Our thoughts create our reality.

This isn’t a new concept for me… I’ve known this for many years but am living it now in an entirely different way.

One of the things I started doing early on in this pandemic was limiting the amount of news and theories I’ve allowed into my space. Into my mind. My psyche. I do a once daily check-in to receive the latest news provincially and federally. So I am aware of what is happening within the communities closest to home.

Outside of that I am RIDICULOUSLY selective with what I am allowing in, because I know how important my mental health is at this time. And I know it’s my #1 job to protect it.

Yes, we are fighting a virus. And yes, there are many theories as to why this happened and where it came from. There are endless articles and conversations online around all of this, and it’s SOOO easy to get caught up in them. To go down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out why all of this is happening. And what caused it.

I have a zero tolerance for any of this right now. I’ve unfollowed and “30 day paused” more people on Facebook this past few weeks than ever before.

Because I’m more concerned about fighting the “fear virus” than I am about the corona virus.

Don’t get me wrong – I know the corona virus is real and I take that very seriously. We are following all precautions to keep ourselves and others as safe as possible and to prevent the spread.

But most people I am talking to right now are not suffering from the virus itself. They are suffering from all the FEAR that comes up around the virus. Fear about the future. Fear about what this means for humanity. Fear about the world never going back to normal.

There are two types of fear that we experience in times like these:
⁃ healthy fear that keeps us aware and safe
⁃ unhealthy fear that invades our psyche and can take us down a dark path

Our Premier here in Alberta addressed our province on Tuesday and laid out some pretty grim projections of what could happen. The worst case scenario was over a million infections and 32,000 deaths in a population of 4.4 million.

That’s pretty fucking scary to think about. And as I said to my mom, I’m glad they shared those numbers. I’m glad they are scaring people a bit because then hopefully we will continue to take it seriously and stay home. To keep doing what we’ve been doing.

That’s a healthy kind of fear imo. It’s a fear that leads to us making smart choices. A fear that will hopefully help flatten the curve and shorten the duration of this for us all.

I was talking with a friend this weekend who brought up some of the “conspiracy theory” stuff that’s out there and I wouldn’t even engage in that discussion. As I said to her “I can’t let my mind go there right now because I know what it will do to me”.

My monkey brain would go off in all directions of “what if?!” Or “omg, is that really true?!”

Then I would get worried, which starts to show up in my grumpy mood and leads to me blowing up at my kids for dirty dishes in the sink. Which leads to sleepless nights where I can’t turn off my brain. Which means I’m exhausted in the morning and unmotivated to do anything constructive. Which makes me feel guilty and useless. Which leads to more worry… and so on and so on.

It’s a well worn path that I’ve been down many times before in my life. And it’s a path that has real consequences for us in these heightened times.

When we are isolated at home – not able to do what we would normally be doing. Not able to do what we want to do!
When we have nothing but time on our hands and aren’t sure what to do with it.
When the entire world has shut down and we don’t know what that means for us in the long run.

If our thoughts create our reality, what kind of reality are you creating right now?

Are you marinating in all of the things that could go wrong? All of the things that feel so out of our control in the moment?

Or are you keeping as much of the “gunk” out as possible to keep your thoughts clean and clear? Are you limiting the intake of ‘junk food’ coming into your brain?
What I do know is this:

Whatever we choose to let in right now is what will color our thinking. Which in turn will affect our emotional and mental health.
Whatever we choose to let in right now will affect the future we imagine for ourselves and our families. That we get to create together in the coming months and years.

Be selective. Be purposeful. <– this we can control

Tina

PS – If you are interested in some deeper conversations that combine both a spiritual and a business perspective come join us in my Intersection Facebook group. We may not have answers yet but I do know that together we get to create this new world.