How To Stay Positive As The World Prepares For Lockdown
![How To Stay Positive As The World Prepares For Lockdown]()
With millions of people in lockdown around the globe to fight the spread of coronavirus COVID19, the need for positivity becomes even more critical to our mindset.
Ultimately it stems from within ourselves to create a space that allows our minds to build resilience against negativity and uncertainty in our lives. By doing this we can control our subconscious minds as well as helping others during these unprecedented times of uncertainty.
Positive Emotion
From positive emotion springs happiness. Focusing on your emotions is more than just smiling, it is the ability to remain optimistic and positive so that you can view any situation from a constructive perspective. While the coronavirus world makes positive emotion a challenge, there are steps you can take to remain focused on creating harmony from within and to those around you.
- Limit your access to the news and social media threads. If you are waking up in the morning and the first thing your brain is presented with is the negative news then you are going to start your day in fear and uncertainty. When you wake up, start the day with a positive affirmation for the first 5 - 10 minutes and leave your phone on the side table until mid morning so that your brain can focus on being positive.
- Take the time to appreciate your home and those who are with you. Try stepping out of bed and say “Thank you” everytime you take a step towards the bathroom to brush your teeth or write a daily list of three or more things in and around your home for which you are grateful and share your gratitude with others.
- Take time out to properly enjoy your coffee breaks; now is the perfect time to have a proper face-to-face or remotely - steer the conversation away from the Coronavirus or agree at the start of the conversation that that subject is banned.
- Do something that you wouldn’t normally do. Take an early morning walk before you start work or go for an early morning swim in the ocean and appreciate the beauty of the earth. Take a bike ride late at night around your neighbourhood and listen to a positive podcast on growth and happiness, there are literally millions on Spotify and other platforms that are free.
Engagement
Isolation from others makes engagement even more critical: Use the beauty of the world's technology to connect with family and friends to spread positivity but also by creating high engagement with those that you care about. You are flooding the body with positive hormones that elevate one's sense of well-being. This is something that has been known to be effective through many studies and is also known as ‘flow” which through finding space and calm we can find engagement, calmness, focus, and joy. You, too, can enjoy flow in your home based work and reduced social activities. For instance, you might find ‘flow’ in:
- Writing your goals in a book or even reading a paperback novel while leaving your smart phone locked away for a few hours.
- Exercising, meditating or showing appreciation for the outdoors by listening to the sounds around you.
- Write a story with your children about their favourite animal or read them a book outside in your garden while having a picnic with their favourite teddy’s.
- Write down a list of random acts of kindness you can show your family and neighbours and practice these acts over the next few weeks.
Relationships
Relationships and social connections are crucial to meaning and purpose in our lives. Being a father of 4 children and also having a partner it's important to be aware of how others might be feeling and so the ability to put yourself in others shoes is key to their own wellbeing. Now is the time to nurture relationships, to be a leader at home and also to take a watchful eye on others in your neighbourhood who may not have secure connections via social media such as the elderly. Kindness should come to the forefront in all our relationships. Our physical isolation does not need to mean we are emotionally isolated, while the Coronavirus plays out across the world. When we belong to a group, it helps us feel safe and appreciated. Great relationships are based on identifying and understanding the other person.
- Take the time to speak with your work colleagues about how they are coping with working from home, then listen.
- Setting aside time to do the same with your partner or children; Listen.
- Do something spontaneous for a close friend, family member or colleague to show them you value their relationship.
Creativity
While most of the world is in isolation it's important to stay creative so here are some great activities you can get involved in while you take some time out to cleanse the earth of this virus that will pass and will end.
Brit + Co (Free through March 31st, code: SELFCARE) — With so much time on our hands, why not learn how to decorate a cake, stylized lettering or upping our photography skills? The entire online catalog of Brit + Co’s creative classes is now free.
Elle Luna (Free, Instagram Livestream) — World-renowned artist, author and creator of the #100DayProject is now hosting free drawing classes via Instagram Live. Join her at 8 am PT for her daily practice of creating a mandala drawing.
Kelly Robinson (Free 90 min) — As we are now spending more time inside our homes, let international workplace designer, Kelly Robinson, help you find simple home office design that can uplift your mood and create balance with others in your household.
Wendy MacNaughton (Free, Instagram Livestream) — NYT bestselling illustrator and now quarantine art teacher hosts daily drawing classes for kiddos. Join her on Instagram Live every day at 10 am PT.
Meditate
Insights Timer (Free) — As I was crying myself to sleep last night, I found that Liz Gilbert had posted a free guided meditation on Insights Timer. This free conversation about fear and compassion is just one of many amazing talks, courses and guided meditations in this wonderful app.
Sacred Journey (3 months free) — Meditation courses inspired by the Kundalini Yoga tradition, which incorporates breathwork to move energy through the body to regulate anxiety, which (let’s face it) we all have right now.
Blood + Milk (Free, Instagram Livestream) — This community for awaken women is offering free mindfulness practices to help you ground into the present moment, breathe, and find moments of peace and calm amidst the chaos of the world right now.
Summary
You are the captain of your ship and right now in times of uncertainty you need to be the best captain you can for your own mental wellbeing as well as others. Remember that you are not your mind and that you can control your emotions by building a wall of resilience. Your health, family and friends need a strong leader in their lives more than ever right now. If you think you are not going to die one day then you are sadly mistaken, you will and it is coming but it's not going to happen if you focus on positivity and social distancing as well as taking the government's advice. Yes its a challenging time for the world but it's also an opportunity to see the world on a different playing field, remember:
Be the change you want to see in the world and love thy neighbour. The world is our home, it deserves a strong abundance of positivity and gratitude right now.
Posted by First Home Buyers Direct on 24 March 2020 | 0 comments
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