So, it’s a pandemic and you’re not going to the gym eh. Running is so simple and convenient but odds are those who are reading this are not doing it. What do you think the probability is of catching COVID-19 in the open air far from people? What are your chances of recovering from COVID-19 should you catch it after having achieved a particular level of fitness from running?
Benefits:
You need to be enriched by subtle radiation from the sun
You excite neurotransmitters thereby increasing receptive capacity of target tissue
Increased rate of blood flow exercises elasticity of arteries and veins potentially reducing plaque
Increase caloric output effectively prohibiting weight gain
Potential for increasing mental acuity
Things to consider:
a. Start slow…walk at first . Consider getting a medical consult first.
b. Pace yourself.
c. Distance doesn’t matter. It’s not a competition. Your chance at Olympic fame is over.
You remember junior high school gym class when social dance was introduced. As boys you were too cool and as girls you were mystified by what might transpire (presumptuous of me I know). I suggest that the curriculum was good for you. I went to all the school dances and left my friends behind. It wasn’t easy getting rejected by girls at that age.
On an academic level, I had taken dance to another “step” because as a fundamental core component of Physical Education, kinesiology class in first year university and the modern dance module was a requirement for men and women. You either found open mindedness or you failed. It was that simple. There was jazz element in which I actually took an interest because one could actually incorporate popular music with coordinated group steps. In second year having decided that I found enjoyment from the class, I actually paid for a jazz evening class on campus.
I danced in the clubs during the ‘80s and 90’s while I circulated solo. At times, when the crowds were sparse, I was a spectator checking out the moves wondering how to incorporate them at some later date. Imagining swing moves without a partner was difficult. I looked upon it as part of the challenge.
The best part of my accounting practice has been seasonal slowness every fall. It’s a time when I challenge myself to learn something new. Dancing classes have been perfect in this regard. I’ve taken classes at Alberta Dancesport, Ceroc Calgary, and some salsa privately. The moves get forgotten without practice and reinforcement.
Now here we are in this pandemic and I wonder how people are doing. I mean really doing….. from a spiritual sense. The thing about dance is that there is connectedness while the body moves to music. There is much life force in this.
At some point whether it was TV, the movies, or National Geographic, you’ve seen the serenity among people engaged in ethnic dance forms. Tribal cultures have ascribed spiritual meaning toward dancing while accompanied with their primitive instruments. Unfortunately, advanced cultures have been distracted from a committed temporal form of being perhaps without an understanding of the value.
We evolve and some will return invigorated through a yearning to express our humanity through body and music. Others may still be anxious or insecure but curious.
Canadians really do face some challenges with their debt. I see it in my practice. There’s plenty of blame to go around and I find the headline today over at BNN quite interesting – “Macklem Puts Dangerously Over-Leveraged Canadians on Notice”.
During the “pandemic” (let’s not be reticent in using the term despite your interpretation of COVID-19) governments have intervened to restrict commerce. There have been consequences and responses. Bankers have been forced to the table with an accommodating disposition. However; they have not been burdened by any new government regulation to restrict interest charged on debt through usury legislation. The federal liberal government has been slap happy at burdening industry with regulation but when it comes to the banking industry they’ve been absent. I should not be processing credit card transactions for my clients right now which have listed interest rates of 19.90 per cent when the Bank of Canada rate is 0.25 per cent irrespective of the credit rating of such taxpayer. Your federal liberal government has been burdening your grandchildren with excessive poorly managed public debt through this pandemic. Canadians want to pay their debt and expect banking sector shareholders to share in the financial pain elicited through economic contraction.
So it used to be the case that gambling was considered sinful , aberrant, immoral, and an affront to family values. It was something done by the low lifes (degenerates) of society with an addiction. However; in the context of today’s new world order – for one – you can’t make a reference to a “low life” because you would be condemned via political correctness as being prejudicial in one way shape or form or simply insensitive to another’s presumed plight as opposed to their self inflicted harmful behaviour. Secondly, in Alberta and in other jurisdictions in North America…resource royalty revenues have fallen so low that the gambling stream of revenue is now considered essential for sustaining exorbitant social programs and government budgets. Hence; it’s more culturally accepted than ever that we don’t condemn the gamblers for their devious ways in the context of keeping society afloat. Nowadays, what you’ll find in casinos are flowery programs for the addicted installed through regulation in order to soothe the cognitive impairment of the addicted. Governments apparently need them so we might as well placate them with niceties.
The question goes begging “who are we as a people if we must rely on people’s weak character exhibited through gambling in order to sustain government finances”? I suggest that it didn’t have to be this way if governments weren’t so weak with their fiscal discipline over decades. When one looks at the behaviour of governments over decades in absolute terms pertaining to the handling of your taxes….it didn’t have to be this way. Alberta’s online gambling site was apparently just launched yesterday.