Last week, I added a section to a blog post I made where I listed a few things I should be grateful for in the previous week. It seemed like a pretty good exercise, given the situation. I think it’s something I’m going to try to continue on a regular basis with once a week lists. Even after this pandemic is over, I think I could benefit from reminding myself of all of the good things that happen over the course of a week and meditating on them for a bit.
- I reread The Red Badge of Courage and it made a lot more sense to me now as an adult and an Army veteran.
- I’m continually grateful that the New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library have such a large catalog of audiobooks and eBooks that I can borrow through my phone.
- I discovered free online courses from Harvard. The certificates aren’t free, but it still seems like a pretty good deal to me.
- The cat we rescued, Mama Cat, is finally starting to improve. She is suffering from some kind of skin condition that we’ve been treating with antibacterial/antifungal wipes. We gave her a bath and she’s finally getting fluffy enough to pick up and pet. She’s super grateful for the affection.
- I baked some kick-ass brownies.
- I found a really cool horror anthology on Amazon Prime Video called Hitokowa: The Killing Hour that is kind of cheesy, but in a great way.
- Honda Financial Services allowed us to defer our car payments for two months, so we’re relieved of that burden until June.
- My wife and I are both healthy and we’re eating well, which is more than many can say right now.
- We have lots of toilet paper.
- Our cat, Dapper, is super happy that we’re around all the time.
- I’ve been reading more by Stoic authors and the stuff makes sense. Here’s a quote by Epictetus that is still very relevant:
There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.
Epictetus
There’s an element of this in Buddhism as well, where you’re encouraged to live in the present moment. Or maybe I’m mixing that up with Western mindfulness? I’ll have to do some more reading.
Bradley Farless 