Responsible Optimism & The Brutal Facts in time of COVID-19/Corona Virus

Rebecca and “Sam” discuss art and stories and fear and how we are learning to be aware of the “brutal facts” of the changing world without succumbing to the negativity surrounding some of those facts. We share our best coping mechanisms, how we choose to be “responsibly optimistic” and use the “brutal facts” to help bring us even more joy and beauty and ease into our lives.

Also, we finish this episode with a song called “6 Feet Apart” by a friend of Rebecca’s, a singer/songwriter named Val D’Alessio. Val specializes in music celebrating the joy of living from the heart. 

You can find more of her Joy and Passion Powered Folk Pop on a Country Blues Backroad music and inspirations here.

SHOWNOTES:

3:45 – acknowledging that this is a big, tough situation globally, and aiming to accept that without succumbing to the negativity surrounding that.

7:40 – Burying your head in the sand – The trick to that…

8:33 – the “Happy Face Sticker over your Gas Gauge” analogy from Esther Hicks

10:13 – “Sam’s” story about his “Abandon Hope” team attitude, that was actually a thoughtful way of saying “know your shit”

“Hope is a passive word. I want you to KNOW.”

12:41 – Touring in the Army was a course in Life Appreciation

16:18 – Rebecca’s “looking at the brutal facts” and how that influenced her decision about what to invest so much of her newly free time into.

17:12 – Carpe Diem!

18:49 – If you find yourself looking at two options, take both those options off the table and ask yourself “Now What?” -The Hard Thing About Hard Things book

20:20 – and the middle ground is the NEW normal!

20:39 – You DO have some agency about what is going to happen.

21:00 – Rebecca’s best tips: Change your timeline & make sure you leave it in the best place possible

23:13 – Zen Buddhist story about the monk, the tiger and the strawberry on the cliff

24:40 – Admiral Stockdale, Who survived in the POW camp? The optimists did not survive…

 “This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” – Admiral Stockdale

25:09 – Val D’Alessio, 6 Feet Apart (post the recording at the end of this episode)

 26:44 – Rebecca shares about chronic depression

27:25 – I Had to look at the brutal facts of how I can get enough touch in my life and deciding what I REALLY really need to be ok. This is what I decided I needed and how I’m getting it.

30:05 – Snippet from Robin Williams in Dead Poet’s Society – https://youtu.be/omveFR-2hmg?t=37

31:54 – The monologue from the writing professor in the aftermath of 9/11 – https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/welcoming-remarks-made-at-a-literary-reading-9-25-01

33:46 – Who You Are poem, “Sam” reading it (basically when you recognize yourself in others, it helps you love and appreciate yourself)

35:43 – My New Patreon site – tip us for making a show that’s great, for inspiring you

https://www.patreon.com/RadiantRebecca

36:02 – Val D’Alessio’s new song, 6 Feet Apart

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