yezr

I would practice allowing yourself to be uncomfortable in places where you are physically with other people.

simple examples are like when you are in line for something and waiting right next to someone in line for the same thing. chat them up, you have a lot in common right then. it's uncomfortable, but you have nothing to lose once you are no longer queued

or on your street, when you see someone else getting in or out of there car for the 20 seconds it takes. say something awkward to them. it's uncomfortable, but the next time won't be as much

start simple! there are opportunities to practice this in little ways every day!

I try to approach this knowledge as freeing: all of the mistakes and faux pas I make are meaningless, ultimately. The pressure is off and I can happily enjoy my personal human experiment.

Also ultimately it humanizes and connects all of us: no one is exempt from dying.

this! all of my favorite zen teachings describe it as 'your practice'. Zen Mind Beginners Mind says something like "in the mind of the expert there is only one path, in the beginner's mind there are many" and urges the zen practitioner to always keep the beginner's mind... It emphasized to me that it should be _your_ practice of the teachings, not just inhaling more and more teachings

You're not being asked to give up your basic human rights though. What you are being asked to do is to get a free, readily available vaccine that will protect you and others from current and future harm.

are you still in the hotel? ideas for your next blog post: push out your own packets to change the elevator music??

lol and how can you not enjoy the surprise ending!

https://www.skiplagged.com is exactly what you are looking for! dirt cheap flights sometimes with like 12 hour layovers. If you have the time (but not necessarily the money) it is just the ticket

I think you should invest the time to read what happened, the moderator the letter was written to support has her detailed write-up here [0].

[0] https://cellio.dreamwidth.org/2019/10/05/stack-overflow-fias...