The Covid-19 pandemic is here and affecting all of us. It is easy to focus on the obvious negative consequences. Most people do this. But this is the time to practice the actions of positivism that will definitely help you and your loved ones through this time period. Negative thinking almost seems to come naturally for humans. Positive thinking needs habitual training for many.
Off the top of my head, here are a few things that you should consider right now to affect a positive mindset. Limit your exposure to the news to a necessary but brief time period. Perhaps once or twice a day. Yes, things are changing fast and you want to be informed. But realistically, if you are self isolating or practicing social distancing, you are spending all or 98% of your time in your house/yard and factors that affect you are not changing hourly. The opposite of this is to be barraged with tough messages that will absolutely affect your health and your relationship with your loved ones.
In concert with the above suggestion, if you have young, adolescent or anxious people in your family, you need to be aware of the impact of a constant stream of negative news on their mindset, health and behaviors. In some households the 24 hours news channel is on all day. The impressionable in your household hear this, even if you think they are not paying attention, and they are, for the most part, unable to process the information. It is, of course, important to keep them informed of the situation because life has a new normal for them. But it is necessary for you to streamline and reword the message to them in language and stories that are appropriate for your particular situation. And they too would benefit from ‘just necessary’ exposure to the message. Not an all day barrage.
One important habit to bring in to your life now is to practice the above principle on your social media. The barrage of negative news is overwhelming on social media even when provided by well meaning friends and family members. Limit your time spent in this arena. Funnel your incoming social media to a minimal number. Take that newly freed up time to focus on other habits that will support both physical and mental health.
I was going to get into more of the positive habit patterns you could focus on but this post is already longer than I had wanted it to be today. I want to keep these posts relatively short. This is hard for me as I have ‘running mouth disease’ at times. I will try and post again in the next few days but I want to leave with a copy of an email about positivism that inspired me to write this post. It is from Scott Sonnen, a lifelong learner and teacher of wellness in both body and mind.
“Positivity in Uncertain Times”
Hello Friends,
In adopting a positive mindset sometimes we forget it requires practice, effort and discomfort. We expect it to just happen, hold and help. But we aren’t born with a mindset of abundance through cooperation, despite sociologists consistently proving it to be the most successful form of behavior.
Acquiring and sustaining positive attitude demands that you apply it repeatedly against uncomfortable resistance both internal and external. When you feel resistance from inside you or outside from others, don’t give up. Keep going, for at those moments you need it most.
You may feel like the only one trying to remain positive. That simply means you’re the one everyone needs to keep trying. And you may be surprised that your example of commitment to practice, endurance of effort and acceptance of discomfort, transforms a snowball into an avalanche.
Yours In Flow,
Leave a replyScott B. Sonnon
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