In these wild quarantine times, I have good days and I have not so good days. Today feels like a good day 🙂 

 While the good vibes are flowing, here are some positive things I am focusing on today:

• With so many people sheltering in place, living in the city is quieter than I can ever remember. Sitting and being able to listen to the sound of the wind or the song of the birds without the constant din of traffic and humanity is like a slice of heaven for me!

• Thanks to social distancing, and thus my new online yoga class schedule, not only do I get to see my Maine community in class, I also get to see my family, my Philly friends, former colleagues, and so many more amazing folks! I see some people every single day for yoga classes now, what dedication! This pandemic has moved me towards connection even as it moved me further (farther?) apart from in-person human interaction.

• Did you know that you can make a gluten-free sourdough starter from kombucha and buckwheat flour?!?! Neither did I until today. With hours to spend, and the power of the internet at my fingertips, there is so much amazing information out there to explore. Needless to say, I’ll be spending some time in the kitchen trying to grow my own little sourdough culture and bake my own bread!

•  I love making excuses about not having time to…you name it…meditate, sew, learn to play an instrument, etc. While I don’t feel like I have to always be DOING something, I am appreciating having more space to sit back and think, “gee, what speaks to me in this moment?” and following my heart/intuition as opposed to my schedule or to-do list for how I organize my days.

• Once my roommates challenged me to give up “snoozing” for Lent. I lasted ONE day. Of all the challenges around not being a morning person, my personal kryptonite is waking up to an alarm everyday (see #1 and how much I like the quiet). As the alarm jars me into wakefulness, it feels like a piece of me is left behind in the dream world. In fact, according to some Jewish beliefs, “sleep, like death, temporarily separates body and soul” (Genesis Rabbah 14:9) and the moment when the soul returns to the body is at the first moment of natural wakefulness in the morning. So, seemingly, I have been leaving little pieces of my soul in the dream world for decades. Well guess what! With our new pandemic schedule, I am recollecting all my soul shards each morning without the rude “help” of my alarm clock.

I hope you all are finding your own personal silver linings to this new, albeit strange, way of life! Now more than ever, if you want someone to talk to, I’m here and I would love to connect 🙂