Do we sell? Can we afford to sell? Will WaMu cooperate with a short sale? How about the 2nd loan? What is going to happen next with the economy?

When our country’s economic brainiac Geithner says, ‘we don’t know what will happen next … but we’ve set a direction and will tweak our plan as we go’ how do you, a simply-complex person somewhat like me (?), decide what to do with your economic building blocks, your home, your investments, your job and your life?

You might turn to books by neuroscientists like Jonah Lehrer, “How We Decide” or Daniel Gilbert, “Stumbling on Happiness.” Both fine books. Yet I’d suggest something else, something quite simple, that helps: Find Places of Rest in the Middle of Things.

Your place of rest, your relaxation, may entail dining at a fine restaurant, taking a hike at Muir Woods, reading a poem or discussing a book (I just started David Robertson’s COM class on Literature and Law and find the class a mostly relaxing space as well). Sometimes it’s as simple as a chat with an old friend in a faraway place.

As global economics constrict, as increasingly more and more friends, family, community members and our communities themselves face the prospect of job and/or home loss to the omnivorous economic beast coming over the mountain … in our case to Marin ( 44% of all Novato real estate sales last year were economically distressed) we might turn to the hospice model of support.

I began volunteering at Hospice by the Bay in Larkspur, formerly called Hospice of Marin, in 1997 and a decade later do volunteer bedside care and the sitting of end-of-life vigils. In that context I’ve seen that the ability to make the most solid, satisfying decisions in times of high stress is best supported by the duality of competent counsel (the wisdom of experience, and perhaps a book or two, blended with good communication skills) and, thank you Frank Ostaseski, founder of the SF Zen Hospice, for the term of art, “Finding places of rest in the middle of things.”

The value of competent counsel is huge. We all know that.

What I believe is that we (I?) often forget is that there is a great need during stressful times to seek ‘no think’ spaces. To go places where the ‘R’ word is not spoken. Reading Patti’s blog about Heidi Krahling’s Marinitas restaurant (I used to live on Marinita Avenue in San Rafael … oh, good news … a $2M home on Marinita had multiple offers this week) I recalled seeing a dozen people I knew – all having a marvelous, de-stressing time ‘in the fun house’. I believe it was Carl Fricke (or was it Jerri Dexter?) who noted that ‘there’s no recession here’. I heard the same remark from David Rabb at Sausalito’s finest, Le Garage. And have felt the same sitting at Stinson Beach watching the sunset, working out at TJ’s CrossFit gym and playing a game of blokus with friends.

A best antidote for these times is to go where the ‘R’ word is not spoken. Go, play. Then come back to ‘that other dastardly reality’ with a new perspective. Seek counsel, make the decisions that need to be made and look forward to more sunsets.

Posted By: Tom Verkozen