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2021-02-19

Minister's Post, Fri Feb 19

Dear Ones, Fellow Unitarian Universalists,

Covid Watch

In the US, for the week of Feb 12-18 there were fewer new cases than in any 7-day period since Oct 21-27. Indeed, the number of new cases during Feb 12-18 was less than a third (29%) as many new cases as there were during the peak week, Jan 5-11.

Deaths are following suit: during Feb 12-18, an average of 2,075 died of Covid per day in the US. That's down from a daily average of 3,449 deaths per day during Jan 20-26.

Despite 5.5 weeks now of steeply declining numbers of new cases, a third surge is still very possible. Be careful!

Yours in the faith we share,
Meredith

Practice of the Week

Slogans work, as advertisers know – so let's put them to a positive use!

Using slogans to guide and remind you of how you want to be brings more peace and more joy into your life. Maybe you could use a little more peace and joy. This winter’s series of “Slogans That Help” has included, “Stay Close to your Resentment,” “Get Excited,” “Find Strength,” and “Smile.”mThis week’s slogan is one word: “Patience.”

In life, there’s the first arrow, then the second arrow. Delays, difficulties, and temporary discomforts happen. That’s the first arrow. There’s no avoiding the first arrow. It’s often a tiny prick. But if we get upset – irritated, angry, annoyed – with these things, then we are striking ourselves with a second arrow that goes much deeper and hurts a lot more.

Impatience interprets circumstances as you being hindered or mistreated. When you can change things, you do. Impatience arises when you can’t change them so you stew and seethe in your misery. Impatience combines all three ingredients of toxic stress: unpleasant experiences, pressure or urgency, and lack of control.

Patience senses a fundamental all-right-ness, the doorway to contentment. Impatience narrows down onto what's "wrong," while patience keeps you wide open to the big picture. Impatience can't stand unpleasant feelings; patience helps you tolerate physical and emotional discomfort. Impatience wants rewards now; patience helps you tolerate delayed gratification, which fosters increased success and sense of worth.

Please see these two posts on this blog site (cucmatters.org):

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