Here are some of my favorite resources that keep me engaged, active, and connected while social distancing.

Culture Tours and Shows

Virtual Museum Tours—Visit and tour over 1,000 museums from the comfort of your couch, where flash photography is permitted but not advised. 

Tour Versailles—Spend hours virtually touring the splendor of Versailles, from its rich history to its even more rich decor.

The Met Opera—Applaud from your living room with nightly opera streams. The show must go on!  

Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest—Watch and listen closely as this symphony creates Beethoven 9 from their homes in this incredible video. 

Brush Up on Art History at The Met with Kathryn Galitz

The Making of a Masterpiece—Kathryn Calley Galitz, art historian and Educator at The Met, discusses Jacques Louis David’s painting, “Death of Socrates” (1787).

Neoclassical Musings Brush with Power: François Gérard, Imperial Portraitist—Galitz examines the Neoclassical style as crafted by François Gérard in a magisterial group of portraits of Napolean I and his extended family.

Neoclassical Musings—Galitz explores the legacy and relevance of classicism in today’s world. 

“Explore” Nature

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Live Cams—My personal favorite is the penguin cam!

SkyWatching Tips From NASA—If you get a chance to step outside, NASA has some tips for where to look for the celestial action. 

Explore Top US National Parks With Google Arts & Culture—Carlsbad Caverns, Bryce Canyon, and Dry Tortugas are just some of the featured national parks.  

San Diego Zoo Live Cams—You can choose from a koala cam featuring the zoo’s animals to an art project video where your little one can make their own fuzzy friend.

Online Classes and Resources 

The Barnes Foundation—In short videos, Barnes curators, scholars, and educators talk straight from the shoulder about some of their favorite works in the collection.

Yale University, “The Science of Well Being”—The course is designed to leave you with gratitude, happiness, and ultimately prepared to successfully incorporate uplifting activities into your daily life.

Duolingo—The notorious green parrot can help you and your family learn a new language together. I might suggest a Game of Thrones rewatch paired with a lesson in High Valyrian? 

JSTOR—This digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources is offering some of their material free of charge.

Let’s Get Physical

The Class by Taryn Toomey—Live classes of this wildly popular practice that involves stretch, movement, and dance, are streamed daily. 

The Sculpty Society by Megan Roup—Tone up and get moving with popular NYC trainer, Megan Roup’s online classes. 

QuarantineCal—If you need to get moving, QuranatineCal has a list of live, online events  from sound baths to virtual dance parties. 

My Favorite Mind-Expanding Podcasts

The Tim Ferris Show—The New York Times calls Tim Ferris, “A cross between Jack Welch and a Buddhist monk.” I agree!

Revisionist History—Malcolm Gladwell goes back and reinterprets something overlooked and misunderstood from the past. My favorite episode is, “Hallelujah,” How Does Genius Emerge? (Ep.7,S1)

WorkLife with Adam Grant—Each weekly episode of WorkLife with Adam Grant centers around extraordinary people at work – from the team at Pixar who broke boundaries with The Incredibles, to Olympic athletes who cheer for their rivals.

Enjoy Cooking and Eating Dinner 

Jessica Seinfeld—What do you want to make for breakfast/lunch/dinner? Jessica Seinfeld has great recipes that are easy to find on her blog and will make the house smell incredible.

JD Hilburn—In his own words, “I’m not going to write anything you can simply Google search. This is a place you can peer over my shoulder and see what I’m up to.” Hilburn’s website includes cooking trials and errors as well as his list of everyday staples and kitchen essentials.

NYC Chef Frank Prisinzano—His menu’s are well-known throughout the East Village, but you can have a taste of what it’s like to cook in his kitchen through his Instagram Highlights. I’ll warn you, you might catch yourself laughing alone. 

For the Kids

NASA Stem Engagement—Your kid will feel like they are in a different dimension with activities such as “launching rockets” and building Moon habitats. 

The Kennedy Center—Artist-in-Residence at Home, Mo Willems, has daily “Lunch Doodles” at 1 pm EST. 

Save With Stories—Save the Children Foundation and No Kid Hungry have started a partnership to offer entertaining online stories for all children while they are home. 

Mental Health Resources

Child Mind Institute—The Child Mind Institute’s digital response to the coronavirus includes daily Facebook video chats with clinicians, remote evaluations and telemedicine, and resources for parents.

10 Percent Happier—This app created a free Coronavirus Sanity Guide which includes meditations, blog posts, podcasts, and talks.

Headspace—Headspace Plus memberships are now free to U.S. health professionals working in public health settings and they also have additional free Headspace resources for educators and for employers.

New York State Office of Mental Health— New Yorkers can call the Office of Mental Health’s Emotional Support Hotline to connect with a volunteer with training in crisis counseling.

Consider the following experiment: researchers asked employees of an outpatient family practice clinic – nurses, assistants, and receptionists – to complete an online “survey” at the end of each workday. They were unaware of the purpose of this exercise. The survey asked them to spend five to ten minutes writing about events that had gone “really well” that day and to explain why they believed they had gone so well.

The participants could write about anything—events large or small, personal or work-related. Responses ranged from a colleague bringing in delicious food to a thoughtful story of a meaningful interaction with a patient or co-worker. One nurse wrote:

A doctor gave me a compliment today because I knew exactly what to do in an emergency situation, and I helped a patient who was having a seizure.

In just three weeks, stress levels and mental and physical complaints declined in small but significant amounts. On the days they wrote about good things, the participants were better able to detach from work stress when they got home in the evening.

This simple practice—writing about three good things that happened—creates a real shift in what people think about, and can change how they perceive their work lives.

Moreover, it creates a positive feedback loop. People who reflect on good things that happened at the end of the day are more likely to share them with loved ones. This, in turn, bolsters social connections which reduces stress even more. Another positive by-product is improved sleep. A good night’s sleep leads to greater alertness and a better mood the following day. Noticing good things may even make you more creative. Research shows positive emotions enhance creative thinking and innovation.

Focusing on positive events does not come naturally for most of us. Evolution has programmed us to notice negative events and anything that may be perceived as a threat. This made sense for our ancestors but no longer applies today.

As the above study highlights, just because your inclination may be to ruminate on the negative, it does not mean your fate is sealed. By intentionally noticing good things you can overcome the gravitational pull into thinking about what can or did go wrong.

Practicing this activity every day will provide you with strength and a positive outlook.

Start capitalizing on it today.

Many people keep gratitude to themselves. They feel it but don’t express it. Like you, they assume the other person already knows how much they are appreciated or they worry about finding the right words to say what they want to say.

Putting pen to paper or sending a thank you email may seem unnecessary or feel awkward but it’s definitely worth it. According to a recent study, we systematically underestimate the positive impact of expressing gratitude and overestimate how uncomfortable expressions of gratitude might make someone else feel. Misunderstanding the consequences of saying thanks keeps us from engaging in a simple action that would make us and someone else a little happier. The conclusion of the study is crystal clear: every time we don’t express gratitude, we are missing an opportunity to give others and ourselves a boost.

Gertrude Stein famously said, “Silent gratitude isn’t very much to anyone.” She was right. Say it. Write it. Express it somehow. Whatever you do, please don’t keep it to yourself.  

Is there a secret recipe for expressing gratitude? I don’t think so. There are many creative ways to go about it. Here’s my blueprint for writing a letter:

Address and stamp the envelope first

Getting started is often the hardest part. And once I have committed that stamp to the envelope, I’m already halfway there. As soon as I get this step out of the way, I can concentrate on the actual content of the letter and not worry about logistics. It’s liberating.

Personalize it

Include details. I do my best to make it relevant and meaningful for the person I am writing to. It doesn’t need to be long, but it does need to be heartfelt and genuine.

Use a pen

Even if someone’s handwriting is messy, a handwritten note expresses so much more than a typed or emailed one. Putting pen to paper takes a different kind of effort. Its very nature relays to the receiver the time and effort you put into it. It is authentic and “not a cut-and-pasted, global searched-and-replaced bit of faux intimacy” as described by psychologist Chris Peterson.

Stationery is optional

I adore beautiful cards but they are not a requirement. A post card or a blank piece of paper work just as well. It is the thought that counts. When I was an intern, a patient once wrote me a beautiful thank you note on the back of a paper towel. It lived in the pocket of my white coat for months. Just knowing it was there provided me with strength and courage.

Take time

I consider what I want to say beforehand and give myself time to write it. Part of the beauty of writing a letter is that it forces me to slow down.

Give it your full attention

Chris Peterson says it best:

The thing about writing a letter, unlike e-mails or the phone, is that no one can multitask while doing so. A letter represents undivided attention and is precious as a consequence.

Both sending and receiving a handwritten note has a boosting effect. Whenever I receive one, I pin it on what I call my Gratitude Wall. For me, it is a kaleidoscope of goodness and an embodiment of connection and meaning. Knowing someone has taken the time and made the effort to handwrite me a note fills me with gratitude and inspires me to do the same. In short, it’s a two-way thrill.

Two thousand years ago, Cicero said:

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.

As a psychiatrist, I recognize how valuable everyday interactions are for mental health. We are deeply social creatures who need others as much as we need air to breathe. Studies show that frequent positive interactions with others is at the heart of our wellbeing. People who experience “felt love”—brief moments of connection in everyday life—are happier and healthier compared to those with lower felt love scores.

Of course, these moments are best experienced in person. Chocolate tastes better when shared. A hill feels less steep when walking beside another. Pain is less painful when holding a loved one’s hand. Making chitchat with someone you don’t know can brighten your day. This is why I talk to patients about making the most of face-to-face interactions with loved ones and strangers. Presence, I tell them, is everything.

But not now.

Today, I implore you to take your distance. If you’re under 50 and in good health, COVID-19 is unlikely to kill you. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take precautions to protect those who are most vulnerable. Minimizing your physical contact with the outside world might save someone else’s life.

Please don’t get on a plane unless you have to.

Please don’t visit your parents.

Please skip playdates and dinner parties.

Work from home if you can.

Social distancing might be inconvenient but someone else’s life may depend on it.

If you think I’m being too dramatic, listen to Yale professor Nicholas Christakis who studies how humans spread everything from ideas, to behavior, to germs:

“If we limit social contact, we can “flatten” the coronavirus epidemic by spreading out the same number of cases across a longer time horizon. That way, we will have fewer sick people at any given point, allowing health-care systems and supply chains to provide precious resources such as ventilators, beds for intensive-care units and, of course, medical staff.”

So hunker down. Stay put. Do your part to curb the spread of this virus in the community.

It’s strange endorsing social distancing when so much of our wellbeing depends on social connection. Seeing inventive ways people are staying connected while physically distanced gives me hope. A video of quarantined neighbors in Siena singing a popular Italian song from their balconies and waving at one another reminds us that we are not alone.

Reach out to friends, especially those you know are home alone. Pick up the phone and call your aunt. Send a text to your old roommate who lives in Tennessee. A group chat with NYC friends is helping me feel connected. A friend holed up in Connecticut sends me daily gallows humor memes.

Here is what I recommend:

1. Maintain an other-orientation. Self-interest will only make you feel worse and stress you out.

2. Be a beacon. Instead of forwarding or retweeting anxiety-inducing headlines, share goodness and actionable insights to lift people’s spirits. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma started a “songs of comfort” series, Lizzo is leading meditations, Josh Gad is reading bedtime stories, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson created a “Quarantunes” playlist.

3. Consider the people quarantined with you. Set ground rules with family members/roommates/partners. Don’t walk around with your phone in your hand constantly sharing breaking news. Your constant updates will amplify the anxiety in the house, especially if there are kids around.

4. Encourage other-oriented discussions during meals. Sample topics:

• If you could be any historical figure, who would it be and why?
• Describe a quality you admire in your best friend.
• What lesson have you learned that you would like to share with people younger than you?

5. Recreate water cooler moments. Jamil Zaki, professor of psychology at Stanford observes:

“When we share physical space, we don’t confine our conversations to urgent matters. We dawdle, kibbitz and goof off. Those in-between moments are urgent — to our sense of place and community. We must keep them around in whatever format we can.”

6. Call friends and family members. Make a pact to talk about something other than COVID-19.

7. Donate to a charitable organization like Citymeals-on-wheels that delivers meals to elderly New Yorkers. Citymeals has already delivered 45K meals emergency meals and will deliver 100K more in the next few days.

8. Schedule a FaceTime lunch with a friend, set up a virtual book club, watch the History Channel’s Washington documentary “together,” or plan a Skype happy hour.

9. Get creative with gratitude—send a message to someone you are grateful to but never properly thanked– teacher, a doctor, a mentor, a colleague. I was inspired by these people in Madrid thanking healthcare workers.

10. If you can, continue to pay hourly workers like your dog walker or housekeeper even if they aren’t working.

11. Reach out to an old friend you haven’t spoken to in a while.

12. If you have to go to the store, send a message to an elderly neighbor asking if they need anything and leave it at their door.

Becky Wass, a lecturer in Cornwall created a #viralkindness campaign, putting postcards on doorsteps with the message:

“Hello, if you are self-isolating, I can help. If just one person feels less lonely or isolated when faced with this pandemic, then I’ll feel better about it. Coronavirus is scary. Let’s make kindness go viral.”

There are many ways to stay close while keeping your distance. My friend Jessica Seinfeld sent me this from a rabbi:

“For every hand that we don’t shake must become a phone call that we place. Every embrace that we avoid must become a verbal expression of warmth and concern. Every inch and every foot that we physically place between ourselves and another, must become a thought as to how we might be of help to that other.”

Coronavirus isn’t about any one of us. It’s about all of us.

Not being able to predict how something will turn out—a job, a relationship, a health concern, or even a pandemic—is stressful and can be paralyzing. As a patient of mine explained, “It’s the not knowing that makes me miserable and keeps me up at night.”

Learning to let go of the things that are beyond your personal control is easier said than done. Telling someone to “stop worrying so much” is useless advice.

Here is a tool that can help—the Responsibility Transfer. Taken from The Charisma Myth, it is the best strategy I know to alleviate the discomfort of uncertainty.

1. Sit down or lie down in a quiet place and close your eyes.

2. Take three deep breaths. As you inhale, imagine drawing clean air toward the top of your head. As you exhale, let the air whoosh through you, washing away all worries and concerns.

3. Pick an entity—Fate, the Universe, God, whatever best suits your beliefs–that you imagine to be benevolent.

4. Imagine lifting the weight of everything you are worried about—that meeting tomorrow, the interaction with your boss this morning, a health concern—off your shoulders and placing it on the entity you have chosen. Now, the entity is in charge.

5. Visually lift everything off your shoulders and feel the difference as you are now no longer responsible for the outcome of any of these things. Everything is taken care of.

The unproductive worry that accompanies uncertainty can leave many of us feeling like Atlas buckling under the weight of the world on our shoulders. This exercise will help you clear your mind and help manage your day to day.