Keeping Calm in a world that rides on anxiety
In today’s world the news that makes the round has to be very catchy even to get the attention of any, talk much of getting people’s focus, sadly enough the “catchy news” has evoked many negative emotions in people watching the news, causing them to be scared, anxious, pressured, annoyed and sometimes even depressive. The media outlets are merely trying to stay competitive and relevant, so there is always a fight for the attention of people, but watching news on fiscal policy, increase in the unemployment rate, political instability, natural disaster, and the likes can cause heartburn and put people into depression.
The strongest weapon a human possesses is none other than the mind. What you need to understand is that you do not have actually to digest what is put out there for you, it is like walking past a waste bin and not consuming what’s inside no matter what it is because you know it is bad for your health. So no matter what is in circulation around you, you can control it and maintain inner peace. There are several methods or techniques one can apply to maintain calmness to reduce the anxiety.
The first thing to do is not to exaggerate what is going on. Certain words you make use of shouldn’t be used or should be used less often, words like “never” or “everyone” puts you in a box, roping you in with “everyone” else, such that when you hear of what happens to them, your mind starts thinking it will happen to you too. You may be thinking that certain events have validated this thought pattern, but really it’s just you that wants to see, remember, “easy it to spot a yellow color when it’s what you’re thinking about.” So get yourself out of this rut by selecting what you generalize.
One thing you need to make a habit is mindfulness of what you are focusing on or thinking of. There are many ways to go about this, and each situation probably has its peculiarity, but one that seems to work always is taking deep breathes. This technique makes use of the fact that the mind tends to be able to maintain focus on only one thing at a time, such that when you find yourself getting anxious and you are reacting negatively. Deep breathes takes your focus away from whatever it is to the air that’s filling your stomach and at the same, allowing the negative energy to blow out through the exhale. The larger the focus on your deep breathes, the lesser your focus on the anxiety.
Another technique is to do a reverse of what the news is doing to you, how? The use of positive self-talk. You see, when negative news and information starts stirring up those uncomfortable emotions in you, a pack of positive self-talk changes your mental state so fast that the bad news seems very insignificant. Each situation has its set of antidote (positive self-talk), and the more and longer you speak those words to yourself, your mind starts to focus on it, meditating on it more till they fill up your whole consciousness and mind. Sometimes you are not conscious that you are addressing yourself with negative words, slowly drowning yourself into negativity, and just like the clouds, when it is full, it will find an outlet, such that bosses tend to snap at employees even though it’s very early in the morning. So even when you have not received anything negative, do some positive self-talk to keep your emotions in check.
Finally, have all your facts straight, get informed properly. All that you hear out there is probably fake, or at best, “half news.” You have heard that there are two sides to a story, but sometimes it’s four sides to a story, the narrator, the listener, the accused and the victim, and you will need all sides to understand what is going on properly. So get informed and get educated.
As a final note on this, you can’t put a stop to what you hear, but you can adjust your response. Life they say is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to them. We cannot stop birds from flying over our heads, but we can stop them from making a nest on it.
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