Dear Janus:

(I forgot to add the usual Earth Angel and Poet to my last post to you, but now, looking at “Dear Janus” by itself, it looks better to me, so I will continue with it).

You are welcome. The interaction you described with the bird, it was so pleasant for you because you weren’t afraid of what the bird was thinking about you, a bird being incapable of thinking negative things about you, judging you, looking down at you, none of these things, so you are not self conscious with the bird, not worrying, you are free to just be.

“I love birds and Animals are amazing .. they always seem to brighten your days”- a day without the inner critic is a bright day. The inner critic knows it can’t fool you by telling  you that a bird, or a dog is thinking negatively about you, having the words to form such thoughts, so it stays quiet.

Enjoy this break from the inner critic, treasure this time, so when the pandemic is over, you will take this time with you and aim at having more of it, even around people.

Your mint plants analogy is brilliant- spreading out horizontally when there is little sun (isolating during a pandemic), and growing tall upward when the sun comes out (socializing again when the viral danger is gone).

But socializing is not delightful for everyone, because so many of us worry about what other people think of us, and that worry ruins the delight of socializing with other people.

It’s been sunny here too, where I am, the sky is beautiful here, at 6:04 am, some kind of blue, not long after the start of sunrise.

anita