How to use the lessons from coronavirus pandemic to create a better future?

Coronavirus pandemic has brought fear, anxiety and uncertainty to our life. Many of our life patterns is disrupted due to this outbreak that we need to adjust to. However, there are lessons we can learn, too.

While I am adjusting to this temporary challenging time, I thought to take a pause and look into what we can learn from this situation that will help us create a better future.

Here are 3 lessons that I learned.

1- Protecting our environment to protect ourselves

As experts point out, what we are going through at this moment is in a way a long term result of our actions as human species in the past towards our planet. Actions that led to global warming is an example. Experts also warn that such outbreaks are going to continue if we don’t change our actions and we don’t make better choices towards the health of our planet and ourselves.

There is no point in pointing fingers to see whose fault this is. We are part of a global family and each one of us play our role in it. What we can ask ourselves is what are the key human behaviours that are causing our planet to suffer? We are not separate from our planet and we depend on it to survive and thrive. What we do to mother earth will eventually come back to ourselves. As we can see from all the effects of global warming in the past few years and all the extreme natural phenomena that are happening, if our planet is out of balance, we will have to face the consequences of it as well.

So, the lesson I get is that we need to care more for our planet, and make ourselves more educated about what are the simple human behaviours and daily habits that are contributing to global warming and to avoid them as much as possible. We are more than 7 billion people on this planet and our simple actions, no matter how small they are, add up and make a huge force to hurt or heal this planet.

A relevant example that is contributing to global warming and harming the life in our planet is the single-use plastics that is taking over the oceans and the lands, killing fishes, bird and animals. Imagine if every single one of us choose to stop or reduce the use of single-use plastics, how much burden we will take off our planet?

2- Looking after our mind to look after our body

In this unprecedented time, immediate reaction might be fear, anxiety, anger, or frustration. But these reactions do not help us in this critical situation. We need to have strong immune system during this outbreak to stay stronger and well protected against COVID-19; and these feelings weaken the immune system. Staying calm, positive and at peace, on the other hand, enhances our immune system. Our brain works at its best when we are in a calm and positive mode; we are more creative, more empathetic, and better decision makers. Moreover our body produces healing chemicals when we are calm, rather than in reactive mode.

It is wiser and more beneficial to find a way to stay in control of our mind and the way we react to all the overwhelming things we are exposed to; and to bring our mind to a state of peace and positivity to help our body perform at its best.

Staying calm in catastrophic situations is actually a skill that everyone can learn. It’s in fact a quality of the brain that can be developed with simple exercises. Meditation is the most effective one.

Whether it is virus outbreaks or other catastrophes in life, unexpected things might happen at any time in anyone’s life. Do we have the mind skills required to protect ourselves and to perform at our best during difficult times? Now it’s a good time to start practicing the skill of being in control of our mind to help us stay calm, peaceful and strong in any life situation.

3- Giving space to ourselves and others

Experts advice that one way to slow the spread of the coronavirus is social distancing. This seems ironic. We are social beings. However, this reminds me that we need some ME-time as well as the WE-time to be at our best. Socialising and having social support is part of being human and it is needed for our growth and wellbeing. However, There should be a balance between the time we spend with ourselves and the time we spend with others. We need to have space for ourselves and to give space to others too.

In our busy lives, we are so used to not having quiet time with ourselves that this time of self isolation seems to be the most challenging part of this pandemic. We got used to our minds being overstimulated by all the busyness of life that spending some time with lower speed and less contact seems scary. We don’t enjoy our own company!

This is a good time to start becoming comfortable spending time with ourselves and to go within; perhaps to reflect on deeper aspects of life, and our deepest values and meanings in life. This ME-time gets easily ignored in our busy lifestyle, but it is nurturing and a natural part of living a fulfilled life.

3 ways to stay calm in this challenging time of Coronavirus outbreak

As we are going through this Coronavirus pandemic, it is critical to stay calm and in our best shape, both physically and mentally.

We might feel fear, anxiety and uncertainty, but now it is important more than ever before to remain positive and look for ways to empower ourselves to go through this challenging time peacefully. and perhaps even making something good out of it.

Here are a few tips on how to remain calm and peaceful in challenging time.

1- Remember it is temporary
First thing to remember is that this situation is temporary, soon it will go back to normal. At the moment, we have to make some adjustments to how we work, shop, communicate, in fact in the way we live. But eventually it will all go away. It is best to remind ourselves of this fact and do our best to cope with the change peacefully and mindfully rather than resisting it.

2- Meditate
Meditation is extremely helpful in reducing stress and anxiety and bringing peace to your mind. It is a scientific fact that meditation calms the nervous system, reduces tension in the body and improves immune system. These are things that we need the most to help our body and our mind be at their best during this COVIT-19 outbreak.

3- Remember the good
No matter how overwhelming the news are about the situation in the world today, we can always remind ourselves of all the good things that are in our life right now. Yes, I’m talking about our blessings. There are countless blessings hidden in each moment of life, but they get disguised in the overwhelmed mind that is focused on the what is going wrong.

Simply take a deep breath and think of at least 3 blessings that you have in your life right now. I help you out. The first thing can be that you are alive and you have this breath that you have just taken in. Or the fact that you have a safe place to live, you have food to eat, clean water to drink. These are things that we tend to take for granted as we go through our day-to-day life. If we look for it, there countless number of such hidden blessings in our life that we can focus on to bring us a sense of peace and calmness.

To learn more about how to manage challenging times, contact me here.

Workplace stress – silent killer of personal and corporate profitability

Workplace stress is the silent killer of personal and corporate profitability.

Research shows that nearly one third of Australian workforce are suffering from stress, anxiety and depression.

Although short term stress can be good and pushes us to our peak performance, prolonged stress is detrimental. Stress has a direct impact on employees’ health and increases risk to physical and mental illnesses. It can result in lack of sleep and contribute to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, anxiety, depression and more.

Moreover, stress affects the employees’ productivity. According to SafeWork Australia,“poor psychological health and safety costs Australian organisations $6 billion per annum in lost productivity.”

Stress is costing the employees, companies and the society.

But it doesn’t have to be so. There is a simple technique that can be adopted by any individual or company to reduce the harmful effects of stress. And that is meditation.

Meditation is a mental exercise that trains our mind to be focused. It is a simple skill, yet a profound and scientific process. By training our mind to learn to be focused we can have control on our thoughts, emotions and performance in life.

Science shows that meditation not only releases stress, it strengthens key areas of the brain associated with focus, creativity, decision making and empathy.

Research increasingly confirms that to foster a more creative and a more profitable team, companies need to facilitate mind training programs, such as meditation and mindfulness, to contribute to more productive, happier and healthier employees.

A study by Aetna, one of America’s 100 largest companies by revenue, showed that when they offered free mind training programs to their employees, there was on average a 28% reduction in stress, a 20% improvement in sleep quality and a 10% reduction in pain. Participants also gained an average of 62 minutes of productivity per week, which Aetna estimated is worth $3,000 per employee each year.

Moreover, this program brought Aetna about $9 million in savings for paid medical claims in 2012. “If we can create a healthier you, we can create a healthier world and healthier company,” said Mr. Bertolini, CEO of Aetna.

Today forward-thinking leaders are recognising the benefit of meditation as a key strategy to build healthier, happier and more productive workforce. This translates to tangible profitability.

When people meditate they become more resilient. They take fewer sick leaves, have better team work and stay with organisations longer.

I was myself experiencing excessive stress at work years ago. When stress started affecting my health and my performance, I started seeking effective solutions to help me manage my stress and I encountered meditation. Meditation helped me become happier, healthier and more productive. It had such a profound effect on my life that I was inspired to become a certified meditation teacher to share with others the simple and highly effective techniques that changed my own life so others can benefit too.

Now I am an internationally published author, a certified meditation teacher and a life coach. I coach individuals and companies to grow their mind and grow their life and delete their stress.

When you are ready to grow in your personal life or in your organisation, contact me here.

3 ways to remain mindful during the day

Mindfulness is a buzz word these days. But what is mindfulness and how to make it part of our daily routine?

Mindfulness is a modern term used for an ancient technique. It is about being in the moment and having your attention in the present moment as you live your life. Many of us have tried it here and there, but few of us remain mindful during the day.

Scientific research is showing that mindfulness has tremendous benefits on our health and our well-being. It reduces stress and anxiety, reduces depression, lowers blood pressure, boosts immune system and improves sleep, to name a few. In fact, it restructures your brain and creates a more resilient and a happier brain.

Here are 3 ways to remain mindful during the day to enjoy its many benefits.

1- Start your day mindfully

Morning is a great time to remember to remain mindful. When you start your day mindfully, you set the momentum for the rest of the day. As you are washing your face or taking a shower, stay present and pay attention to the water, the temperature of the water, the feeling of water running on your skin and the feeling of freshness that it gives you. Stay in the moment and enjoy the moment.

2- Commute mindfully

When you are commuting, whether you are walking or riding a bike or driving or taking a bus or train, stay present in the moment and pay attention to your surroundings. You will see different people and different views along the way. Pay attention to the environment and stay in the present. Whenever your mind starts wandering bring your attention to the present moment.

3- Eat mindfully

Eating is another great time to remain mindful. Take the time of eating as a time to relax and enjoy your food and to be in the moment. Do not work while eating and do not eat while you are working. While you are eating, chew the food slowly and pay attention to the taste of the food.

There are many opportunities during the day to remain mindful and to enjoy the present moment. Once you start practicing being in the moment as you go through your day, you will find that every moment is a precious moment and an opportunity to enjoy life.

Remain mindful during the day and stress and anxiety will gently release themselves from your life.

Meditation lowers worry and anxiety

The other day, I came across this quote from Swami Rama: “Nothing in this world is worth enough to worry about.”

We all have worries of some sort as we go through our day to day life. But when you look deeply into life, and you question the thoughts that come to your mind, you will notice that this is actually so true.

What is more important in life than life itself? Nothing is more important than life itself, and nothing is worth enough to lessen our experience of life.

And we are not getting anything out of worry, we are not solving any problem or avoiding any problem by worrying about it. If there is a problem, it is more logical to find a solution for it rather than to worry about it.

However, if your mind is untrained, it is natural for it to go to a worried state very often about things that might happen or might not happen in the future. This natural quality of your mind distracts you from being in the moment and enjoying the gift of life in this moment.

The good news is that you can easily train your mind to stay in the moment and lessen your worry and anxiety. The way to do that is through meditation. Meditation is an ancient method and a scientific approach to train your mind to stay focused. Research is increasingly proving the many benefits that meditation has in your wellbeing and in your life. Meditation decreases stress, lowers anxiety, fights depression, improves sleep, boosts immune system, lowers heart rate, increases focus, improves relationships, to name a few.

Add meditation to your daily routine and enjoy its positive effects in your life. And yes, you will, find that “nothing in this world is worth enough to worry about.”