How to Handle Your Stress Recovering From the Global Crisis

[Music]

once upon a time

there were four friends happiness

sadness anger and fear

they called themselves the emotions

happiness was the one that held the

whole group together

he cared for the whole group and brought

some light

on a dark day but happiness

was a little insecure and sometimes

a bit shy did he

really belong in the group happiness

sometimes thought

he felt so different sometimes

if only the others in the group would

tell him that he was so appreciated

but whatever happens happiness will

never leave the group

he will always be there maybe sometimes

a bit in the background

but he is there

on great days happiness laughs out loud

and feels he can fly

then we have anger

anger liked to defend the whole group

from danger

she liked action and she liked noise

and anger loved to storm

but anger also needed the others in the

group

to remind her to be gentle and sometimes

to be a bit quiet that is also what

anger appreciated from her friends

anger would want her friends to tell her

more often

that she was sometimes just a bit too

much

then we have fear

fear always likes to run away from the

group

fear cannot sit still he

always thinks that nobody is to be

trusted

and overthinks everything he comes

across

fear likes happiness as a friend

happiness always gives fear a hug when

he feels like

running away and then it all feels

better

it melts all the ice that fear collects

when it freezes but

fear is a funny one he is also attracted

to sadness and anger sometimes running

from one to the other but in the end

he belongs to happiness the one

that makes fear calm

finally we have sadness

sadness loves the rain and is the most

introvert of the group

though she is a part of the group she

always feels

alone and she likes to pull the others

in her loneliness too

but anger and happiness do not let that

happen

happiness always tries to make sadness

laugh

and anger shakes up sadness world and

teaches her how to fight

sadness feels then imbalance and not

out of control this group of friends are

best when they are its equal

when the competition between them grows

that can mean trouble

happiness is a natural leader when he

takes his responsibility

then we are fine but when

anger fear or sadness want to lead the

group can fall apart

all these changes how to adapt

this is where the next door neighbor

sees her chance to

talk to the friends the next door

neighbor

is called stress and she likes the

competition going on

she likes to bring the emotions out of

control

and watch them struggle to adapt

but there is love

love is already very old and he is the

strongest you will see

love is very special because he also

loves himself he does not only love

himself

he also teaches the friends to love

themselves

that there does not have to be one

stronger

than the other love clears the sky

love helps stress to be softer

but you have to believe in love for him

to come

and then keep the door open for him

because love

only works when you open your arms

and let him do his work

will there never be trouble

of course there will be that is why the

emotions

stress and love are there

but it is important that they all are

there

because only then we learn the value of

them all

and that is the story of the emotions

it is quite a story to start with and it

is at the core

of who we are as humans

a story not to forget when we are

born we start walking on this road

called

life and this road called life is a long

road and this road has ups and its road

has downs and we come

across different situations good or bad

and sometimes the things we experience

are exceptional

in 2020 the world experienced something

exceptional

with the pandemic for many it created a

mix of emotions

sadness anger fear but also happiness

all were there this mix of emotions in

an

unusual situation can feel very

confusing

and for some it could have felt that

they did not have their emotions

in control anymore all these emotions

confusion and the feeling of having

things not

in control can make us feel

tired we do our best

to process all the information coming in

and what we are feeling

and this is not easy for mind and body

so it makes us tired

but the pandemic will not be there

forever

at some point we will have to recover

from our global crisis

and this will also cost energy

we will have to adapt we can certainly

do that

so some will happily go through it but

for some

it can also create stress

so what should one do then the first

step

is to accept your emotions

be willing to feel any emotions that are

there

when we experience stress our focus is

not always unconsciously feeling

what is happening inside us

literally get in touch with yourself

first

so let us do a small exercise

bring your hand forward like this

now put your other hand on top of it

feel the weight of your hand on top

of the other hand

are your hands cold or warm

feel the touch of every finger

consciously

on your hand when was the last time

you felt the weight of your hand

consciously

like this in the same way

also practice to feel your emotions

and that they are present

very well so a next step

is to go through that process of not

only feeling

but also learning in the process of

recovering from the crisis

when we know a change is coming we can

do a few things

we can avoid the change we can run away

from the change

we can fight the change accept the

change

or we can go through the change

and surf on the waves it creates

going through change is not always easy

it feels comfortable to stay in the same

place

but to recover from a stressful

situation there’s also

change needed and if we gently go

through it we will feel better

for example a family lives in a small

apartment

they want to move to a bigger place a

change

but in the end moving to this bigger

place

will feel better for them

practice being full of surprise wonder

and gratefulness

while going through this process

when we are in a state of wonder we

admire

the small things in times of a crisis

becoming aware of the small things that

give us joy

help us keeping our emotions in place

two psychologists from miami who study

gratefulness

as the group they were studying to write

a few sentences

every week the first one-third of the

group

wrote what they were grateful for the

second

one-third of the group wrote what

irritated

them the third one third of the group

so the last part wrote neutral about the

things

that happened in their lives ten weeks

later

the ones who had expressed gratitude

felt happier

than the others and you can also do this

as an

experiment for yourself

monitor yourself write one week

about what you were grateful for write

one week

about what irritated you and write one

week

about happenings in your life in a

neutral way

evaluate what felt best for you

monitoring your progress is very helpful

also keep reflecting and asking yourself

questions day by day

reflecting is having a conversation with

yourself

which is also important to do from time

to time

so we need to develop ourselves we need

to adapt

training your ability to adapt will make

that you can handle

tough situations in life better and

better

every time and this is a continuous

process that will keep going on every

day

however it is important

to emphasize to take your time

your own time and that is okay

before the pandemic happened a lot of

people

were always in a rush running from one

place to the other place

being occupied with one or the other

thing

when many countries went into a lockdown

some people were forced to be with

themselves

while a human connection is very

important

being with oneself also teaches the

person

to deal with time differently

taking your time to develop yourself can

be a great learning

because we then keep consciously

monitoring

and working on ourselves

recovering from a crisis also needs

managing expectations

manage the expectations in your life

it feels great to look forward to

something exciting

or to a world where we will be able to

do a lot of things like we did before

but when we put expectations there

we can get disappointed and we can also

get tired

of waiting for those expectations to

become

a reality become aware of what your

expectations are

and sometimes it is very hard to let

certain expectations go

but awareness is a first step

then is all the managing here in our

head

no no of course not physical exercise

has been more

important than ever to maintain our

bodies and mental health

and physical exercise has all the effect

on our emotions often we know

some information about maintaining our

health

but when does this turn into doing

when we start doing what we learned that

is where the magic happens

and that is when we can feel proud of

ourselves

and feeling proud of ourselves when we

are taking

care of ourselves well i can tell you

that is a great feeling

let us go back to our friends the

emotions

one thing is sure happiness

cannot exist without the other emotions

it is a part of life they all have a

useful function

make a road map of your emotions on this

journey

identify them every day and become

friends with them

i will end with a story about a boy

that i once met when he came

in my consultation room with his parents

he was born blind when his parents came

with him

the boy started exploring the table and

other things in the consultation room

with his hands and with his feet

he crossed my chair and hugged my leg

and did not want to let go

he wants to be your friend his father

said

it taught me that we can experience the

world in different ways

but there is something special about

companionship

no matter if that is sharing with other

people

or to be your own companion

it is worth learning to be a companion

especially when we want to recover

from a crisis

[Music]

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