5. What To Do in Times of Covid

March 25, 2020 Minding Corona No Comments

Nothing worse than a false sense of security. Please, take every measure of precaution. Then, read on.

March 30, 2020

This article can be read on its own. For more background, kindly follow this trail:

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With a little attentional effort, I start feeling a slight irritation in my bronchi, a little shortness of breath, a little pressure in the chest. It’s confusing. I can let myself go into this and feel the symptoms even more. Should I consult a physician? That would be me. Well, this does not mean that any symptoms are fake. It just shows how influential the mind can be on bodily symptoms. Research shows again and again that this can also be relevant to (objective) signs, not only to (subjective) symptoms. This indicates that when in acute respiratory distress, it is always important how you orient attention to the symptoms. Likewise, in the following points of advice, what to do lies equally in how you do it. Mechanically following these points is not going to provide their full potential. You have to really mean it.

In general

Follow guidelines from trusted sources. Don’t let any of the ones in this document make you not follow the other ones. I would say: And vice versa as well.
Note again that every infection is mind-body related. Science is unequivocal in this. It’s dependent on many circumstances, but mind-body relatedness is always there. Moreover, your immune system is only part of your defense. It’s altogether very complex, and your mind is related to it in many complex ways.

If you don’t have any symptoms

Think of the whirlpool image (related to multicausality). It’s better to stay out of the whirlpool. [see: “The Message in the Virus”]
With little effort, you may be doing just the right thing that saves you from being drawn into the whirlpool. Eventually, this small effort may save your life even while it doesn’t look so.
If the news grabs you by the throat, then try to keep yourself emotionally clean. That doesn’t mean that you should be emotionless. You may practice the feeling of being sensitive while not being vulnerable. These are two distinct entities. Stated differently: You may care for others while caring for yourself.
Avoid attention-killers. Too much thumb-scrolling social media may have a negative influence. If you feel it does, restrict yourself to a timeframe.
Especially avoid feeling panicky while or through being immersed in social media country. If you do, then see yourself as being manipulated by social media mechanisms. It is better to pull yourself out of it and find your inner strength.
Take care of your body as an integral part of your body-mind. There is only one you. You know what to do!
Take care of your mind. One meditation or guided meditation each day may already be very salutary even while it doesn’t look so.
Smile at everyone you meet outside and, if the occasion arises, practice a little bit of friendly communication from a physical distance. You might compensate for the distance by more social togetherness.
Stop smoking for a while. Even a few days of non-smoking has a positive effect on your lungs.
Get enough sleep or deep rest. This by itself also strengthens your immune system at the cellular level, as science shows.
Contemplate your reasons to be alive and healthy. Even if you ‘know’ them, your deeper mind likes to be reminded regularly.
If you get a positive corona-test, remind yourself that this is the time to take it positively and practice what you’ve just read.

If you have symptoms to a small degree

Always take them seriously. Do not forego medical consultation.
Giving deep attention to your symptoms should, at least after a short while, result in a diminishment, small or large. If only a bit, no problem. You are practicing.
Superficial attention to them may more readily become infested with panicky thoughts (even as non-conscious pre-thoughts) and a heightening of the symptoms.
Regularly put yourself in an upright position in body and mind as a sign of respect for yourself. If possible, try to stay relaxed. Then try to let yourself become even more relaxed. This is your groundwork upon which you can build further in a better way.
Practice slow breathing. This is not necessarily slow in time. It’s more a kind of breathing with attention. Try to follow your breath in its natural flow, even when it’s more difficult than otherwise. This way, you ‘relax your lungs’ and make them more resistant, less vulnerable.
Picture yourself in a whirlpool, turning around and not getting deeper into it. Try staying relaxed in your imagination. As much as possible, feel your strength. Don’t fool yourself. Search your strength.
All in all: relax. Your outlook is brighter when you do so. The more you practice, the more so. It is self-fulfilling to some degree.
Every symptom, if present to a slight degree, is a defense of your body against the virus. If it doesn’t derail, your symptom is your friend.
Prepare yourself for the eventuality that your symptoms may get worse. Practice the following guidelines, preferably before they are necessary. Rehearse them in order to give to yourself the best you’ve got inside. Your rehearsals are a sign of your inner strength.

If you have severe symptoms

This means you are in the whirlpool.
Don’t feel guilty about this. You are not. Moreover, we know that guilt is bad for health in many ways, including immunology.
At the same time, keep your responsibility for doing the best you can right now.
Use everything you’ve got, every second, to also defend yourself mentally.
You may let yourself be drawn towards a future of health, by that future of health. You can see it as a lifeline to get you out of the present situation. This is especially important at the level of deeper meaning.
Don’t see the virus by itself as the enemy to combat. Your adversary is the whirlpool. The virus is only part of that.
No matter how deep you’re into it, you can get out of it. Never give up. Promise that to yourself. You owe it to yourself. You owe it to others. You owe it to me.
Every minute you survive, you heighten your chances to get beyond.
Keep feeling powerful. You may find in yourself a strength that you didn’t know before.
Getting beyond, you may use that power – inner strength – for the rest of your life. You may use it to do something great.
Deep inside, every person has an ‘ocean of deep motivation’ to stay alive and accomplish things. It is an infinite ocean. Deep motivation is ‘human energy.’
Your mantra: Stay alive now to accomplish things later.
You may picture your guardian angel. (S)he is not here to keep you alive but to support you in doing so yourself.

For caregivers

All the above, of course, are important to you.
Try to give no less attention to the ones you care for, but indeed less superficial attention. Many caregivers (but not all) already know what deep attention means. Now is the time to practice it as much as possible.
Let your heart be warmed by a smile or a blink of an eye.
Respect your emotions. Don’t let yourself be carried away by them.
If a patient dies and you have given your deep attention even only during the last few minutes of consciousness, then you have done a very good thing.
You mean a lot by being you and by doing what you do.
Give, but don’t give yourself away.
Never give up. Also, never give up another person. A person may slip away but should, especially then, never be ‘given up.’ This is also crucial for the caregiver’s sake.
It is best to be exceptionally nice to other caregivers and to ask them to be exceptionally nice to you.
Due to your contacts, you may be especially prone to ‘psychological contamination’ on the level of profound meaningfulness. You should now and then take special care for this, such as while washing your hands. Relax and also cleanse your ‘deeper mind and body.’