Have fun while sheltering safely
BY PAT HANSON
We, invisible grandparents, have perhaps more experience at keeping things at a distance to avoid feeling the painful feelings of separation from loved ones little or large. What we need to remember why sheltering safely is how to have fun every day anyway.
Here are some ways to do just that. Go have some fun!
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Make a DONE rather than a TODO list and visualize the things least essential to your survival being completed first.
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Watch Broadway plays that you’d never have been able to attend and share them with family on your widescreen TV.
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Use the power of your imagination and travel virtually anywhere in the world you’d like to see. Google it and you’ll ‘be there’ for free.
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See performers whose concerts you’d never have been able to go to Sheryl Crow, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Justin Bieber and dozens of young bands from around the world perform their own arrangements of classic Rock ’n’ Roll songs by watching the video of the Star-Studded ‘One World’ Concert To Rally Support For Health Care.
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Listen and watch RadioParadise.com/HD for slide shows to music 24/7.
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Do a jigsaw puzzle and let yourself be soothed by fitting in the pieces.
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Laughter is great medicine. Many comedians are offering their own specials. Jerry Seinfeld held one to a virtual audience in a huge auditorium, and his series ‘Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee’ will give you a look at classic autos as well as a peek inside their owner’s minds.
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Find your crayons and marking pens. Color away in coloring books giving yourself permission to draw outside the lines. Check out The Mindfulness Coloring Book or zentangles, an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. -
Art is essential. Get out a sketch pad or put newsprint on an easel and create your own art. Throw ego (edge god out) and do not criticize or evaluate the outcome.
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Remember the book or magazine you liked long ago? Read it again, you’ll be surprised at how much more you ‘get’ from it now. Many libraries have free virtual memberships. Back issues of many magazines are now available through their archives for free.
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Find a piece of nature i.e. flowers, a blade of grass sticking between cement sidewalk, and thank the universe or god, Gaia, mother-father spirit or Christ, whatever you call it, for the simple grace of growth.
READ MORE FROM DR. PAT HANSON HERE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR – DR. PAT HANSON
Pat Hanson is a seasoned health educator, public speaker, and workshop facilitator. She is the author of Invisible Grandparenting: Leave A Legacy Of Love Whether You Can Be There or Not. She lectures nationally on Aging Positively and is a columnist for the magazines: Crone: Women Coming of Age and GRAND
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