Even Olympians have to take that first step
https://twitter.com/MichellCClark/status/1420655835290558469
'Tis the season, if you haven't already joined in the Olympics fever that hits every end-of-work day in Singapore. I've spent the past few days watching athletic gymnastics, feeling truly like a couch potato, and viscerally jerking back in commiseration when people who have put in hours upon hours on end to represent their country fall face first while swinging on uneven bars. And they get up, grit their teeth, and complete their routines because it is only right.
We won't all find it in us to have such levels of sheer dedication and focus in our tasks. Neither will we be in such a tough spot where the world watches for our mistakes. But precisely because these are difficult times for everyone, we need to cut ourselves some slack because we are still making effort to show up.
https://twitter.com/AdamMGrant/status/1420019375596347393
This recent post from organisational psychologist Adam Grant triggered something in me. Some cynics will say, how can we really ensure people aren't making a fuss about "being sad"? Maybe they have no grit, or perseverance, or discipline?
These are the questions that stop people at-risk from being open about seeking help. They worry about judgement, when what they truly need is a non-judgemental space, a community that listens. With mental illness quadrupling through COVID-19, and in Singapore, suicide rates are the highest it's been in 8 years, is it not reason enough to learn how to be an ally and watch for silent cries for help? Wouldn't you want that compassion for yourself when you are in need, someday?
Turning these pages
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Allow sad days at work: Empathy's made it into mainstream conversations, but compassion? Does it have a place at work? That was a rhetoric question, because of course it does! Adam Grant expounds on compassion, where being empathetic is no longer enough; instead, what matters is for managers to respond by taking action to alleviate employees' pain.
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Where should we begin?: Exchanging plesantries can only go so far before you're like "I'm not turning on my video cam for calls today". With a sense of social atrophy and social anxiety growing, psychotherapist Esther Perel decided enough was enough, and created a card game to facilitate connection through storytelling. Can't wait for it to ship to Singapore!
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Holding conversations with those who have left us: Created by garden designer Itaru Sasaki in 2010 to help him cope with his cousin's death, this phonebooth was opened to the public in the following year after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. My version of this phonebooth is my Gmail archives, with digitised chats with my ma.
When Coasts Collide IV
Ending my heavy thoughts with something light from Singaporean artist Wyn-Lyn Tan, whose fascination with natural landscapes continues to come across with this recent series of plexiglass paintings.
"As light from the surroundings pour through her paintings on plexiglass blocks and discs, painting becomes more than two-dimensional. It takes on a visual echo of the space it sits in; it is no longer static, but perceived in a continuum of time and space."
Wishing you lightness,
Medhā
p/s hoping for no strong reaction to my second Moderna jab taken this morning