Below
is something I had prepared for a short presentation made to a group of
individuals to help stay "sane during the Covid-19 pandemic." I am
just going to "paste" the text I had prepared below. In that
presentation, I had offered 5 tips on what we can do while we are in some form
of a "lock down" and required to "stay home" to curb the
spread of the virus. Each tip will be shared subsequent to this first
entry for the next 5 days with a single tip each day. Hope this might be
helpful to you or at least give you a little food for thought.
It’s a scary
and difficult time for many people. Many are not just worried about health
– but also the financial hardship that is felt by majority of the population.
Most of us are
afraid for ourselves, our children, our aging parents, our family, friends and
loved ones.
Many lives
have been disrupted, and there is no telling how long this is going to draw out
– and no one can really predict what is going to happen next. All that uncertainty
leads many to feelings of anxiety and depression leading some to even take
their own lives.
Earlier I said
I wanted to start off with …
Then I remembered that if we are to focus our energy on the negative, that will not make things better. In fact, it only compounds the issue. The more we look at the negatives, the more bleak the situation. It’s what we sometimes refer to as the “self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Then I remembered that if we are to focus our energy on the negative, that will not make things better. In fact, it only compounds the issue. The more we look at the negatives, the more bleak the situation. It’s what we sometimes refer to as the “self-fulfilling prophecy.”
There’s much
we can talk about here, but in the given time we have – there is a need to narrow
down the focus and only concentrate on 1 or 2 things at most.
I would like,
if it is okay with all of you, to share with you some of the things we can do
to help give some balance (which means keeping some positivity) to our lives.
The topic for today, afterall is: “Keeping sane .. and taking care of our
mental well-being.”
First a little background info – my background is in clinical and counseling psychology. My
journey in psychotherapy spans nearly 30 years – in various places namely the
US, Australia, NZ and of course here in Malaysia. Over the years, I have also
come to advocate the use of hypnosis or hypnotherapy to help clients, friends
and family. Not only using it in therapy but also training others to be a
hypnotherapist – or at minimum learn to use self hypnosis for personal healing
and growth.
There is much
confusion and misconception with regards to hypnosis. And as much as I would
like to go into what hypnosis is and what it is not, again, time prohibits that
for today. So, in short – let me just say that it deals with reframing our
perception of things, and altering the “programming” we all have within our
subconscious that may be unhealthy or not beneficial to our current lives.
Practising
hypnosis or self-hypnosis can help tremendously to keep us sane and more than
just sane – also healthy and continually in the process of positive growth and
development. It can help us lower our stress and anxiety quickly and
effectively. Sometimes you will hear people suggesting meditation (which is
another topic that is interesting and filled with misconceptions). There is no
doubt, much similarities between the two. And again, as much as I would like to
go into greater details on these two topics, I will not be able to delve into
them today.
(We will keep the discussion on hypnosis to another time - or blog entry.)
For the sake
of expediency – to best utilize the time we have today – let me just advocate
to all of us – the use of either of these techniques/practices to help keep us
sane and healthy.
As mentioned earlier, the next 5 entries will each include 1 tip on how we can keep ourselves "sane" during this period. :)
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