By Bro. Varghese Mandapathil SG –
Pandemic is wreaking havoc in many people’s lives. Numbers are becoming names and names of those familiar to us. When a close friend or a member of the family is lost without even a warning or time to prepare, the grief and loss we experience can be pretty traumatic.
The second wave of the Corona Virus has taught people some hard lessons. Many people who took the virus lightly during the first wave learned to be more careful with their and their family’s physical health. But sadly, many are still not paying enough attention to their mental health during the coronavirus pandemic. Where are you finding joy in your life? The on-going pandemic has pushed some into deep anxiety, fear and depression as past wounds and trauma resurfaced. Many people are struggling to cope up with their loss or take care of their emotional health during this pandemic.
Science tells us that our emotional health can have a big impact on how we feel physically. It’s called the mind-body connection. According to the American Heart Association, people who are happier tend to have better heart health. They manage stress better. And, being more positive may cope with difficult situations better and contribute to a longer and happier life.
Once again, the vulnerable section is the children. These days many parents complain that children are found to be behaving abnormally.(Assam Tribune 10th June 2021) They get irritated quickly and their tolerance to frustration is very low. Being locked down in their flats or houses adds to the trauma they are going through. On normal school days children like to mingle with others of their age but the lockdown has deprived them of this and many families do not have enough space to allow the children to play.
Is your glass half-empty or half-full? How you answer this age-old question about positive thinking may reflect your outlook on life, your attitude towards yourself, and whether you’re optimistic or pessimistic — and it may even affect your health.
Indeed, some studies show that personality traits such as optimism and pessimism can affect many areas of your health and well-being. The positive thinking that usually comes with optimism is a key part of effective stress management. And effective stress management is associated with many health benefits.
Positive thinking doesn’t mean that you keep your head in the sand and ignore life’s less pleasant situations. Positive thinking just means that you approach unpleasantness more positively and productively. You think and hope that the best is going to happen, not the worst.
Positive thinking often starts with self-talk. Self-talk is the endless stream of unspoken thoughts that run through your head. These automatic thoughts can be positive or negative. Some of your self-talk comes from logic and reason. Other self-talk may arise from misconceptions that you create because of a lack of information or misinformation.
If the thoughts that run through your head are mostly negative, your outlook on life is more likely to be pessimistic. The electromagnetic charges that move through your body are set off by these thoughts and results in attracting what you want or being struck by your limiting thoughts. If your thoughts are mostly positive, you’re likely an optimist, someone who practices positive thinking.
The law of attraction is a philosophy that suggests that whatever you focus on, think about, read about, and talk about intensely, you are going to attract more of it into your life. That is to say those positive thoughts bring positive results into a person’s life, while negative thoughts bring negative outcomes. While positivity can improve one’s quality of life and resilience through hardship and difficulty, negativity can not only weaken your immunity and health but also affect your ability to deal with the present challenges effectively.
May the third wave find us well prepared mentally and emotionally with an attitude of gratitude and be thankful for all the good things you already have which intern will attract more and more of good things that you will be grateful for in your life.
Bro.Varghese Mandapathil SG is the provincial of Montfort Brothers of St.Gabriel province of North East India. A North East India Covid task force has been involved to care for the safety and support of for the people of NEInida. Bro.Varghese heads the counselling team of the covid task force. A team of five senior counsellors from North East region led by Bro.George Padikara SG of the province of Bengaluru supervises the counselling services. There are 54 counsellors in the team able to render services to people from 24 language groups. These counsellors are available 24 hours to reach out to people with online psychological support.
