Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many people are experiencing high levels of anxiety. Even if you usually have a positive attitude, it can be hard to keep your spirits up and silence your worries while dealing with so much uncertainty.
What is the answer? In a previous post, Building Resilience During Intense Times, I discussed keys for building up your inner strength. Here, I'll dive into how mindfulness can help you get through this difficult time.
Even if you don’t usually meditate, now might be the time to start. And if you’ve been spending most of your days inside, you even have some extra time to devote to mindfulness! Here’s how meditation and mindfulness will help you come out the other side of this suffering feeling even more durable.
Feel More Gratitude
Being mindful of everything going on around you can help you feel more gratitude. At the moment, it is very easy to get caught up in all of the negativity on the news. And with so many of your plans being canceled left and right, it’s understandable if you feel like there is very little to be grateful for. But mindfulness can help you open your eyes to all of the little things you had taken for granted before.
Avoid Catastrophic Thinking
It’s almost impossible to avoid envisioning worst-case scenarios right now, especially if you’re playing close attention to all of the headlines about the pandemic. Being mindful and trying to focus on the present moment doesn’t mean being uninformed. But it does mean that you’ll be less likely to get caught up in catastrophic thinking. You might be able to develop more realistic expectations for the next few months if you’re able to practice mindfulness.
“Choosing” Your Thoughts
The key to being mindful is not clearing your mind and trying to banish your thoughts. No, instead, being mindful enables you to “choose” which thoughts you pay attention to. Instead of dwelling on negative thoughts, you can choose to focus on positive thoughts instead.
Sometimes, we choose to pay more attention to negative thoughts than neutral or positive thoughts, and therefore, we end up seeing our circumstances as worse than they are. Choosing your thoughts goes hand-in-hand with developing a higher level of gratitude for the things that are going right in your life.
Living In the Present
Perhaps you’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how much better things were in the past before the virus changed our lives. Or maybe you can’t stop imagining how much better things could be in the future when all of this dies down, and you’re able to go back to your routine again.
But mindfulness can help you live in the present. And whether we like it or not, we’ve all got to accept and make the best of the circumstances we’ve got right now. Being more mindful can help you get the most out of your current situation.
Focus on What You Can Control
It may feel like everything is spiraling out of your control right now. You can’t make plans, you can’t see your loved ones, and you might not even be able to go to work.
But when you start practicing mindfulness, you will begin to see that there is more in your control than you might have thought. Maybe you can spend more time on the phone with your friends to brighten up your day. Or, perhaps you can try some new hobbies with the extra time on your hands. It’s all up to you!
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Are you struggling to deal with your anxiety about the coronavirus pandemic? Do you feel like you’re weighed down with worries?
Mindfulness-based therapy can help you process these complicated emotions. I offer online and tele-therapy, so please reach out to me to discuss options for scheduling your first session. Or visit my page on mindfulness-based therapy to learn more about how I can help.