FEAR. A reality check

It’s everywhere, the fear. Much worse than any virus could ever really be.  The fear has taken over many, and I feel compelled to talk directly to you and your fear.

First off.  It’s ok to be afraid, but it’s not ok to maintain that state of mind all day long.  If you are one of the many currently consuming every news channel and medium of news about COVID-19 – step away from it all.  NOW.

It’s ok to stay a wee bit informed but you certainly don’t need news 24 hours a day to achieve that.

I did an exercise, a couple of days ago and consumed everything I could for an hour.  I rated my anxiety at the beginning, the middle and the end.  My anxiety was at a zero when I started, and by the end, my monkey mind had taken over, and my anxiety was real and physically affecting me.  That’s how powerful our minds are – you must take care of the mind.  Never has there been a more important time to look after your mind!

I have spent the last 20 years on my own monkey brain mastery, and it’s what I do for a living, and even I have fallen foul mentally this week.

I allowed the news to seep into my conscious mind, and I allowed the thoughts to rampage until I felt paralysed with fear, and then not just the collective of world events hit me, but the personal stuff starting hitting home. I have had to close the doors of my other business (the one that pays the bills) and close the doors of my clinic, and the significant incomes streams ended – just like that.

I have staff that rely on me, I have children who rely on me.  I have………and just like that my resources in that moment escaped me and I let the thought monkeys off their chain, and they went wild. I felt fearful, afraid, scared.  I could feel that in every single cell of my body.

Then as quickly as I allowed it, I stopped it.  I got into my higher place and replaced those future thoughts with what I do have in the here and now.  The present.  This moment.  My fellow humans, this is the opportunity of a lifetime.  Grab it with both hands, and take this time to grow, to go deep within yourself and profoundly alter who is in control of the mind.  You or the monkeys?

I am working hard on being present, to not allow the thought monkeys off the chain, and maintaining what I call the foundations of mental well-being:  Body care, Achievement, Connection, Enjoyment.

These are fundamental and challenging to achieve just now, but each day you must look after the foundations of yourself, so that you can weather this storm.

Never have your foundations been more important, please do not take your mental wellbeing for granted.  I’ve linked this video from one of my favourite humans.  In this video he talks about what’s needed from you to free yourself from the shackles of this fear.  Your need to do the work, to be present, and create a foundation made of rocks, not of sand, so that it can weather this storm, is critical to you successfully navigating this mentally.

I encourage you to watch this video, it’s 20 minutes of your life.  He is quite a slow speaker, and if you take nothing else away, you will feel calmer I would have thought.

If then you would want to know more about taming the mind monkeys, reducing the fear and anxiety, and looking after your mental well-being, then let’s starts that conversation today.

Drop me a line anytime. Nicola