Hey Everybody! Hope you’re faring well through these days of Coronavirus and social distancing. Many of you may be still going out to work, and we are grateful for all your essential services keeping us supported in our different living situations.
I didn’t post Friday Faves last week. So we have Friday Faves from two weeks today. Hope you’re finding joy in this odd journey of ours right now. We may be physically distanced, but we are together in this (that’s almost become cliche except for it’s still true).
1) Some Good News – We can find it, or create it if need be. Some good news. Actor John Krasinski has done just that. He is scripting and posting a weekly YouTube video entitled appropriately Some Good News. His first post focused on the 15th anniversary of the American TV show The Office. Below you will find Episodes 2 and 3.
Please share in the Comments your own brush with good news this week and any good news you made happen for others. Let’s safely crush this physical distancing experience!
YouTube Video – SGN Prom with John Krasinski and Friends
2) Final Fantasy VII on Guitar – If the lilting music of the Final Fantasy videogame franchise has special meaning to you, then Nathan Mills of Beyond the Guitar gets it. The chief composer of the Final Fantasy themes is Nobuo Uematsu. Nathan’s latest arrangement from the franchise is Aerith’s Theme from Final Fantasy VII. Here it is:
YouTube Video – Final Fantasy XV: Valse di Fantastica – Classical Guitar Cover
YouTube Video – Final Fantasy XV: Main Title Theme (Somnus) – Classical Guitar Cover
YouTube Video – Final Fantasy X: To Zanarkand – Classical Guitar Cover (Beyond the Guitar)
3) Sound Thinking – One of my go-to Bible verses in scary situations is 2 Timothy 1:7 where the Apostle Paul states: “For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.” Some translations use sound mind or self-control for the phrase “sound judgment”.
Either way, there is such a thing as sound thinking, and it is worth determining whether we are pursuing and exercising that level of reason…or not. Otherwise, we will continue to keep passing each other in conversations, even good friends, shaking our heads when we disagree with ideologies. Preferring to discount, blame or revile, rather than understand each other’s take on something that matters to both of us. Especially in today’s super-charged political conversations and in our government’s decision-making.
Photo Credit: Trainer Collective
In my wondering on sound thinking, I found a very helpful book chapter by author Martin H. Levinson. The 2006 book (its revised edition just released) is Sensible Thinking in Turbulent Times and the chapter was General Semantics: Sound Thinking for Every Day Life.
In this chapter, Levinson offers Ten Blocks to Sound Thinking – with General Semantics “Correctives”. The blocks follow; read the succinct and incredible helpful correctives in this rapid read chapter. I would love an opportunity to sit around a circle with friends and associates of mine who think vastly differently than I do on a range of topics and sort out how we might come more to the center using these helps.
10 Blocks to Sound Thinking (Martin H. Levinson)
- Allness Attitudes [communicating as if we know all there is to know about a subject]
- “Knee-jerk Reactions
- Either-or Thinking
- Rigid Evaluations
- Projection Problems [stating opinions as if they were facts]
- “Useless” and Poorly Structured Questions
- Elementalism [assuming there is only one cause of something]
- Jumping to Wrong Conclusions
- Relying on Common Sense [taking assumptions for granted]
- Labeling and Category Errors
So much to consider. I will close this with a quote, measured and sound, from a friend of mine, Helen Phillips, on the topic of our country’s mediation of the Coronavirus pandemic:
“We’ll never know whether these drastic measures have spared us from a fate we cannot fathom with thousand or tens of thousands more people sick and dying, or not. If the stats tempt you to feel indignant, and a false sense of ‘perhaps the whole thing was a big fat overreaction’, how do you claim to know which is which? Who can be certain what’s ‘real’ and what’s successful mitigation through extreme precaution as intended. Everyone is speculating, everyone is claiming someone else is wrong, everyone has an opinion and a conspiracy theory from the cheap seats with no ‘skin in the game’.
At the end of the day, who among us bends under the burden of tremendous responsibility? Who among us truly believes they have solutions for the world’s problems? Who among us rarely sleeps, evaluating the deluge of evolving data? Who among us thinks they know what’s best for an organization, a state or a nation?
Perhaps instead of feeding the dragon of obsession and negativity, maybe we should do a little more soul searching, heart checking, gratitude evaluating, neighbor loving and realize the roots of our faith are growing deeper.”
What a 16th Century Mystic Can Teach Us About Making Good Decisions – Annmarie Cano
4) Coronavirus Tips for Survival – Have we exhausted this subject yet? I can’t imagine we have. Fortunately, I have a good friend who is also a cancer nursing specialist. She helped me devise a survivorship plan after my bout with cancer. She is also the source of much of my plan for staying healthy and hopefully surviving COVID-19 should I contract it. First a little musical respite with DJ Brinson and Emily Gardenire:
I have listed several sources below with a wide range of viewpoints on keeping COVID-19 at bay or surviving it should you get hospitalized. The tips are just based on what I’ve read and what conclusions I’ve made. Not scientific, not tested, etc., etc., etc.
- Pray, trusting God isn’t finished with me yet…or if my time is done on earth, then trusting Him for grace for me and for my family.
- Be aware of what surfaces I’m touching (especially outside of my home environment) and wash my hands often and thoroughly. Hand sanitize regularly.
- Keep my hands off my face.
- Social distance. Stay 6 feet apart from those not in my “stay at home” environment. Only gather in very small groups with others abiding by same rules (family, close friends, colleagues when necessary).
- Although social distancing, be creative and purposeful – serve others and stay in contact. Pray for those around you and far from you.
- During social distancing, make time to complete or update an advance medical directive.
- Vitamin C.
- Learn to sleep on my abdomen and sides (this may be necessary if I end up hospitalized).
- If hospitalized, up to being put on a ventilator, I want it all (oxygen, of course; hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin (if available); testing and treatment for cytokine storm syndrome; red blood cell and plasma infusions; whatever else is the latest and greatest.
- Have whatever contact is possible with my family.
- Ventilator…not at all sure about this one.
Here’s a Playbook for Stopping Deadly Cytokine Storm Syndrome
Being Prepared in the Time of COVID-19 – Three Things You Can Do Now – The Conversation Project
Why Some COVID-19 Patients Crash: The Body’s Immune System Might Be to Blame – Geoff Bromfiel
Covid-19 Had Us All Fooled, But Now We Might Have Finally Found Its Secret – LibertyMavinStock
YouTube Video: Empowering Talk: Protecting Families During COVID-19 Pandemic – Dr. David Price – New York City
Coronavirus Survival Tips from a Doomsday Prepper
Deaths Delayed – Carl R. Trueman
John Piper on the Coronavirus and Christ – Podcast & Transcript – Collin Hansen
Do you have any tips for us about staying well? Please comment below.
Photo Credit: The Jeff Katz Show, Facebook
5) Busting with Bonuses – I couldn’t decide on a fifth favorite so will leave you with these bonuses as the fifth. The Spring here is spectacular and I’m especially grateful having been “staying at home” for over a month now. Hope you’re doing well. Thanks for reading and keeping company with me.
Photo Credit: Facebook, Servants to Asia’s Urban Poor
Don’t Waste Your Ruined Plans – Gaye Clark
You Can Thrive in the New Normal – Here’s How – Matt Monge
Fight Songs (The question was asked by a friend, “What is your fight song?” – this week I had two. They follow below.)
Photo Credit: Ann Voskamp
The book titles below (left to right, first row and then second) tell a story. #Coronavirus
Photo Credit: Casual Christian Comedy 2, Facebook