Cultivating Inner Peace In The Face Of Fear and Uncertainty
If you’ve found yourself more worried than usual lately, you’re not alone. According to a recent report published by Health Canada, 57% of Canadians suffer from anxiety and depression. That’s an increase of 33% over reported benchmarks before 2020’s Covid pandemic.These days, 25% of Canadians report being worried about being able to meet rent or mortgage obligations.
Not only that, but 40% of Canadians are currently worried about being able to put food on the table. If that weren’t overwhelming enough, global humanitarian and environmental catastrophes continue to escalate in both numbers and magnitude. It’s no wonder that fear and uncertainty are at an all time high. In this article, we’ll take a look at strategies to help survive fear and uncertainty in these perilous times.
What To Know About Fear And Anxiety
Fear is a necessary survival mechanism that keeps us safe and alive. Ideally, fear boosts your awareness and helps you avoid or deal with dangerous situations. However, when we experience constant fear and uncertainty on an ongoing basis, it can create real problems, compromising both our mental and physical well-being. For many people this happens when we can’t control the factors that are causing the fear and uncertainty.
Cultivating Resilience In Challenging Times
Fortunately, while we might be helpless in terms of changing stressful environmental factors, each of us has the power to become resilient through positive action (instead of reaction) and mindfulness. Resilience allows us to reduce stress even in times of fear and and uncertainty.
Preparation, acknowledging difficulties as challenges (not problems), adjusting your path when unexpected circumstance pop up, learning along the way, and moving forward are key components to cultivating resilience and reducing stress.
1. Reduce Stress With Breaks From Technology
These days, most of us learn about events around the world via digital devices. . According to research published by nonpartisan think tank Pew in the News Platform Fact Sheet “A large majority of U.S. adults (86%) say they at least sometimes get news from a smartphone, computer or tablet, including 57% who say they do so often.”
With that being said, there’s little doubt that digital media plays a powerful role in creating and maintaining fear, anxiety and stress. Our reliance on digital media to learn about local and world events has created a perpetual cycle of uncertainty and fear. Just shutting them off would do a lot to reduce everyday stress levels.
Why We Can’t Just Shut Off Our Screens
The trouble is, most of us use our smartphones and other digital devices for work or a multitude of purposes during the day. The majority of people can’t simply shut them off and be done with it, even for a day. With that in mind, throughout the day, the same fear and uncertainty that distresses us can draw us back to check for news updates on an event or to discuss it with social media contacts.. When was the last time you saw or experienced something cool, and didn’t have the impulse to snap a photo to share on Facebook or some other social media outlet.
Here’s What Facebook Doesn’t Want You To Know
The truth that social media outlets don’t want you to know is that even with all of this social sharing, society is experiencing unprecedented levels of isolation and loneliness. And it’s this perception of isolation that drives sharing all the cool things we get the privilege of experiencing on social media instead of connecting with real friends in real life. What would happen if you didn’t post that photo? What if you got together with another human and shared your cumulative stories of the past day/week/month instead?
There’s growing evidence to support taking frequent breaks from smartphones, computers and other technology as an effective means of improving both physical and mental health. Scheduling a few hours of technological downtime everyday can have a surprising effect on stress levels and overall happiness.
Benefits of disconnecting from technology include:
- Better sleep
- Improved mental clarity and creativity
- Reduced anxiety
- Better physical health
- Improved relationships
2. Start And End Each Day With Meditation
Meditation trains the mind to stay grounded in what is immediately around us. When we do this, calm mindfulness quickly replaces anxiety. Multiple studies published by the National Library Of Medicine (1) (2)(3)show that daily meditation has a beneficial effect on reducing anxiety. Other benefits of meditation include clarity of thought and increased creativity.
Meditation is easy to learn to do on your own. Here are the basic steps for beginners:
- Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for 5-10 minutes
- Set a timer for 1 minute
- Sit or lie down in a comfortable position
- Close your eyes
- Place one hand just below the sternum
- Focus on each breath you take
- Take a deep breath in through the nose, and release it completely via your mouth
- If your mind wanders from your breath,simply let the thought go and return to your breaths
- Continue until the timer goes off
When you first start, it might surprise you how difficult it can be to stay focused on nothing but your breaths. As you gain practice, you’ll be able to gradually extend the time you spend in meditation. However, it’s best to start small, increasing meditation time gradually. Many practitioners meditate within 15 minutes of waking up. This helps to begin the day on a positive note as well as strengthening the mind for the day ahead.
3. Develop Gratitude
Being grateful for small things can have a big impact on mental health. Even on the most difficult days, it can seem difficult to find anything to be grateful for. These are the times when you’ll want to take a good look around you. For one thing, you woke up today-that’s never a bad thing. And then there’s your friends and family, sunlight, having up to 5 senses to explore the world, having food, etc. Being able to thank the universe, God, or the world in general can make a big difference in your ability to be resilient in tough times.
4. Spend time in nature
In a world where that’s inundated by news of events around the world, the natural world around us can help put things into perspective. You don’t need to have access to a large natural area to reap the benefits of this. Just go outside. Take a closer look at plants in the garden, observe birds in the trees, insects and other wildlife that often go unnoticed in the hustle and bustle of the world. Nature is marvelous and can be very grounding.
Conclusion
In a world that’s filled with uncertainty, the need for compassion and empathy have never been greater. That said, everyone you’ll encounter today is dealing with stress and anxiety at an unprecedented level. Kindness and compassion for others during these strange days helps everyone to stay resilient and helps build a better world.
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