We need the Cure !

Friday…I’m in love (With all gratitude to The Cure)

Let’s start with the most important ..135…

The number of capsules left …Nespresso capsules that is , no stockpiling going on here in the mountains other than all the fur from a well brushed Destroyer and his side-kick 😊

Now to the Cure…

I don’t care if Monday’s blue
Tuesday’s grey and Wednesday too
Thursday I don’t care about you
It’s Friday I’m in love

Monday you can fall apart
Tuesday, Wednesday break my heart
Oh, Thursday doesn’t even start
It’s Friday I’m in love

Saturday wait
And Sunday always comes too late
But Friday never hesitate

I don’t care if Mondays black
Tuesday, Wednesday, heart attack
Thursday never looking back
It’s Friday I’m in love

Monday you can hold your head
Tuesday, Wednesday stay in bed
Or Thursday watch the walls instead
It’s Friday I’m in love

Saturday wait
And Sunday always comes too late
But Friday never hesitate

It’s been a new routine for most I guess with home quarantine or “social distancing” the new normal. For many MS’ers it’s just business as usual albeit with a heightened sense of doom.

For the first time this week I have mentally made a point to stop hearing the news , Yes it’s becoming increasingly alarmist but at the time we can only do what we have control over (wash those hands…), that being said I hope that at a higher level governments around the world ARE doing the best they can to provide options ( Aren’t they ?…)

With a lot of people being based at home there has been at least many new sets to listen to. Also, lots of suggestions or people to be more creative and make the most of their time …in isolation.

The silver lining …trying to be an optimist.

Amidst all the video’s going online of empty shelves at supermarkets …I can’t comment as I haven’t been to the shops for more than two weeks …I trust that they are “Fake news” and that the reality is somewhat dimmed…perhaps they are being restocked even as I type …No ….perhaps 2020 will be remembered for the Toilet Paper Wars…?

In our little village the situation has led to what you “kinda” would expect …people are offering to do shopping for those older or incapacitated, testimony to good values and community spirit. I trust this will be the spirit in many area’s , I trust …

Anyhow, enough Doom and Gloom…some more music and a lunchtime Espresso …133…(I snuck one in while no-one was watching)…

In the between time Seth Godin has also posted a new piece …seems a good fit right now !

Calm also has a coefficient

Panic loves company.

And yet calm is our practical, efficient, rational alternative.

If you’re on a crowded plane and one person is freaking out about turbulence, the panic will eventually peter out. If, on the other hand, six people are freaking out, it’s entirely possible that it will spread and overtake the rest of the plane. Panic needs multiple nodes to spread.

The same is true with a cabin of 10-year-olds at summer camp. One homesick kid usually comes around and ends up enjoying the summer, because being surrounded by others who are okay makes us okay. But three or four homesick kids can change the entire dynamic.

While calm is a damping agent, it’s not nearly as effective at spreading itself as panic is.

The library is usually a quiet place because the dominant cultural narrative in the library is to be quiet. Because it’s dominant, the coefficient of its spread is sufficient to keep it that way. We have to expend effort to create environments of calm, because calm has a coefficient that can’t compete with panic when it comes to spreading.

And Twitter? Twitter has been engineered to maximize panic. Calm is penalized, panic is amplified. And if you are hanging out in real life with people who spend a lot of time on social media and news sites, you’ve invited all of those people into your circle as well.

We can find lots of reasons why fifty years of watching just three dominant TV networks wasn’t ideal. But the combination of oligopoly and the FCC meant that none of them spread panic. They weren’t built for it. When cable “news” showed up, they discovered that panic was a great way to make a profit. Not to make things better, simply to spread anger and fear.

If panic is helpful, of course you should bring it on. But it rarely is.

Instead:

Curate your incoming.

Stay off Twitter.

Do the work instead. Whatever needs doing most is better than panic.

Being up-to-date on the news is a trap and a scam. Five minutes a day is all you need.

Thank you for that Seth ! Strange how he always …always delivers a nugget at the right time ! (at least for my ramblings 😊 )

A little longer and time to listen to some good tunes perhaps ?

The general theme of the week has been stay at home and self-isolate…even the DJ’s are getting into the run of things, hopefully the public will support them now that they have more time on their hands ?

A goodie, not my usual but a catchy line-up none the less !

Keeping with the stay-at-home mindset , even my page-a -day Stoicism e-book had a message for me today…Ready and at Home !!!

Enough deep thinking , time to step away from all the gloom and relax and enjoy some incredible lyrics.

I never really appreciated REM until I got to listen to Around the Sun for a few hours, many of the good ones captured here.

Loving these incredible lyrics, will never forget the moment, December 2004 , Leaving NY back for Africa and this was streaming on the flight back, heard it 5-6 times and bought the CD when I landed !

Around the Sun

I want the sun to shine on me
I want the truth to set me free
I wish the followers would lead
With a voice so strong it could knock me to my knees

Hold on world ’cause you don’t know what’s coming
Hold on world ’cause I’m not jumping off
Hold onto this boy a little longer
Take another trip around the sun

If I jumped into the ocean to believe
If I climbed a mountain would I have to reach?
Do I even dare to speak? To dream? Believe?
Give me a voice so strong
I can question what I have seen

Hold on world ’cause you don’t know what’s coming
Hold on world ’cause I’m not jumping off
Hold onto this boy a little longer
Take another trip around the sun

Around the sun
Around the sun
Around the sun
Let my dreams set me free
Believe, believe
Now now now now now now

Stay safe all, make the most of the moment and be ready.

Sunglass and T-shirt weather ahead ! Well…this was all ready to hit publish late last night when todays Stoicism reading flashed in …too good not to share so here it is …

That’s it …<125 …

It was a late night what can I say