14 Apr 3 Tips From Psychology On How To Stay Calm During The Peak Of The Outbreak
It’s hard to be happy if you’re stressed and anxious.
Happiness isn’t about NOT feeling; happiness is about accepting all emotions; but happiness requires the ability to manage at least most of your emotions at least most of the time.
So for those seeking more happiness and more calm during these strange times, read on…
via Forbes by Mark Travers
In a recent press conference, President Donald Trump warned Americans to brace for a “hell of a bad two weeks.” According to some estimates, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 could surpass 100,000.
Aside from taking the precautions recommended by the CDC, there’s really not much else people can do to protect themselves from the possibility of infection. Certainly, worrying about the situation won’t make it any better. In the spirit of “keeping calm and carrying on,” here are three ways to care for your mind during this time of unprecedented uncertainty.
#1: Embrace the quarantine.
There’s no need to feel like you should be doing anything else other than hunkering down for the peak of the outbreak. Don’t worry about not being productive or what you might have been doing had COVID-19 not come into existence. And don’t worry about how behind you might be once the dust settles. Everyone is in the same boat. Stay in the moment and try to find the positives in the situation.
In fact, research shows that people who are better at staying in the moment — or, as psychologists call it, exhibiting a “balanced time perspective” — score higher on measures of happiness and well-being. What does this mean? According to psychologists, there are five lenses through which people understand and relate to the passage of time. They are:
- Past positive — a focus on the good old days; re-experiencing positive memories
- Past negative — a focus on what went wrong in the past; living in a world of regrets and could-have-beens
- Present hedonistic — living in the moment; seeking pleasure, sensation, and new and unique experiences
- Present fatalistic — disruptively believing that the future is predetermined; believing that actions don’t make a difference
- Future — always thinking ahead; planning; leaving little time to enjoy or appreciate the present
Research shows that people who score low on past negative and present fatalistic time perspectives, combined with moderate to high scores on the past positive, present hedonistic, and future time perspectives, tend to live happy lives…
…keep reading the full & original article HERE