Fear of the Unknown

Fear of the unknown is a common human response spreading around the world as the pandemic travels the globe. This fight or flight response kept early humans safe while they evaluated a new potential threat, like a saber-toothed tiger or forest fire. Confronting an invisible virus that has spread around the world, however, leaves no option for fight or flee. This causes a person’s stress response to naturally build up a steady supply of cortisol that can lead to a host of problems such as weight gain, reliance on drugs, alcohol or tobacco products, irritability, poor sleep, pain or illness. No one needs these problems on top of the big challenges facing us in these unprecedented times.

Just as our physical bodies need strong core muscles to help us stand, move and leverage our strength, our minds need a strong spiritual core to respond effectively when faced with emotional challenges like fear and worry. This is what feeds the fortitude to know that we are up to facing whatever difficulties may come our way.

Athletes train hard to prepare their bodies to meet an opponent and turn the action in their favor. Similarly, we can build our spiritual core for resilience when facing emotional challenges. Here are three ways to strengthen your spiritual self:

• Meditate
• Pray
• Spend time in nature

Meditating regularly puts you in touch with your higher self, which you can then access more quickly in stressful times. Even 10 minutes of daily meditation has been shown to provide health benefits and resiliency increases with better health. It is easier to think of solutions when calm.

Having an active prayer life reinforces your connection with the Divine, reminding you that you are not alone in your darkest moments. We are all stronger emotionally when we know that we have support when facing troubles.

Being in nature puts things in perspective, reminding us that there are greater forces in the world than our human dramas. Both meditation and prayer can be combined with being in nature, where we are rejuvenated by the energy of the trees and plants around us. If your stress level is too high to even meditate or pray, simply stepping outside for a few minutes can restore some balance enough to then successfully pray or meditate.

People who meditate, pray or regularly spend time out in nature radiate a sense of calm that proactively diffuses many potential problems before they can negatively impact the individual. Much of this effect comes from an increased clarity of mind that results in clearer thinking, better decision making and taking more positive actions.

If you feel that fear of the unknown may be impacting your life, focus on strengthening your spiritual core to improve your resiliency. Reducing your automatic stress response leads to better health and an overall feeling of wellness.

Visit www.soothehypnosis.com to learn how hypnotism works and how it can complement your efforts to manage your fears, increase your resiliency and help you connect with your spiritual core.

Photo from Pixabay.