Two-thirds into writing this issue the seriousness of this pandemic set in and I knew much of it was no longer relevant to the emergencies we’re facing, so I rewrote it. This 80% coronavirus-influenced edition of Align Center makes room for humor, poetry and art amongst reflections on isolation, quarantine and grief. I hope something in this issue will resonate with you and help during these unprecedented times, as several did for me.<\/p>\n
A few things I thought were worth sharing:<\/p>\n
We’re feeling a lot of things at this moment, many unfamiliar and uncomfortable. Not since WWII has a crisis of this magnitude affected people across all walks of life, rich or poor, across the globe. Having recently watched Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, I was struck when Mr. Rogers said giving names to feelings is the first step to managing them. A potent article on how we can apply K\u00fcbler-Ross’ five stages of grief, to better manage our feelings and find meaning. Jules Verne said “solitude, isolation, are painful things, and beyond human endurance.” But a more optimistic Pablo Picasso famously said “without great solitude, no serious work is possible”. In our over-stimulated times, a period of reflection can be a garden for new ideas, allowing us to revisit past travels when we’re often busy jumping to the next trip (I’m certainly guilty). How being confined at home can be an opportunity to get to know ourselves and our loved ones better. In what is the greatest remote work experiment of all-time, technology’s promise to connect us while we are at our most disconnected is put to this test as the majority wait it out in isolation. This article argues not only that we’re heading directly in this trajectory, but that we’ve already been living it. (This piece was written March 4 when things were less dire). If capitalism is so great, why do we need socialism to bail us out every twelve years? That’s a meme I saw this week after the trillion dollar stimulus packages were approved. (Note: capitalism itself is not the problem, it’s unfettered corrupt capitalism with monopolies). Now with $1,200 and $2000 cheques being cut to every citizen in the USA and Canada, the results of a recent universal basic income project got buried under the headlines. I always think of Wu-Tang Clan’s lyric “Cash rules everything around me” when conversations are bound by money concerns. There’s this very real limitation income puts around us, so in 2015 it made headlines when Seattle-based CEO Dan Price introduced a $70,000 minimum salary for all of his 120 employees and cut his pay to the same amount. An update five years later on the culture of his payments company. Another update: last week Price and his COO cut their salary to $0 during this crisis. From the creators of On Being (which I mention far too many times in these newsletters), an unhurried immersion into a single poem. Guided by the wise poet and theologian P\u00e1draig \u00d3 Tuama. The Belgian psychotherapist is hosting a free four-part live conversation about “the new normal, what it means for our relationships, and how we can move forward in a time of social distancing, uncertainty, and grief.” The four-part webinar starts April 1 at noon Pacific. Last month in Ubud, I met an amazing human from Lithuania in the room next to mine. A country of 2.8 million wedged between Latvia, Belarus and Poland, it was the first Baltic state to declare independence from the Soviet Union. Soups are popular in Lithuanian cuisine, none more recognizable than Saltibarsciai, a bright pink cold summer soup based on beets and dill. Nutritious and easy to prepare, when I finally return home this will be the first new recipe I’ll make. There’s no shortage of think piece-y coronavirus commentary, but when the author of Sapiens sounds a warning that we are heading directly into an Orwellian future, it’s worth the read. Through a systematic lens, Harari warns of the choices nations will be faced with when the dust settles \u2013 totalitarian surveillance versus citizen empowerment, and nationalist isolation versus global solidarity. A glimpse into how the decisions made in this time of great crisis can have lasting consequences. And finally, a great long read with no mention of the pandemic. An improvisational fusion of Arab, Andalusian folk, and gypsy music, flamenco emerged as a musical outlet for the poor and oppressed. In this male-dominated tradition, a child prodigy and her teacher \/ father who once trained with the great Paco de Luc\u00eda returns to Spain to seek the rarest of recognitions – to become a tocaoras, a female flamenco guitarist. A story of tradition, culture, travel, mid-life learning and finding joy in rekindled passions. Based on John Bowlby’s work and influential psychologist Mary Ainsworth’s oft-cited The Strange Situation test, attachment theory is concerned with relationships and emotional bonds between people. In Attached, the focus is on romantic partners and how attachment styles can be recognized when our behaviors keeping us from harm are also keeping us from loving, secure relationships. Complement this with Dr. Sue Johnson’s Hold Me Tight and perhaps better read first as a primer, whereas the creator of EFT (Emotion-Focused Therapy) goes deeper with specific exercises for couples.
Harvard Business Review (7min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nOn Isolation and Confinement<\/a><\/h2>\n
The School of Life (9min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nYou Already Live in Quarantine<\/a><\/h2>\n
The Atlantic (6min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nResults from Canada’s Basic Income Pilot Project<\/a><\/h2>\n
CBC News (3min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nFollowing Up On The Boss Who Paid Everyone $70K<\/a><\/h2>\n
BBC News (9min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u25e6 listen in<\/h1>\n
Poetry Unbound<\/a><\/h2>\n
Poetry Unbound via On Being<\/a> or Apple Podcasts<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nEsther Perel’s The Art of Us: Love, Loss, and Loneliness Under Lockdown<\/a><\/h2>\n
EstherPerel.com (signup)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u25e6 eat well<\/h1>\n
Saltibarsciai, Lithuanian Cold Pink Soup<\/a><\/h2>\n
History and Recipe on Arousing Appetites<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u25e6 read slow<\/h1>\n
Yuval Noah Harari: The World After Coronavirus<\/a><\/h2>\n
Financial Times (14min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nA Women in a Man’s World – Rediscovering the Flamenco Guitar<\/a><\/h2>\n
Afar (15min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u25e6 current read<\/h1>\n
Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find \u2013 and \u2013 Keep Love<\/a><\/h2>\n
Attached by Amir Levine, Rachel S.F. Heller (304p book)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u25e6 humble thought<\/h1>\n
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