Photo by Tim Goedhart on Unsplash
Our greatest gift as a human race is the ability to adapt and evolve: to change our perceptions and attitude as Wiliam James, the father of modern psychology once eloquently put. While it isn’t the end of the world, the world as we once knew is now going towards an entirely new trajectory. We may be faced with physical distancing, but we’re actually getting closer than ever online. Since the corona pandemic, there’s been an increased social media usage by 77%. More and more people are getting involved with donating to charities, connecting with estranged loved ones, or learning a new creative skill or two such as cooking or handywork. People are taking time to take stock of their lives and to focus on wellbeing and healthy habits such as hand hygiene. There are fewer wars and for once, Mother Nature can take a breath of clean air as the environment is healing itself.
The best thing to do right now is to restore the confidence within ourselves by systematically identifying and dissolving the fears we’re currently experiencing. It is more pertinent than ever to focus on self-care.
Here is, my 5-step solution to overcoming
List 3 of your biggest worries/fears during this pandemic.
E.g: Loss of income, cannot leave the house, etc
On each fear, rate on a scale of 1-10 of how fearful you are of the particular thing you’re worried about.
E.g: Loss of income 9/10, cannot leave the house 7/10
List what the benefits are to you of this "bad thing" currently manifesting in your life (List at least 20).
Yes, that’s correct, I asked you to write the benefits of this “bad thing” happening.
Remember, your greatest ability is to change your mindset.
E.g: Loss of income - benefit is rethinking my finances, cutting down on unnecessary expenses, implementing savings and investment strategies
List the drawbacks if this supposedly “bad thing” had not
happened to you. Get at least 20 drawbacks.
E.g: If I did not have the fear of loss of income, I would not be assessing my financial status and cutting unused expenses such as unnecessary memberships, I would not be implementing a budget for when the lockdown ends.
Now that you have completed the exercise; Rate on a scale of 1-10 of how emotional you are of this particular thing that you feared in (1). Compare your answers to (2).
The goal of this exercise is to equilibrate the mind to poise and presence. Gratitude is the key here. Once you reach a state of feeling Grateful for the “bad things” happening to you, that’s when the healing starts. It’s easy to be grateful for a cup of coffee but how often are we grateful for the negative things that happen to us. For every crisis there is a blessing as my Mentor, Dr. John Demartini once said. So, let’s stop living in the illusion of hope and start living in the daily actions that we can take to improve our life. Who knows, President Ramphosa, might just whip out another +14 days UNO card.
Remember, it’s in your favour that you have these obstacles to overcome. Confronting FEAR is the mastery of oneself.
If you or a loved one needs help with processing fear during this time, contact Jerry or René for a Zoom/Skype consultation at www.beyondbeing.co.za. You can also get access to quotes and inspiration from his Instagram page, @beyondbeingza.
