The fact that no conversation can go on without the C-word will be with us for some time to come, because the times of Corona, as I believe they are now officially called, will probably not pass so quickly, and until we humans understand something very fundamental from this history and then change something substantial, C will simply have successors.
The stories we tell ourselves and each other come from the genre of tragedy & drama, even if you are only marginally affected yourself, the sparks fly deep.
TOO LAZY TO READ ON? THEN LISTEN TO ME:
In the blogcast, I read this recent blog article to you. With emphasis, of course!
But everyone is affected in some way, even if home office and homeschooling don't even waft through everyday life, but everything is the same anyway, except that Da Ponte on the corner is closed every day.
That thing called mood, that nests itself, in each of us. Like the steam from the pasta aglio e olio in the curtains. At some point you don't really notice it any more. That's why it's so hard to get it out again. It's just there. That's how it smells here. It's just soapy, that's how it is.
You're always annoyed and stressed and broken. End of the world anyway.
"The psyche is a forgotten aspect of COVID-19," Devora Kestel, director of mental health at WHO, recently alerted, "and if you look around, you'll notice in the mundane that almost everyone is displaying some kind of C abrasion.
Also take a look in the mirror. See?
And there you will also see the person who is responsible for the genre of your story. Devora Kestel can remind us of the forgotten aspect of COVID-19, but we have to help ourselves. The good thing is that we don't need anyone else to do it, not even the WHO. We can do it at any time and start immediately. If Michael Jackson were to write a song about it, he would probably call it "Man in the Mirror", I bet.
And the chorus would probably go like this:
I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make achange
The point is: the vast majority of problems do not arise from the problem, but from our evaluation, our view of the matter and precisely from the story we build around it. I recently wrote down a few thoughts on this topic here.
What is the best way to get out of such a negative story? For example, we could do one thing right away: change the genre of the stories we tell ourselves. That is absolutely the first thing to do. The unreal inner story is the only thing we can change in real terms at any time.
Something from "Homo Deus" by Yuval Noah Harari comes to mind: "Each of us has an elaborate system that throws away most of our experiences, keeps only a select few, mixes them with bits and pieces from films we've seen; novels we've read; speeches we've heard; and our own daydreams, and knits out of all this clutter a seemingly coherent story about who I am, where I come from and where I'm going. This story tells me what to love, who to hate and what to do with myself.
This story can even lead me to lay down my life if the plot requires it. Everyone has their own genre in this: some live a tragedy, others inhabit a never-ending drama of faith, some live their lives like an action movie, and quite a few act like they are in a comedy. But in the end, they are always just stories."
Disagreeing with Yuval Noah Harari isn't very trendy these days anyway, so here we go. Let's revive the beautiful tradition of turning the tables right now and change the genre of our story! You don't have to do it like Robert De Niro and transform yourself from a registered character actor in dramas, tragedies and thrillers to a comedy star. But the general rule is: get out of tragedy!
Yes, it really is possible! Again and again you meet people who do it.
What comes with it instead?
Last week, someone like that walked in front of my microphone in my virtual podcast studio: Andreas Gfrerer is his name. Anderl is the owner, boss and impresario of the Art-Hotel Blaue Gans in Salzburg, someone whose existence currently consists of quite a few days off. However, he should have even more worries than curfews, one would assume. But out of his mouth come sentences like: "I enjoy this time." And then he knows: "Of course, a lot of things will be dropped, but: What will be added instead? That interests me even more!"
That should be of burning interest to all of us: what comes next? That's much more interesting than why mass tests are stupid (or maybe they aren't?), and whether Bill Gates is really the virus and will personally inoculate us survivors to death from now on. One by one, via the next Excel update.
Anderl, as his name suggests, does many things differently from others. He is an incurable self-thinker and one who gets things moving and into reality. He does this in his Art Hotel, which is a wonderful place of transformation through encounters. You meet art, people, each other and new thoughts there. And a very good espresso, by the way, whose healing, saving, stimulating and life-enriching effect is only surpassed by the necessary power of art in the Art-Hotel. And all this in the oldest inn in town, in Salzburg to boot.
Even in Salzburg! "There," says Andreas Gfrerer, "you have to add a now to the tradition." That's what he does, among other things, with projects like "Jazz and the City". But it's best to listen for yourself, you'll enjoy meeting this inspiring person in the latest episode of my podcast.
Turn the tables!
Talking of inspiring people: Following this example, we could add a now to the old tradition of turning the tables by discarding the roles of Frustfritz, Grantscherm and Dramaqueen that have been meekly imposed on us, hang the whiner out to dry and run a dashing round the tragedy pool in courage boots for once.
Because how about not only telling ourselves a different story, but also inviting everyone else to do so, i.e. to report on positive experiences? There are plenty of them, even in our own day. If we don't even get on the bus to Schrecklichhausen, we may not rush non-stop to the end of the rainbow, but we will definitely have a better today. After all, that's the master trick par excellence if you want to take care of the future: take care of the moment you're living now. That, entre nous, is also the only thing you can do. And you are the only one who is responsible for it.
What else do you need?
Sometimes, however, you need a little tailwind on the Yellow Brick Road when taking care of what is. That's why we have the perfect gift for all those who are missing something even though they have everything. It looks like a voucher, but it is one.
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If every person, every company, every one of us sends positive signals to the other, gives impulses of confidence and supports all others to do the same, then we add a now to the tragedy. Out of this comes a tomorrow that has the makings of a new, a better story for us all.
That would be a whole new story, a New Story, which we urgently need. Because this new story, like the old one, is also about all of us, but it has a new perspective: it no longer tells about what separates us, but about the opposite. It does not tell about the drama of yesterday, but about the people of today and their desire for tomorrow. We ourselves appear in the double role of heroines and mentors and direct according to our own script.
When we do this for each other, we also do it for ourselves. For as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, who knew as much about the effect of stories in his time as Yuval Noah Harari does today: "If you want to be happy in life, contribute to the happiness of others, for the joy we give returns to our own hearts. Isso.
And I think that 's what my grandmother, old Story Dudette, meant when she would tell herself a story to go to sleep and mutter, "No Story. No Glory."