by Bill Sheate
Here we go again…..
My last blog post on Covid-19 (Coronavirus 6: keeping a sense of perspective…) was over a year ago (8 December 2020). I had thought at the time that might be the last, but with recent guidance and ‘Plan B’ introduced in the run up to Christmas 2021 then some further reflections may be worthwhile….. [Read more]
by Bill Sheate
Learning to live with Covid-19, mindfully….
As Universities re-open for the new academic year this autumn students and staff are facing a whole new world, a very different experience to one we may be used to or have come to expect.
Big lectures with hundreds of students are no more.
Online video recorded lecture material and online live meetings are the new order of the day.
And maybe some small group teaching or lab working, where possible, in 'bubbles' of various sizes.
But social events on campus are hugely curtailed.
Covid-19 has created it's own existential anxieties for many while for some the risks seem overblown. But as I've discussed in my previous Coronavirus blogs (1-4), this spectrum of perception is normal, depending on your own personal circumstances……. [Read more]
by Bill Sheate
Getting back to just 'being' in person. . .
Meeting people face to face and not just through a screen can be quite rejuvenating. Why is that?
Screen time of whatever sort requires quite a different type of concentration, something many of us will have discovered during Covid-19 lock down. It's what we call ‘focused attention’ rather than ‘broad attention’. Focused attention is what we do when we do tasks . But focused attention is also what happens with anxiety, and also often involves tension in the body, as you focus on the screen, or the people in the videos, trying to read signals and body language in two dimensions. It can feel tiring and draining of energy, because it is…….. [Read more]