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It is known that if we direct attention to our own anxiety, it only intensifies. But if we are looking for points of support and control, our self-confidence grows. But how to do it in difficult times, when the feeling of control is less and less? Let’s figure it out!
What determines our sense of stability and confidence in the future? From what we usually love the least – routines. If the same thing is repeated every day, there is a feeling that it will always be like this, and we get bored. However, this happens only in “peaceful” time, but in the current conditions, the routine “grounds” emotions, stabilizes our internal state, which means it clarifies the mind and helps to navigate and make the right decisions.
So creating a new schedule is a necessary measure that will help you recuperate, redirect your focus, and accumulate rather than waste energy. What can be done right now?
1. We limit the information flow
I conduct seminars on women’s Taoist practices for expectant mothers, and I never get tired of repeating at every lesson: do not go to “mom” forums! There, women share information about “what and how can go wrong” during pregnancy. Why do you need these amazing stories?
As for the current situation, it is, of course, important to learn the news in order to navigate what is happening. However, this is not a reason to watch “horror stories” about where what horrors are happening (and whether they are happening). Now more than ever, balance in the consumption of information is important.
Choose from multiple channels that deliver up-to-date information: do’s and don’ts in your area, what steps are being taken, what safety precautions need to be followed. But rumors, gossip, amateur forecasts, videos from the scene – all this is best ignored if possible.
2. Communicate from a state of calm
Today, communication is more important than ever: people all over the world, left without the opportunity to leave their homes, connect in instant messengers and support each other. And it’s wonderful!
However, the downside of such communication is the injection of negative emotions. Communicating with people who are in acute stress, cannot cope with emotions, retell the most gloomy forecasts, we run the risk of literally “infecting” their condition. Often our elderly relatives behave this way.
How to be? How not to get infected with their panic states, but on the contrary – to convey to them your calmness, grounding and stability? The task is not easy!
I recommend practicing the state of calmness through meditation and building any communications from it. This does not mean that we will not worry, break down, get nervous, but at least we will have a basis to which we can return at any time.
Meditation: A Simple Technique
According to Chinese medicine, the state of nervousness and anxiety is associated with raising the qi energy upward. What does it mean? Normally, qi energy (our life force) is stored in the lower abdomen. When it rises up to the chest area, we can feel an acute attack of anxiety: the breath catches, the heart beats faster, thoughts rush about, the face turns red. These are signs of a panic attack – the clearest manifestation of anxiety.
The state of anxiety may not be so bright, “chronic”, but the mechanism of its development at the energy level remains the same: energy does not circulate as it should. To relieve anxiety, you need to lower it down.
There is a simple meditation for this. Sit in Turkish, straighten your back. The crown tends upward, the abdomen and lower back are relaxed. You can put a pillow under your knees – the position should be as comfortable as possible. Turn your attention inward and take a relaxed breath into your belly. Do not speed up or slow down your breathing, breathe as you are used to.
It is in our power to “infect” each other not only with anxiety states, but also with calmness.
In this exercise, attention control is important. It follows the breath: follow it from the nose to the very bottom of the abdomen. Notice how the air enters through the nose, imagine that it flows down the spine down into the stomach. Each breath carries energy with it, lowering it.
In case of an increased level of anxiety, when there is no way to concentrate, take the same breath (as relaxed as possible) and accompany it with the movement of the hands: as you inhale, the palms descend from the face along the body down to the stomach, drawing attention, and therefore energy .
Do this simple exercise several times a day and connect with others from a state of calm. It is in our power to “infect” each other not only with anxious states, but also with calmness. Try it!
3. We make a schedule
The rhythm of our lives is now changing significantly, many are now working from home, and there are a lot of ideas on the Web about what to do with quarantine. It is important to remember that good habits, such as practicing qigong daily or learning a new language every day for 15 minutes, are formed gradually, on average over two months.
Before any action becomes habitual, it will take willpower to perform it regularly. And it, in turn, needs energy. And since it is energy that is now becoming the most valuable “currency”, I urge you not to scatter it.
As a new activity becomes a habit, you will be able to connect something new.
It would seem that now there are so many things that you want and can do: exercises, and reading useful literature, and educational courses, and new activities with children. But do not grab all the activities at once! Prioritize, remembering that any training or practice is not a sprint, but a marathon. The key to success is regularity.
Choose what is most relevant right now: for example, the practice of qigong Sing Shen Juang to strengthen the spine and develop immunity. Any one educational activity related to work or hobby. Any one activity for the child. As the new activity becomes a habit, you will be able to plug in something new.