Using mindfulness to navigate through these difficult times
Covid-19 is affecting all of us in different ways. Some of us are now jobless, some our children's teachers, some more busy than ever before at work and likely most of us are some combination of the three. It can feel like somehow we are even more busy now than we were before the lockdown, though perhaps the money is now questionable. The combination of uncertainty, a more hectic schedule and perhaps financial worry is a deadly combination not just to general well being, but towards mindfulness. Even if previously you have not seen the need for mindfulness, I encourage you to seriously consider adding it to your daily routines. Especially if you are experiencing moodiness, brain fog, insomnia, hyper or hypo activity, over or under eating. All of these are symptoms of stress and anxiety which can be helped by daily mindfulness exercises.
Mindfulness is the process of being in the moment you are in with no looking to the future or the past, just experiencing things as they come to you. With experience, you can be in this state for most of the day and you can even start identifying pains in your body from emotional problems and even being able to understand the reasons why a certain emotion is coming up seemingly out of nowhere. We have a great introduction to mindfulness here if you are new. Mindfulness is something that may appear to be soft and new age-y like something people do when they have perfect lives, but on the contrary, mindfulness is built for these times of fear of the future! Today we have two exercises to practice during lockdown; one to help you with your anxieties and one to use this moment as a stepping stone to investigate your own fears. The first one can be used to help calm yourself down and bring yourself back into the moment while the second is more for working on yourself and may not be appropriate for everyone depending on how intense their fears are.
1 - Anxiety Release Meditation
All of us are experiencing some sort of anxiety of the future right now; probably it is always there but now it is especially strong. These thoughts tend to pop up seemingly out of nowhere and can ruin a mood or really hinder concentration when trying to get work done. To combat these sneaky anxious thoughts, get yourself comfortable and start breathing your conscious breaths. Breathing in through your nose, filling your diaphragm and lungs, and out through your mouth. Close your eyes and start experiencing your body, the air on your face, the breath going in and out of your body. Scan your body for pains or stiffness, taking note of places that remain sensitive for days. Open your eyes and examine the room you are in. Feel gratitude for having a room like this where you can sit and be safe. Shut your eyes again and visualize a stream, by now you have probably already had a few distracting thoughts come up. As they come up visualize them as little leaves floating down the stream, pluck them out and discard them. Perhaps some of these thoughts are bigger than leaves but full stones that are damming up the stream. Pull these heavy stones out and toss them away, letting the water's flow return. Keep cleaning your stream until you have a peaceful flow. Enjoy your stream for several breaths and open your eyes. Examine your room and your place in it. Feel the texture of your chair against your body, your clothes against your skin. If you feel thoughts distracting you again, go back to your stream, repeat until you are able to spend several minutes in the moment. Once you feel the exercise is over, give yourself several more breaths and open your eyes; you are ready for the day.
2 - Roots of Fear Writing Exercise
For those prepared, analyzing why and how you are feeling fear is a great way to transform this negative time into a period of self discovery. To practice this meditation you start by taking note of every time you are feeling fearful. What triggers these fears? Is it certain news articles, seeing strangers with or without masks, seeing items out of stock at the store, looking at your portfolio? Every time you feel fear for the future make note of it until you have several incidences where you felt fearful or even just anxious. Now that you have your list of incidents that made you feel fearful it is time to start categorizing them. You can use whatever categories that make sense for you. For example, let's say seeing strangers wearing masks and avoiding each other is something that makes you feel fearful. This isn't based out of fear of finances or spreading disease but something else. I would put this in the category of social fears, fear of being alone and/or fear of government/macro powers over micro movements of individuals. To continue the example, let's say you also feel fearful when you see random items out of stock at the store, not toilet paper or paper towels but maybe baking yeast and herbs. “Why is this sold out?” you wonder. Again this doesn't seem to be a financial worry and maybe not even a worry to be able to provide for your family, since herbs and yeast are not necessary to feed them. Again, I would label this fear of macro power affecting micro movements of individuals. In this example, I would then believe one of my main fears is public panic, government and other large powers having the ability to drum up emotional reaction on a grand scale. Despite these two moments of fear in your day that seemed unrelated, they are in fact very related. Continue through your list and categorize each of your fears. You may have several types of fear or they may all stem from one source.
To continue with the example, once you are aware of this fear of government overreach, you can control how it affects you. Later on when you are reading a news article that perhaps brings this fear back, you can identify the fear and question yourself as to why you feel this way. Now knowing is only part of the solution, but naming your fear is a very important first step. Once it has been labeled now it is time to determine how you will deal with it. Write down every way you can think of to deal with your fear, really let everything flow, it doesn't have to make sense. Just because it is written down doesn't mean it has to be implemented, but it is important to let your mind really run here. To continue with the example, you as an individual can not really change government overreach, you can perhaps write letters to your representatives or other proactive responses, though I would avoid physical protests and meetings. You also can acknowledge that this fear, while not unfounded, is something you largely can not control. You can not control other people but you can control your own emotional reactions. Using the example, you would write down ways you can control yourself from being pulled down a fear spiral. This could include: limiting news consumption or avoiding certain news outlets all together, talking worries through with friends, studying historical events that feel like they have a parallel or even letting another member of the household take control of shopping. Once you have your list of actionable steps you can pick the ones to implement that make sense to you and move on to your next fear.
These exercises are intended to help you navigate and grow during Covid-19. As with any anxiety, depression or feelings of dread, mindfulness is meant to help these conditions but not to substitute medical advice or medications previously prescribed. If you have a history of clinical depression or anxiety, run these exercises by your doctor and set a stop for yourself emotionally to call for help if emotions feel to be growing worse.
What fears have you noticed in yourself since lockdown? Have you addressed them? What ways help you relax when you feel stressed about the situation? Reach out to us at info@bullionite.com with any questions or comments.