As we continue to reel under the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, it may probably be a good idea for each of us to devise our own playbook to maintain the mental balance necessary to tide over this difficult period.
Most likely through a process of trial and error to discover what works best for us, individually. For, much as it would have been nicer, there really are no quick fixes available to develop inner peace, when the world, as we knew it prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, is possibly falling apart due to the contagion.
Not all among us, for example, can meditate effectively when our minds are constantly pre-occupied with thoughts about what further upheaval the novel coronavirus may cause. And not everybody, too, can follow to the letter the prescriptions laid down by the World Health Organization (WHO) on how to look after our mental health. Besides, of course, the fact that being a work in progress ourselves, the specific mechanisms we choose to stay at our best may also need to change from time to time to be of any meaningful use to us.
While engaged in this process of discovery that I referred to earlier, it could help if we reminded ourselves constantly that feeling stressed when many experts are pointing out that the worst on the Corona front may be yet to come does not necessarily mean that those among us experiencing negative thoughts are on the brink of serious nervous breakdowns. Or, for that matter, in desperate and immediate need of therapy.
Undergoing moments of anxiety, depression or sadness have always been associated with human existence, and even the best among us have succumbed to these emotions at some point. Which is why mankind has always come up with ways to deal with such issues, therapy being one.
We have in ourselves the ability to condition our minds to remain resilient and overcome the toughest of challenges that mankind may ever face. Including one posed by the novel coronavirus. For, as Milton said, “the mind is its own place and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven”.