By Dr. Arati Suryawanshi
We all have been a part of the stress and suffering of the sudden and deeply affecting changes on the life of human mankind due to Covid -19 pandemic. And due to this unprecedented crisis, our brain had to work a lot, tribally bigger, suddenly one had to think about his family, job, the health of all the people in the house and his/her own health as well. We had to think about ourselves constantly to survive the danger suddenly created by the Covid Pandemic. Especially in the second wave of covid, it was very bad many of us were losing our loved ones, from our families/ friends or relatives.
The major symptom of stress which, as a psychologist and emotional intelligence practitioner I always feel is that when we are unable to concentrate on the things which are connected with our loved ones. When the pull of the news of covid becomes more than the pull of passionate things of our lives, we automatically immerse into the zone of a Stress battle. This battle is really longer and bigger since we know that, we are suffering from one disease or the other as Covid cases are reducing and black fungus cases started to be identified + we are at the point of the third wave.
MINDFUL HEART CONSULTANCY with our initiative of coaching frontline workers, bankers and their family have helped almost more than 600 human beings individually and in groups to support them with various different handy tools to survive themselves from these stressful situations and unwanted impact of the pandemic. So what are the steps a person should take to help yourself…
· Become Mindful. Become Aware. And Empathize Self
During my early research I came up with “The Four A” model which I have extensively used achieving positive success with my clients while conferring on such issues in a subtle manner i.e. ACKNOWLEDGE, ACCEPT, AWARE/ APPRECIATE AND ACTION. This model helps us understand what is happening to taking into account our surroundings (Eg. COVID) and understand what goes on when one is stressed.
The first step of “The four A” model is to know what exactly has happened and give your 100% to admit it. Then comes Accepting the things such as sorrow, grief, pain, loss, mental health issues. Keep in mind that stressful conditions all are happening due to the pandemic and not going to remain forever. Then Aware yourself and accept the conditions and not just accept them but since these all are there to actually warn us, help us, making us aware and give us an important message. Last but not the least is Action – That which can make me feel positive! Happy! Bring joy in my life! TRY AND DO THAT. This is how you bring positivity alive into your own life; or just a smile on your face; or a moments’ happiness. Begin by just bringing a smile onto your face by reading a joke or jumping on the spot for sometime. I also term this as “5 MINUTE FOR A” model.
· Please reach out to the people you feel safe with:
Whenever you realise that you are sufferring from stress, then rest yourself, and try to apply above Four A model, but if you are still feeling stressful then reach out to the people you feel safe with and also mental health experts who are trained and give you appropriate therapy. Feeling Stressful is normal in this case and trained counselling and therapy will certainly help.
· Break the pattern of stress response
Stress is a reaction which is mostly on autopilot and therefore our mind is conditioned in responding a certain way; though not the correct way. More so during an emergency situation our mind enters a default zone. We observe this through inappropriate defence mechanisms such as unhealthy eating habits, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, constant denial and blaming etc. During these situations one needs to take a step back to break the pattern to reverse the adverse effects of stress upon us.
A 6 second pause method is highly effective here – Before initiating any response which could hamper and individual, WAIT FOR 6 SECONDS. TAKE A PAUSE. DON’T GIVE ANY REACTION. These valuable seconds allow our brain to understand a situation appropriately thereby enabling our brain to produce healthy hormones. If we really take deliberate effort every time to respond to stress in this way we then are using our SMART HEART and not our DEFAULT ZONE.
To conclude…5 mins for “The four A” model, 1 min for positive thought, and the much less 6 seconds strategy to break a pattern…will bring you Positive Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing. Could we do this? Just SIX MINUTES AND SIX SECONDS: We don’t think it’s a very big time.
Dr. Arati Suryawanshi
CPC: ICF
EQ Practitioner.
