The world is in a crisis right now. We have experienced massive global fires, floods, extreme storms, droughts, earthquakes, a health pandemic that has killed close to half a million people and crippled the global economy, and demands for racial justice and reform in America and around the world. Everything is being shaken to its core. On top of this, we have all been stuck at home for months. Tensions are running high, and we are feeling all the emotions. A lot of people are hurting right now, feeling scared and feel lost. Many are experiencing intense anxiety, anger, frustration, helplessness, and pain. This is literally the definition of a crisis.
So, the question is… how do we get through this? How do we navigate our way through these stormy waters without losing our minds?
Change your mindset – A big part of staying calm in a crisis has to do with your mindset. You can’t control what’s happening in the world, but you CAN control how you are going to react to it. You can choose to panic and freak out, or you can choose to ground yourself, examine your options, and figure out what inspired actions to take. I like asking myself the questions, “What message am I meant to receive right now?” and “What CAN I do?”. These reflective questions are empowering, as they allow you to grow as a person and take back a sense of control in a chaotic situation.
Lean into the chaos to find peace – It’s time to lean into the chaos rather than running away from it. You find peace once you can surrender to what’s happening. Fighting against the reality of what’s happening expends a lot of mental energy and brings a lot of pain and suffering. Accepting the situation for what it is, even if you don’t like it, brings peace to find solutions to the problems in front of you.
What you pay attention to becomes your reality — You can focus on the hardships, or you can focus on the beauty around you. This is your choice. And it’s a choice that can bring you more stress or more peace and freedom. It’s important that we are aware of what’s happening around us, and take actions to improve our situation, but allowing our thoughts and emotions to be completely dominated by the painful experiences depletes us and invites more of the same into our lives. Look for the blessings in your life throughout your day and notice the beauty around you to fill your cup back up and invite more positivity and solutions into your life.
Try Mediating — This is the perfect time to start up a meditation practice. Meditation is probably my biggest weapon to stay calm in a crisis. Closing your eyes and taking slow deep breaths in and out of your nose for a count of 5 is a powerful meditative technique to calm the mind. Prioritizing 10 minutes per day to center yourself will change your life. You will feel more grounded and anchored, with the ability to access higher levels of thinking. Solutions will flow to you. Stressful situations won’t negatively affect you as much as before. I cannot emphasize this enough. Start meditating!
Practice Gratitude — And finally, practice gratitude. When you deliberately say thank you and look for things to be grateful for in your life, you shift yourself into a growth mindset. This allows you to receive greater inspiration, creativity, abundance, happiness, joy, and success. We all have so much to be grateful for right now… the roof over our heads, the food in our refrigerators, our health, our loved ones, etc. Say thank you and say it often. Feel the gratitude in your heart and sit with that feeling. It will always help you feel calmer, centered, peaceful, and happy. And that is just what we need in a crisis.
