The best way to predict the future is to create it.
If you're wondering what to do with yourself in these times, the answer is simple: you’re being asked to do nothing. For the first time in human history, this is exactly what’s being required of us. The viral contagion spreads with (traditional) social and economic activity.
This doesn’t mean you should sit still on the sofa all day but rather something like: stay home (if you can), do what’s in front of you (wherever you are) and cut out the unnecessary negative thinking, predicting, speculating, planning and unnecessary busy-ness that might normally fill up your mind and drain your energy.
In any case, not everyone is feeling fear.
I was speaking with one of my clients this week who said she was feeling grateful to be able to work from home, in a quiet space and be OK financially for now.
But I also spoke with a number of clients who are doctors at the coalface of healthcare and they feel calm and even revved up and ready to be of service. I also had conversations with other self-employed coaches and consultants experiencing the enormous uncertainty with quiet awareness, thinking about how to be of service.
So the inner-calm is not directly related to external circumstances.
If you’re like one of these calm individuals, it could be that you were born for this moment.
3 signs that you may be one of these calm beings with a crucial role to play:
You don't feel the panic and understand others might
You may even feel you need to hide how calm you are and pretend to see problems because you’re sensitive to other people’s emotions and don’t want them to feel alone in their experience. You’re totally aware of what’s going on inside you and that gives you power over any kind of fear-mongering or misperception.
You see the bigger picture
For you, the huge societal shifts that are being required are less of a surprise and more of an inevitability in view of how things have been running in terms of consumerism, globalisation and the need to reform work culture.
Your life is strangely aligned with many of the changes already
Perhaps you’ve already shifted into working from home for more quiet and independence, or to spend more time with your children. Maybe you’ve got a strong online community and are totally jazzed that more people are joining the virtual party. Perhaps you’ve been preparing to bring more of who you are into the world by using the internet as a resource.
Everything you’ve done in your life has prepared you for this. The tough times, the good times and the transformational times. You may be different in a helpful way.
It’s not that you necessarily have to “do something”. Simply being in the (virtual) room, you can affect others.
Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn, who helped refugees during the Vietnam war noted that: when pirates attacked the refugee boats, if everyone panicked all was lost. But if even one person on the boat stayed calm and centred, it was enough, it showed the way for everyone to survive.
In his book A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle describes these calm beings thus: “They are here to generate awareness through the activities of daily life, through their interactions with others as well as through 'just being’. In this way, they endow the seemingly insignificant with meaning. Their task is to bring spacious stillness into this world.”
If you practise mindfulness or self-awareness either alone or with a coach, your brain is certainly different. The fear circuitry functions differently and your emotional automaticity is better regulated. See here for a great 20 minute podcast by neuroscientist Sam Harris on meditation in an emergency.
As a result of your self-awareness practice, you would also have better access to your intuition and so your decision making over time is more attuned with big shifts in society, sometimes in strangely synchronous ways…
No time to rest on your laurels though. The world needs your help to midwife the new reality - with calm and grace amid the messiness.
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
With love,
Amina
p.s. So far, 87 people have signed up for this evening’s Lockdown Mindset webinar suggesting many are embracing the change. If you’re able, join us to connect and start making sense of the new reality, at 6pm UK / 2pm EST. We’ll cover:
The key reason you should up your self-care practices at this time and not drop it.
The neuroscience and psychology behind panic buying and mass group behaviour and informational bias.
A range of tools for balancing detached perplexity and overwhelming anxiety and staying connected to your ability to respond to the rapidly changing situation
The number 1 focus to channel your energy productively during lockdown.
3 ways to use the pandemic to cultivate the entrepreneur mindset and come out as a more independent professional on the other side of lockdown
Register here: http://eepurl.com/gnKs8n
