Fun tidbits:
- Generate handwashing infographics to the lyrics of your choice (website, gone “viral”)
- Europeans find ways to be sociable – even under strict quarantine (very short video)
- The Comedy Wildlife Photography awards – pretty much guaranteed a giggle here
If you’re reading this online, you are connected to a glorious resource, the internet. You can –
- Challenge yourself with puzzles and logic games – more absorbing than candy crush
- Learn things, from sewing to toaster repair, and about things, from gardening to geology
- See amazing visuals (and engage your other senses)
- Hear classical music (de-stressing), watch/read classic literature (thought-provoking)
Well-being is about mind, body, and spirit – or some would say mind, body, and emotions. This post is about mind.
Everything listed is free, and ad-free as far as I know. I do have AdBlockerPlus installed. (A few sites want me to disable it; you can, but I just go somewhere else: I like an ad-free life.)
There’s a whole lot more, and lots I don’t know about. I hope to invite your suggestions in future – so we can pool our keep-it-together resources!
Add to yourself
Own your time – choose a small, light-hearted project – accomplishment feels fantastic.
- An internet search for “how to…” will find step-by-step instructions and explanations and videos for just about anything.
- My best project was to start learning to play a recorder. I have zero music training, but Value Village had a recorder for $3…. Music tunes up the brain (pun!), so that’s a 3-in-1 – learning, brain agility, and (some day…) music.
- A site for starting a language: DuoLingo. You have to sign up, but it’s free and gentle.
- Do a MOOC – free online courses of good quality.
Enrich yourself
- Organisations and musicians around the world are live-streaming concerts from homes or empty halls, and opening digital archives – a rare opportunity.
- Read, listen to, memorize a poem at the Poetry Foundation Website (in English). Memory work is really good for the brain; it’s hard at first, pick a short one!
- Shakespeare on CBC Gem (if you aren’t a subscriber, there are ads, but not a lot). Some of the plays are grim – if you’re feeling low, choose the comedies
Stretch yourself
- Scroll down here and try Tiles and Set – matching games with a twist. (Both include colour matching, so, not for people who have colour-blindness.)
- If you like the Set game, here’s another site.
- Good word games, especially Popword and Eight Letters. Timed; you need a fair bit of English to get very far, but even trying to find words is super exercise.
Amuse yourself
According to research, laughter boosts the immune system. Here’s some help with that –
- The annual Comedy Wildlife Photography awards – there are several years of these.
Relax yourself
- Put yourself in the scene with wildlife photo galleries. Explore more than the visual – notice the textures, imagine the sounds, the temperature, what the air is like.
- Weekly gallery (Friday) in the UK’s Guardian newspaper
- Annual awards galleries –
- Audubon photography awards
- With kids – or without them! – a wildlife gallery can launch a week’s worth of projects. Pick a photo and (1) learn about the animal, (2) draw it in different poses, (3) write a story or poem or song about it, (4) make a collage of photos of it, (5) tell someone about it in 5 minutes, (6) find out what else the photographer has done.