I’m not a doctor, just a certified practitioner of energy healing, NLP and clinical hypnosis and strategic psychotherapy. So, here I’m not dispensing medical advice, but this pandemic has brought forth issues making people suffer in ways that are both physical and emotional.
Today, Mankind is fighting a faceless enemy bent on annihilation, generating fear and anxiety as by-products, as country after country goes into lockdown.
Drawing on the teachings of my mentor Gordon Young, there are few suggestions here which I hope will benefit you as we all struggle to adapt to changing circumstances and ride the wave of uncertainty.
Establishing a realistic risk assessment is the first step towards gaining control of the rising panic and catastrophizing. False news circulation is exacerbating the issue. The mind is imagining scenarios far worse than what’s actually happening on the ground. This displays a lack of distinction.
Making distinctions makes us competent to deal with issues. So what are the distinctions that we need to make? First, we need to understand which fear is real and which is imagined. A gunman in front of you is a real threat. That is physiological. Anxiety is chemically the same but very hard to distinguish and is more the imagined threat. Therefore examine your thoughts and check. Is the thought you’re running a valid concern? At present people are worried about their health, as infection is spreading and of their finances because businesses are closing down. There is worry about food supplies leading to panic buying. So, you need to make a realistic risk assessment as to how vulnerable you are?
To assess that, you need to be able to distinguish between what you can control and what you don’t. For spending your energy agitating about what’s beyond control only heightens stress. The truth is that we can control virtually nothing that is outside of us. We only get to control our own emotional state and to what we choose to direct our attention. We can only seek to influence what is outside of us. But influence is not control.
Consistently imagining worst-case scenarios and focusing on negative thoughts, which may or may not be realistic, yields nothing other than releasing high volumes of stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine. These will only exacerbate existing health issues and create new ones at a time when we need to keep our immunity high. It's good to have an awareness of the worst case, but we need to be realistic and proactively look at solutions.
Thus we need to develop a contingency plan. When you plan, you create concrete steps to reach the desired outcomes. This leads to clarity of thought and action and helps to reduce ambiguity. Lowered ambiguity means less anxiety Anxiety generated due to ‘what ifs’ provides an opportunity to plan for eventualities. The problem is that most of us stay stuck in its spiral and don’t answer the question.
We need to assess how realistic is the issue and what course of action to follow if it were to occur? Mass hysteria generates from perceived threats which are generally highly unrealistic.
So take a deep breath and assess the actual situation around you and don’t give in to catastrophizing by ignoring the hype around as it will wind you up. Global scenarios are grim, yes, but you need to see where you are and what you can do to keep yourself and your family safe. What do you need to do to ensure hygiene? What do you get to control? What thoughts or concerns are valid in the present context? Set aside all thoughts that don’t serve you and focus your energy and attention to your contingency plan to mitigate and reduce undesirable outcomes. This is called Compartmentalization. Assess the threat for what it is and take suitable action. There will be things you can’t control, but you might just be able to influence some. Energy flows to where we direct our attention. So, focus on the positives and what needs doing. Spread positivity. When you can neither control nor influence, say a prayer and leave it to the higher power.
Though this is a stressful time full of uncertainties, it's a valuable time to take positive lessons from and create better plans for the future. So, introspect and see what lessons are relevant to you? It may be changes you need to make on the personal front, business, career, finance, relationships etc. For example, you may realise that you need to set up a savings plan for better cash flow or you need to focus on fitness, or your business requires greater agility to operate during a crisis or to use the time now to learn new skills. It is also a time to look within and find our inner strength by connecting to the Divine within us.
Severe economic pressures also mean job cuts and business closures. So you may need to evaluate how employable you are. How protected is your job? Even if you don’t lose your job, salary cuts are going to be a reality for many organisations to combat massive losses. The world, as we know, it is changing.
It is also a time to think of how dependent you are on others for a job. Maybe you could start a small venture on the side even if you have a full-time job, just as a fallback option. It’s time to make yourself agile. Adaptability is the key to survival in the times ahead.
Predictions are that going forward thousands of jobs will get redundant due to AI or for some countries it may move to cheaper markets overseas. Use this time of self-isolation to think laterally and plan. List out courses that upskill you and increase employability
. There are many good ones online & more options are being made available by top institutions. Maybe you have talents and skills which you can nurture to immunise your future. Take advantage of the opportunities that are arising and prepare to move forward.
However, if you do ever start to get into a sense of panic,I’m going to suggest some techniques for you to follow as taught by my teacher Gordon. Increase the intensity of the tension. Now though that sounds illogical,there is an explanation. Panic and anxiety are not nouns, they’re verbs. You have to ‘do ‘them. Panic cannot exist without you. You have to be an active participant. You hold tension. You have to think of specific thoughts. You have to catastrophize. You have to hold your breath. We do many physiological things to create panic. The idea of a panic attack as if something just hits you from somewhere is a complete misnomer. Ultimately, you generate stress and anxiety in response to what you perceive to be the pressures. So close your eyes and carefully notice where the tension sits in your body. Very rarely will you be tense in your elbow, or your shoulder blade or your earlobe. There will be areas in the body where you never feel the tension; however stressed you maybe. So wherever it is, just notice where it is and see where it isn’t. Give it a shape, give it a colour. Then look at it from a distance. As you step back, stop thinking about it as shape and colour and form. Now you’re stepping out of it and analysing it. This creates a separation that is going to start to defuse it. Now make the feeling bigger. When you make the feeling bigger, you will realise that You control it. You can make it smaller. You can spin it one way or another, or even move it. I know that sounds kind of weird because most people think it’s a real thing. But ‘the ball of tension’ that people feel is not real. It’s a ‘feeling’ which can dissipate if you can start to lift and breathe.
The thing that drives most emotions is inner dialogue. If you’re going to be anxious, it’ll be an alarmist tone inside your head. So listen to that inner voice. Not the level of anxiety. Don’t change what it's saying, but now maybe give it a silly French or some other accent. By speaking like that you choose to make It absurd. Now try to run that same level of anxiety keeping the absurd voice inside your head. You may find It can’t be done. As you do that, just start to straighten your body, pull shoulders back, open the lungs, step back from it all and recognise that right now, when you look around, nothing’s happening. Right here right now you are maybe sitting in a chair in your house, safe. Though the virus exists, nothing is actually happening to you right now. In the present , there is no anxiety. Anxiety can only exist in the future. It’s by definition, relying on you fabricating into the future and catastrophizing.
Hopefully, this might just help you deal with the stress of the unique situation that we find ourselves in.
Recognise it’s an opportunity for us to be a little kinder to each other, to connect to all those via a simple phone call with whom we are generally too busy in the rush of life to connect. We’re all in this together, and if you can help someone out, please do so. It’s in stressful times that we see the best and the worst faces of humanity. We have to show our children the best because they are looking up to us.
Eat healthily,exercise, keep positive for positive thoughts, generate positive energy and also heal the body. Meditate, or listen to music if you can for it will calm your mind and send out a prayer for the earth to heal and for humanity to rise over petty differences and come together as one. Together we can, and we will overcome it.
God bless, stay aware, stay safe.
(Special thanks to my teacher Gordon Young)