https://padlet.com/arielbada2020/yu95wfj9hfsnxnpa Man from the beginning of time has overcome innumerable odds in order to survive. Milleniums of Ice Ages, volcanic erruptions and ocean deluges have subjected the earth and killed creatures of proportions greater than him, and yet, here he is today. What is the secret of survival of this minuscule being? en-us 2021-08-22 09:36:52 UTC 2021-08-22 09:41:17 UTC hello@padlet.com arielbada2020 https://padlet.com/arielbada2020/yu95wfj9hfsnxnpa/wish/1689400803 The present covid19 pandemic is a very small hiccup compared to these global catastrophes which changed the face of the earth, but this phenomenon affecting man manifests a unique ability of man: the capacity to relate inside and outside of himself.

Man is a social being and this does not refer to his ability to relate with his fellow human beings, but expansively to his inner self, to his environment and ultimately to the supernatural.
Communication, which is simply the act of transferring and receiving information, is a basic function of man and he does this in four levels:

1) Man is the only creature capable of introspection.
According to Wikipedia, "Introspection is the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings. In psychology, the process of introspection relies on the observation of one's mental state, while in a spiritual context it may refer to the examination of one's soul." 
- (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introspection#:~:text=Introspection%20is%20the%20examination%20of,the%20examination%20of%20one's%20soul.)
Paradoxically, man is able to communicate with himself. Through this process, man is able to learn from himself, he develops self-awareness and learns his strength and weakness. He learns his capabilities, his limitations and thus understands how he must act in front of certain situations. Most importantly, he learns from his mistakes. He can examine his past AND the past of others and deduce from them in order to formulate his future actions.
Developing a healthy connection with ourselves is therefore an essential part of our well-being.

2) No man is an island. He needs his neighbors in order to progress. This social need is so primeval that it conditioned man's psychological evolution. The film Cast Away demonstrates this in the anguished longing of a man to communicate with another human being particularly when the character, Chuck Nolan (Tom Hanks), creates an imaginary friend via a handmade volley ball he named Wilson. His desperation when Wilson fell off the raft was hilarious but comprehensible. Man, to keep his sanity, needs others. Our society is founded obviously on our relationship with one another.

3) Man lives his life in symbiosis with his Surrounding. 
Although his surrounding is actually indifferent to him and treats him sometimes benevolently, sometimes with rampaging hostility (think of a sunny day or a terrible storm surge) man MUST learn to read and interpret Nature. It is something he can never dominate and control. He's damned if he loves, and damned also if he hates it. But man having learned and memorized the pattern of Mother Nature's temper allowed him to safeguard himself from her fits of outburst. That is why from the very beginning of man's evolution he learned to adapt and developed his habitat to protect himself and his brood: he dwelt in caves, erected shelters made from the materials that will camouflage himself and devised weapons to attack, retaliate and defend.

4) Man is a Spiritual Being and thus, is able to establish a relationship with a Higher Power. His perception goes beyond the physical and ultimately reaches outside of his finiteness. 
Call it intuition of the Divine, supernatural speculation or belief in the Absolute, man has always had an innert need to reach out to something or someone more powerful than himself, like an instinctive drive to search for help more powerful than his will. When all else fails, hope, urges him to reach out. Call it religion or call it superstition, man at a certain point that his being is not situated on a mortal plane, because his existence is anchored in his soul which enables his capacity to connect beyond himself, his neighbors and nature.

It is imperative, therefore, that during the pandemic, we nurture these four relationships if we want to survive and keep our sanity intact.

HOW DO WE MAINTAIN THESE FOUR LEVELS OF STAYING IN TOUCH DURING THE PANDEMIC?

First, make sure you have a very stable Internet Connection. Access to the internet may become a matter of life and death. But even without making this consideration, having a continuous and speedy internet connection is essential in five major activities that we do during the pandemic. 
1) For us who work from home, we can't even imagine what happens if we don't have it. It places food on our table, period.
2) For our kids' online classes, well, they might be overjoyed if they couldn't attend them, but we parents would have gone insane.
3) For our online business, going bankrupt would be the last straw.
4) For our never ending chats and videocalls with our friends and relatives.
5) For accessing current news and important information pertinent to the ongoing pandemic. Where are the available testing centers? When will the vaccines be available? Where can I avail of them?

WHAT MUST WE DO?

1) Listen to yourself. You will discover that there is a child in you that needs your attention and your care. You will know how valuable you are and that you are worthy of love.
2) Do not take your emotions and your feelings for granted. Do not be hard on yourself, let go of negative emotions. Forgive yourself.
3) Find time to meditate. According to wikipedia, "Meditation is a practice where an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state." 
Understand that this practice is not only for monks and you do not need to recluse yourself in order to do it. It is, after all, a state of mind. 

4) Aside from making sure that we subscribe to reliable Internet Plans with our Internet Providers, there are some gadgets that will help us maintain a good coverage within our home.
It is very common that our wifi signal weakens due to multiple users grabbing the connection and slowing it down. One simple solution is buying a Wifi Extender or what is known also as a Wifi Repeater. There are many online shops where we can buy these gadgets, but before we buy them, there are certain things we need to know about how they work. The wifi repeater does not increase the speed of your internet signal but it only increases its range. Therefore, do not expect that your download or streaming time will be faster. 

5) Do not take your family members, relatives and friends for granted. The Pandemic may have limited your time and space, but it did not create barriers between you and the people around you. We have come a long way from the conditions which used to constrain our need to communicate. From sending news by beating drums, messenger pigeons, telegraphs and telegrams, from writing letters to emails and text messages we can now communicate live through videocalls. 
6) Send your signals out there. Some scientists explore the possibility of conscient beings in other galaxies. They send time capsules through space shuttles and messages through electronic impulses, they score the vast space via radars hoping to catch responses. Some people do this via the modern technologies and applications like YouTube, Podcast, Instagram and Twitter. These people have the courage to stretch self-expression and churn interesting contents for public consumption. Many become very successful because they find kindred souls who latch to their channels and establish mutual correspondence. It is just a matter of hurling your fishlines.

The Pandemic continues to be a terrible time for many of us. Millions have suffered and continue to experience the painful struggle of the covid19 scourge. Thousands have died, and with them, entire families and communities experience loss and ruin. Will we be able to rise from its devastation? Perhaps, it is too early to ask this question. We are too deeply entrenched in the quagmire. But history is on our side. Man may be the main casualty of every war, every epidemic and every natural disaster, but he is also the sole survivor of these struggles for one unique reason: he is the only creature who believes in the unfailing power of FAITH, who can wield the unextinguishable torch of HOPE, and draw out from the bottomless well of LOVE.


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