lockdown Poem
by Brother Richard Hendrick
Focus on the future you wish to bring to life, not on the fear of the unknown and what may never happen. Focus on what you can do, not on what you can’t.
A quarantine essay for perspective you may share.
No matter the external circumstances, don’t forget to plan and plant the seeds of your dreams in the soil of daily doing. Being creatively and proactively engaged, brings enjoyment, stress relief, and elevates our sense of self and of hope.
Find the good in the bad in your life and situations and you will see the difference it makes.
Look for the Good, by Jason Mraz
In this song, Jason Mraz says “Look for the good in everyone.” If we all did that regularly, especially when it’s hard, what a different day it would be.
Take a few minutes more to enjoy this sweet song. You will be glad you did, and chances are, it will stick with you throughout the day.
And, when we look for the good… guess what?
Yep.
We find it.
The Nelson Family
Here’s another favorite inspiring and uplifting song. The chorus starts with “I believe that every heart is kind”. We love seeing sons, Lukas and Micah Nelson with their dad, the legendary Willie Nelson. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
WARNING: There is one F-word expletive used once, if you’re listening around children, but the rest more than makes up for that.
Families Bonds Growing Stronger Together
This is a good article titled ‘Moving Back Home and Liking It.‘
For much of US history, adult children living with their parents was the norm.
~By Sarah Todd, Senior reporter, Quartz and Quartz at Work
An Essay On Perspective
This essay seems to be making its way around the internet. It arrived forwarded to us by a family friend without an author’s tribute appended. When I tracked her down, she said she found it on Facebook without tribute. If this is yours, please let us know so that we may provide proper tribute.
Imagine You Were Born in 1900
Author unknown
When you’re 14, World War I begins and ends when you’re 18 with 22 million dead.
Soon after a global pandemic, the Spanish Flu, appears, killing 50 million people. And you’re alive and 20 years old.
When you’re 29 you survive the global economic crisis that started with the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange, causing inflation, unemployment and famine.
When you’re 33 years old the nazis come to power.
When you’re 39, World War II begins and ends when you’re 45 years old with a 60 million dead. In the Holocaust 6 million Jews die.
When you’re 52, the Korean War begins.
When you’re 64, the Vietnam War begins and ends when you’re 75.
A child born in 1985 thinks his grandparents have no idea how difficult life is, but they have survived several wars and catastrophes.
Today we have all the comforts in a new world, amid a new pandemic. But we complain because we need to wear masks. We complain because we must stay confined to our homes where we have food, electricity, running water, wifi, even Netflix! None of that existed back in the day. But humanity survived those circumstances and never lost their joy of living.
A small change in our perspective can generate miracles. We should be thankful that we are alive. We should do everything we need to do to protect and help each other.
Perspective is an Amazing Art
The person we found who shared this with our friend closed with this concluding paragraph:
“Perspective is an amazing art. Let’s try and keep things in perspective. Let’s be smart, help each other out, and we will get through all of this. In the history of the world, there has never been a storm that lasted. This too shall pass.
~Colleen Duggen, writer on SpanHouse.org
Well said, Colleen! ??????⛈?☀️
Book on Stoicism
I’ve just finished reading a good book on the subject of stoicism that emphasizes finding the good in the bad and ways in which you can do that.
A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy, by William B. Irvine.
RELATED: Stoicism quotes
Comments from the Community
“Covid actually helped me with my goal of a mostly self sustainable homestead. I was able to get of work done last year even taking 3 months to recover from surgery.”
~Shannon Schofield, poet, writer, author, homesteader, beekeeper
Please share your list, if you’d care to.
RELATED: Finding the good in the bad podcast.
CREDIT: Top feature Image by Image by mikegi from Pixabay
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Hello! I’m LeAura, owner and co-creator of iCreateDaily.com®. As an autodidactic philosopher, generalist, personal development advocate, entrepreneur, writer, editor, author, ideator, media publisher, and podcaster, I’m passionate about helping others achieve their best possible life! Our small family of entrepreneurs, writers, investors, educators and creators own and run websites around topics we enjoy, such as gardening, health and fitness, creativity and pets, with more to come.
While my greatest teacher is Life… my formal training includes certifications in mediation, fitness, and strategic intervention coaching, including marriage and family. Today, the synergy of creating websites, articles and podcasts, brings together all my favorite things: family, learning, growth, creating, connecting and contributing. To share these with you is a privilege, that serves my lifelong aspiration to help others.
My personal areas of creativity are in writing, masterminding, ideation, synthesis and bringing ideas to life through business and entrepreneurship, all with a pervasive spiritual foundation with a focus on elevating the lives of others.
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