Just a thought… Self-care is giving the world the best of you, instead of what’s left of you. [Katie Reed]

Is anyone else having an awfully hard time sleeping these days? So much of it has to do with my busy brain: I come up with things to worry about, things about which I can do absolutely nothing!

I’ve stopped reading news on my iPhone before bed (which invariably gets my blood boiling) and I think the next step is stopping the late night talk shows. The humour in the monologues is just too infuriating; when they’re based on the endless stream of idiocy coming out of DC, the laughs aren’t there any more.

Although, here’s one: with the opening of beaches in Jacksonville, Florida, I had to laugh at a meme that said, “Having some states lock down and some states not lock down is like having a peeing section in a swimming pool.” It would be funnier if it wasn’t so deadly. 

So I remind myself to return to the “Serenity Prayer”:

As some of us find our tempers a little shorter than usual, our patience a bit harder to find, I am grateful to share this with you from a journal reader. She sent it about a month ago and its timing today is serendipitous. She writes:

I just read a post/story of why a Bear hibernates all winter long. This came from a young lady named Cheyenne Thomas… I have been feeling very caged in with isolation and social distancing, and my partner Joseph gave me a bear teaching:

When a bear goes into hibernation, they do it for the health of their community and themselves. In the winter, food is scarce, hibernating allows other animals to have access to the limited resources. It slows the spread of disease and viruses among other animals during a season when immune systems are lowered, and energy is limited.

It is also a time of conserving health for the bear, a time for reflection…it is a time that allows you to renew, to undergo change, to honour your place in life and food cycles.

It is not a time for anxiety or fear. When it is time for hibernation, a bear can finally relax. All of the stress of finding food, territory, and a mate disappears. The bear believes that they have done enough and trust in themselves. They know this process is necessary and they will come out the other side renewed.

Be the bear. Stay home. Rest. Know you are doing this for something much bigger than yourself.

I hope that this gentle, natural perspective helps make this time a little more bearable, if you will.

Take good care and I’ll be back here tomorrow. Sleep well.