At this moment, two epidemics are breaking out. The COVID-19 virus, and the virus of fear.
Both are serious. Both are manageable.
Let me talk today about the virus of fear. What I consider the most pernicious aspect of this moment. Emotional contagion is incredibly powerful and can take over our minds and emotions with overwhelming ease and force.
So, let's start by understanding the fundamentals of fear and then how to face it.
Fear is a basic part of our self-preservation instinct. Over billions of years, nature has refined its strategy of emotional reward and punishment to keep us alive until we are old enough to procreate and thus fulfill its agenda of continuity.
To this end, it has burdened our minds with fundamental programming, which proves pernicious at times like this, when we are called to embrace our greatness.
This basic programming has instilled an irrational code in our DNA, making us feel that what we fear is at least five times more valuable than what we can gain. And to keep us under its control, it takes this mental manipulation to such an extent that it doesn't visualize catastrophic scenarios, lest we be contemplating facing the situation.
And moments like this, in which we find ourselves in the midst of a pandemic's spread, are the panacea for this primal mind. It latches onto neurosis, feeds on collective psychosis, and through us, spreads it with virulence.
Let's see the mechanism in action. Every time you update your search engine and see a new statistic about the spread of the virus, the basic programming in your primitive mind releases a shot of the neurotransmitter known as dopamine. This shot generates a very pleasant sensation, similar to the one felt when ingesting cocaine. Terribly addictive. And this urges you to keep updating your search engine, discovering new threatening news.
Then, after finding something new, and the more terrible the better, the primitive mind incites you to broadcast this news to your social network. And now, it rewards you with the release of adrenaline and oxytocin. Adrenaline is the neurotransmitter that triggers stress. It causes us to want to fight or flee, and puts us on maximum alert. While oxytocin is the neurotransmitter of love and happiness. It makes us feel socially connected. Both sensations, in normal times, are good and healthy. However, in moments like this, of a growing psychosis of collective fear, they are a deadly cocktail of overstimulation that ends up exhausting us physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Therefore, at this moment, collective fear, instead of helping us make better decisions, is consuming us, disempowering us, and affecting our health.
This doesn't mean you shouldn't be aware of what's happening. You need to stay informed! However, you need to manage the information. I suggest you check the news twice a day to catch up on developments. That will keep you more than well-informed. And if there's something you absolutely need to know, believe me, someone will let you know.
The truth is that checking our phones every 12 minutes in normal times, and even more so in extraordinary times like these, is counterproductive.
So what needs to be done?
Face your fear
The two biggest fears right now are losing our health and losing our income. So, instead of being paralyzed checking our phones every five minutes, feeding our fears, and disempowering ourselves, let's embrace our greatness.
To face the fear of losing your health, start exercising physically, mentally, and spiritually. Strengthen yourself.
And to face the fear of losing your income, reinvent yourself. There's never been a better time to do it. So let's get to work.
In the following segments, I will go into more detail about how to take greater control of our lives and emotions.
But for now, I invite you to take a deep breath and relax. Inhale deeply, and as you exhale, release the air with a strong sigh, making the sound ahhhhh. Very good. Once more… Understand that you only have control over two things: what you think and what you do.
So start by empowering yourself and carefully selecting the information you consume. Make sure it's information that nourishes, stimulates, and strengthens you. Reading biographies of great human beings who have faced and overcome difficult times like this is an inexhaustible source of inspiration.
Then there's what you can do. A basic action is to reason, how can I minimize my risk of contagion? And two basic suggestions come to mind. First, shield yourself. Stay away from places where the virus is spreading. And second, strengthen the organ the virus attacks, your lungs. On the internet, there are all sorts of guides for doing different types of exercise that strengthen your lungs.
A breathwork master whom I respect greatly is named Dan Brulé. He is a former special forces diver who trains in advanced breathing techniques. A good exercise to do during this confinement is to read his book “Breathe the Life” and undertake the 21-day challenge he shares within it. This will help you occupy yourself instead of worrying. It will also train you in how to develop the basic skill of controlled breathing, which will help strengthen your lungs while you learn to use breathwork to manage stress. Go for it.
As always, I remind you that you are great and that life demands your greatness. Until the next comment.