Over the past few years I’ve become more appreciative of the power of mindfulness. Many of us are used to hearing that term in the context of “mindfulness meditation,” but the practice of mindfulness isn’t limited to meditating. In fact, although I meditated daily for several weeks a few years ago, I didn’t stick with it. But I have stuck with the practice of being mindful. . . .
Category: Personal
Could Anything Be More Fraught Than Buying a New Car?
Yesterday I went with my mother to a Subaru dealer to buy a new car. I’ve always hated buying a car. You’re dealing with an outfit whose goal is to get you to pay as much for the car as they can, while you, of course, want to pay as little as you can. But they do this multiple times every day while you do it once every 5, 10 or 15 years, so they have around 5,000 as much experience at such negotiations as you do. It can really be tortuous. . . .
A Successful Zoom Birthday Party
My mother’s 90th birthday celebration on Zoom which I first described last week, was a huge success. . . .
Getting Outdoors While the Getting Is Good
Yesterday was the last day of summer and it felt like autumn. Today is the first day of autumn and it feels like summer. The rest of the week should be even more summer-like, with a high each day near 80. I don’t know how many more days like this we’re going to have this year, so Jennifer and I are filling up our social calendar this week with outdoor get-togethers. . . .
Zoom Cocktails
Jennifer and I hosted a little get-together on Zoom last night with two other couples whom we like and who know each other. It was fun, and convinced me that this is something we should do more of. . . .
More Postcards, and Now Letters, to Voters
I wrote previously about writing postcards to voters on behalf of Reclaim Our Vote, which supports volunteers who want to send appeals to registered Democrats, especially voters of color, urging them to take advantage of early voting in the upcoming election. I’ve since found two more organizations that do something similar. . . .
Celebrating a Milestone Birthday on Zoom
My mother is celebrating her 90th birthday next Wednesday. In ordinary times we would have had a big family dinner out or even a party, but of course these are not ordinary times. . . .
Safety vs. Expediency
Today’s post is a transcription of a hand-written letter that I mailed to my gastroenterologist this morning.
Dear Dr. B_____,
I had an appointment with you this morning in advance of scheduling an endoscopy. When I arrived at your office the receptionist collected my insurance cards and ID and asked me to take a seat in the waiting room. Since there were several other patients already there I told her I would prefer to wait outside. She replied, “Well, we don’t call people so I don’t know what to tell you.” . . .
Losing Weight During the Pandemic
I’ve long wanted to lose a few pounds, but my Achilles’ heel has always been social evenings out. I did fine with restricting what I ate except when it came to going to someone’s house for dinner or out to a restaurant. Those occasions were inevitably diet-busters. When the governor announced a shutdown to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, I realized that it presented an opportunity. . . .
Getting Comfortable In the Doldrums
I can’t remember every having less face-to-face contact with other human beings than I have over the last six months, nor can I remember a time when every day was so much like every other. You’d think that I would welcome any opportunity to interrupt the monotony, to do something or see someone new. And yet there seems to be a kind of inertia at play. . . .