A Short Story about Isolation to Cheer You up!

​I found a keen-witted, relevant story, dealing with isolation and wanted to share this with you.  
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Imagine a learned, wise teacher responding to his disciple, who asks: 
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“Master, how can I deal with isolation?"
 "Clean your house. Thoroughly. In every corner. Even the ones you never felt like cleaning because you lacked the patience or courage to do so. 
Make your house bright and well cared for. Remove dust, cobwebs, impurities. Even the most hidden ones.
Your house represents you: if you take care of it, you also take care of yourself."
 
"Master but the time is so long. After thoroughly taking care of me and my house, how can I live with this isolation?"
"Fix what can be fixed and remove what you no longer need ...

Dedicate yourself to do patchwork, embroider your pants, sew the frayed edges of your dresses well, restore a piece of furniture, repair everything worth repairing. The rest, throw away. Do this with gratitude and with the awareness, that its cycle has ended.

Fixing and removing what’s outside of you allows you to fix or remove what's inside of you, too."

"Teacher and then what? What can I do all the time alone? "
"Sow. Even a seed in a pot.
Take care of a plant, water it every day, talk to it, give it a name, remove the dry leaves and weeds that can suffocate it and steal precious vital energy. It is a way of caring for your inner seeds, your desires, your intentions, your ideals."

"Master, and if the void comes to visit me? ... If the fear of illness and death comes?"
“Talk to them. Prepare the table for them too, reserve a place for each of your fears. Invite them to dinner with you. And ask them why they came from so far to your house.
What message do they want to bring you?
What do they want to communicate to you?"

"Master, I don't think I can do this ..."
"Isolation is not your problem, but the fear of facing your inner dragons. Those that you always wanted to get away from. They've isolated you so they can talk to you. Like the seeds that can only sprout if they are alone. Now you cannot run away.
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Look them in the eye, listen to them and you will discover that though they try to put your back against the wall it’s up to you to let them.”

Source: https://www.eticamente.net/author/elena?cn-reloaded=1

This is where the narrative ends. I think the master wasn’t quite finished with his advice.  Nevertheless, he has a point: 

Don’t give in to those fears and inner dragons during these times. Give those scary thoughts a good, old heave-ho and stay productive in whichever way you can to keep your spirits up. 
 
Isolation can be a very good excuse to finally get the house tidied up ;-)
 
Not just talk - here's what I did!
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Since the lock-down I have taken my own advice to heart and done some tasks around my house - which made my wife very happy :-)
 

• I pressure washed my own house (it's a rental), top to bottom, and cleaned all the windows (we have a lot!).
• Next I prepared the area around the pool for a new coat of paint by a thorough power washing.
• Painting the flat surface around the pool was simple. The inner rim turned out to be interesting: I got into the pool on the shallow side and when it was too deep for me to stand, I had to hold on to a swimming ring with one hand and the paintbrush with the other. The extra challenges were not to disturb the water too much so it would splash against the rim and wash off the fresh color and not to drop any paint into the pool. It was a hoot! We should have taken pictures ...

 
Now this weekend, I am tackling the deck with it’s warped wooden planks and faded color. First time that I will be using a sanding machine! It’s probably more work than I am anticipating at the moment but hey, there is a first time for everything! Painting the deck is the second step. Hopefully it doesn’t rain!

My oldest daughter recently turned 20 and moved out, so we are going to redecorate her former bedroom, painting the walls and all, so my 11 year-old can move into that room and finally have her own space. This will keep us busy for the weekend and probably beyond. 
 
Like in the short story above, staying productive and doing the things we have been putting off is the order-of-the-day. My wife is home-schooling our kids, and we try to keep them involved in everything, too. 
 
So, if you have areas around your home that need freshening up:

WE ARE OPEN FOR BUSINESS.
Ready to help sanitize homes and commercial properties.
 
Call me at (813) 991-7243 for an appointment to get your outdoor living spaces fresh and germ-free.
 
Get a Free Quote today!
 
Sincerely,​

Mauricio Munoz
- Owner -
Office: 813-991-7243
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