finding time-and ways-to celebrate

[Bill Maurer]

    Dear all,

    I was greeted this morning by a picture in the staff's "virtual water
    cooler" of an absolutely perfect-looking loaf of sourdough bread, baked
    by our very own Henry Yen in computing services. You'll see it below. Well
    done, Henry! It got me thinking in two directions at once. First, it made
    me think about the need to celebrate our accomplishments, especially
    as we discover new skills (like baking, or, oh, managing the everyday
    crises that hit our homes as they become workplaces, classrooms, art
    studios, or what one of my friends with 3 young ones is calling Child
    Island). Second, it got me to thinking about how meditative cooking can
    be, and other strategies for maintaining wellness.
    
    Celebration: A group of us spent some time brainstorming about how to make
    this year's "virtual commencement" ceremonies more fun and meaningful for
    our undergrads and MA and PhD recipients. Maurer TikTok videos? Peter
    the Anteater antics? See if we can commandeer the UCI Mace? (People
    really need to learn not to tempt me...)
    
    Wellness: The Samueli Integrative Health Institute announced some new,
    free wellness resources for all employees, including stress management,
    guided yoga, massage, and meditation. You can learn more here:
    http://www.wellness.uci.edu/SSIHIWellbeing.pdf.  And Kris Peterson in
    Anthropology invites you to join her weekly meditation sessions, every
    Thursday at 11:30am. Contact Olga at odunaevs@uci.edu for the Zoom link.
    
    It's a beautiful day. Celebrate! Meditate!
    
    Be well,
    
    Bill