Calm is infectious & empowering, Anxiety is infectious & destructiv

Our energy, your energy, my energy impacts & affects others. When we watch people laugh, we laugh with them. I have cried & cried with laughter watching the famous clip from the legendary duo, Laurel & Hardy, when Stan cannot speak or sit up for laughing, it is totally infectious & such a fine example of another person’s energy affecting our energy. The other side of this is the “energy vampires”, when people have the ability to suck our enthusiasm, hope & happiness right out of us.

Energy is felt, we are energy.

We are 6/7 months into the Covid 19 global pandemic & the uncertainty lingers. Rules & guidance is constantly changing & this pro-longed exposure to feeling unsafe can take its toll on our emotional & mental health. I often feel overwhelmed.

Our freedom has been really impacted, to meet family & friends, to talk (without a mask), to watch films, go to theatres, listen to bands, go to festivals & watch musicians play. To listen to music live, to be with like-mined people in these creative gatherings feeds our soul.

We can accept that for now, there is a new version of our life?

And, can we manage the fear differently?

Can we find any calm in the midst of this & allow that to spread instead of fear?

So, what is this calm thing? Can we help each other if we all feel calmer?

I feel I could include a Brene Brown quote into everything I write or talk about & to quote her here, from her podcast Unlocking Us,

https://brenebrown.com/unlockingus/

Brene researches “calm” and describes a calm person as someone who “brings perspective into a complicated situations” & has “the ability to manage complex emotions”

She always nails it.

So how can we find our way to calm?

Limit the News Feed

I do this & have done for a few years now & it helps as I used to go to bed crying (seriously) as I struggled to remove distressing images from my head.

Maybe scan the headlines online & only once a day? I believe that we cannot process the volume & distressing news content that we are presented with multiple times as day.

Once you have limited your exposure…the next step is to….

Meditate.

I don’t think I will ever not urge you to start meditating.

Let’s dispel some myths & stereotypes about meditation as it only adds a block between you & calm I hope you will find it to be such a powerful tool in your life.

Ok, so your mind will wander – this is normal & this is why I recommend a Mantra – a tool for your mind to attach to instead of your thoughts.

I meditate every day & do so in a chair, not on the floor, not crossed legged & only slightly levitating..

I use a simple silent mantra & the majority of the time I dance from “thought to manta, mantra to thought” but…..& this is so important, the benefits are found outside of meditation.

When you start to practice, try to cultivate a softer approach to meditating, by that I mean, avoid any expectations of the time you spend meditating.

I often say the phrase “it is what it is” & it helps me to drop expectations or to look for an experience while meditating as these are all actions of our mind.

We need to meditate now more than ever. And it is this that will be your ticket to calm-city.

I use & the app, https://insighttimer.com/

It has a time setting so you can do a 5 minute or 20/30 minute meditation without having to check your watch or phone for the time and I have mine set with a lovely chime to end the meditation & there are lots of beautiful free guided ones too.

 

Breathing…

Get into the habit of taking 1 slow breath into the belly before you respond in a stressful situation or if the person you are talking to is unloading a lot of fear. This 1 slow breath will allow you to respond & not react. This will give you a sense of control & interrupts the usual constriction & tightening of your muscles when facing anxious situations or people.

This 1 breath is your gap. Your window of perspective.

Now you have a precious moment, a precious moment to process & consider your response.

Fear breeds fear, as we know. What is powerful here is that the fear could stop with you.

You have to opportunity to bring perspective & respond. Your calm energy will be felt & apart from it helping you through your day, it may end up helping someone who could be emotionally on their edge.

In yoga philosophy, it is said, we are here to serve. Your calm could be of service to anyone you meet throughout your day.

If you feel your place of work or work colleagues perpetuate feelings of fear & anxiety, take a look at my other blog about Anxiety at Work.  

 So there are just 3 steps to helping you work towards calm.

Limit the news, Meditate & Breath

 

With love