Adventure, that is a good word. There have been a lot of adventurers
throughout history and many of the adventures upon which they embarked involved
facing the unknown and experiencing fear. Currently we are facing the unknown
and many are experiencing fear. Even though we didn't choose this adventure we
need to tackle it like we have the other adventures of our lives. Prepare
ourselves with knowledge, keep ourselves in the best shape we can for it, stay
focused to not let our brains and bodies be hijacked with fear.
The messages about the
world's current situation are getting scarier for many. Our lives are being
disrupted in way's we've never experienced.
When we talk to people, the
conversations so often turn to "the situation" how our country is
handling it, how it is impacting our lives.
When we make decisions about
where we might go or what we might do, we first think of "the
situation".
Some people are facing the
scariest decisions of their lives. When I was caring for my husband he often
needed to go to Urgent Care, numerous times to the hospital and required a care
center 3 times with infections. There are folks right now worrying about the
possibility of having to make what they fear might be life and death decisions
for someone they love and are caring for.
I just learned of someone
whose cat is ill and there is nothing that can be done. This person's
heightened emotion over that is accelerating the cocktail of emotions, like
fear, that are already flowing. There are uncertainties - triggers for our
fears coming from so many directions.
OK, WHAT CAN WE DO
I’m going to focus on the
importance of caring for ourselves. We can get the information we need, do what
we can to respond to it and then try to focus our minds away from obsessing. We
can work to follow the wisdom of philosophers of the ages...live in the
moment.
It is a time to quiet our minds. I've been
teaching a mental training approach for years and I use it every day. I will
keep encouraging - do you meditate, practice self hypnosis, do tai chi, yoga or
practice something else that focuses your mind? Do your practice daily. If you
know how, but haven't, when you find your minds and bodies overwhelmed or
crawling toward that state - STOP - turn, at least for a little bit, toward
those practices. Quiet the overwhelmed left hemisphere, the thinking center of
your brain; don't let it hijack your body.
If you have not learned
formal skills for quieting your mind, look on You Tube, look in your library of
books, I'll bet you've been "meaning to" learn some sort of
mental/physical discipline. Now's the time to give it a shot, your brain and
body need it.
Do you like to run? That can be a form of meditation. If you
regularly went to the gym and now cannot, find a way to exercise at home (don't
we all have hidden, somewhere in a box, an old Jane Fonda exercise video? :- )
somewhere in all the streaming we do these days there is an exercise program,
find it.) Hey, remember the Wii device
craze, if you have one get it out- there are all kinds of diversions available.
Even if you weren't a regular gym goer, when you're feeling overwhelmed jump
around your living room a bit, go for it. Family members might think you're
nuts but I bet it makes them smile - and they need that. Here's an idea, do you
or you and your partner like to dance? Put on some music, the music and the
movement will put your brains in a different place.
If reading is an escape (and
yes our brains need escape time now), pick an engaging book and immerse your
mind in it. You non-readers grab a cookbook, yes a cookbook. My husband was
dyslexic and didn't read for fun but he used to love browsing cookbooks. They
offer great ideas and lots of interesting trivia. Plus, browsing through a
cookbook might give you inspiration to throw something together and throwing it
together will distract your mind further. And, those of you who have an Instant
Pot and still haven't used it (I know you're out there) now's the time. I mean,
really, your fear of the Instant Pot has been put in perspective.
To get ourselves rationally
through these irrational times, we've got to get a little disciplined here, not
in a "will power" sort of way but in a "take care of
our brains and bodies" sort of way.
Caring about all of you,
Marilyn
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