A Message from your Social and Membership Committees

March 24, 2020

Yesterday, as you saw in the “safe seating” photo sent by Cathy from our chilly gathering on the plaza, The Membership Committee along with Cathy, the Social Committee Rep., talked about how fortunate we are to be living in a Cohousing Community during this time of concern. Here are a few ideas that emerged, and we want to share them with you.  

·       Personal Efforts: We at Manzanita Village are here together in this safe and relatively remote community, making extraordinary personal efforts to check in, help, connect via electronic media, hear each other’s concerns and share positive thoughts with one another.  What a gift!

·       Trips to Help: We’re grateful for the friends and neighbors who have made trips for others to grocery stores, pharmacies, doctor appointments and other needed contacts.

·       Differing Perspectives: We all have different perspectives on how to interact, whether and when it feels OK to enter each other’s homes or even our Common House.  In any case, we know how important it is to disinfect all surfaces we or others may have touched while there.

·       Let’s take personal responsibility:  Rather than worrying that people out there are going to contaminate ME, proceed as if I am the one with the virus and want to do everything I can not to spread it to others.

·       Mother Nature Welcomes Us:  With schools and businesses closed, and more people sheltering near home, there’s increased opportunity for outside activities: hiking, biking, exploring, enjoying the quiet solitude and fresh spring air.  Mother Nature is healing and we can be as close to her as we want to be! 

·       Gifts in the Garden: Our greenhouses are warm and full of green, growing life!  The gardeners will harvest every few days and send a reminder to pick up produce on the kitchen patio.  OR, know that you’re welcome to step into the gardens for a little warm quiet time and, while there, you may enjoy harvesting your own greens. (If the door blows closed behind you, just pull the wire ring near the latch and you’ll be free!)

·       Staying Connected: The Social Committee will continue to suggest ways to stay personally connected, despite our decision to stay physically separated. Thanks for the wonderful offers already received. 

·       Buddy System: If anyone becomes ill with the coronavirus or anything else, please don’t wait before letting someone know. We have a “buddy system” in place.  Let’s make a special effort to stay in touch with our buddies.  Decide on a daily check in time or arrange a visual signal that each will watch for.  Please remember, no one is alone here.

·       Internal Work:  Now may be a wonderful opportunity for some “internal work.”  Our collective experience with this pandemic may be an opportunity for significant personal growth. 

·       Final Reflection:

a.     Know who your community is.  Who are the people you trust to call or ask for help?

b.     Seek comfort and connection in nature to help recalibrate your nervous system.

c.      Practice extreme self-care with healthy mind, body and connection to your inner being.  This major reset is an opportunity to go within to ask what is real and true for me right now.