It’s only natural that this current lock-down situation and concerns over future health is bringing up a lot of fear. Fear of dying or suffering is a major concern for most people. It can make us feel anxious and out of control, especially when normal routines are disturbed. It brings out the worst personality traits, as we have all seen, with thefts, stockpiling, greediness and selfishness. Listening to the constant TV reports, it is almost impossible not to get sucked into the immense gravity of the situation and avoid being fearful and panicky.
However, it’s an opportunity now, as our old habits are forced to dissolve through lock-down restrictions, to create new, healthy behaviours and routines and to discover new things about ourselves which will enhance our lives in the future, once this pandemic has passed.
We are being told to slow down or stop and stay indoors. Energetically, that is akin to going within our minds and we can use this time to forge newer healthier habits like meditation, yoga, deep breathing, new exercise routines and eating more healthily, as examples. We have a choice whether to sit and soak up all the fear on the TV every day, or go online and learn a new skill, read a book, make music, or take up a new indoor hobby.
We speed through life normally caught up in our daily routines finding little time to really take stock of where we are and what we want. Now we are being given that opportunity. We may have some of our habitual practices removed but we are given in return time and space to look at what we want in the future and what is important to us. That alone is priceless.
So rather than thinking about what has been taken away from us, it’s good to shift our perspective and look at what has been given to us in this crisis, focusing on what we can create and what we value, in particular. It’s a good time to ask ourselves how we can communicate better with our loved ones and make the changes that will serve us and the world moving forward. This time we are given is precious, no matter how it came about.
Evolution has taught us that survival of the fittest was always about the most adaptive species to the changing environment and right now, we are being asked to adapt in ways we haven’t seen for more than 75 years. One of the ways we can do that is through gratitude.
The moment we start to express gratitude for everything in our lives, we actually take ourselves out of that anxiety state and into one of empowerment. It sounds so simple, but what we are actually doing is taking ourselves out of past experience or future fear by expressing gratitude for what we have right now and placing ourselves in that moment. The more we do that, the more our minds create new neural pathways and we get into the habit of being grateful for everything.
So here is an exercise for you to commit to every day. Start each day being grateful for 20 different things in your life as you wake. Be grateful for life itself, for breathing, for the roof over your head, and so on. Then every day find 20 new things to be grateful for. This brings you into a state of empowerment and out of anxiety and fear.
