All Events in Life, Wonderful or Tragic, Are Opportunities for Learning and Growth

Being forced to stay inside due to coronavirus has made me healthier in some ways. For example, I am preparing the main meal of a salad every day since I am not on campus where I would usually eat out. I am the king of healthy salads! I put around a dozen healthy ingredients in them including cucumbers, peppers, onions, beets, tomato, carrots, sunflowers seeds, raisins, you name it.

I write a schedule every morning for what I intend to accomplish. Nothing fancy, just on a standard sheet of typing paper with a checklist of boxes to mark. I always feel a sense of accomplishment to check off those boxes. Whatever I don’t check off makes the list the next day.

• Minds Online: Teaching Effectively with Technology by Michelle D. Miller. Michelle is a colleague of mine at NAU. 
• Story Proof: The Science Behind the Startling Power of Stories by Kendall Haven. 
• Stan Lee: Comic Book Superhero by Martin Gitlin. A great way to celebrate creativity is to learn more about one of the most inspirational creative figures of all time. 
• A Lie Too Big to Fail: The Real History of the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy by Lisa Pease. 
• The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo. The book is filled with powerful, deep, and penetrating spiritual insights from a master.

All events in life, wonderful or tragic, are opportunities for learning and growth. This pandemic will be no different. Some people will go with the flow and evolve with the times. Others will be thrown through a loop and have trouble recovering. It’s up to us, we have the power to move forward productively if we are adaptable.