Welcome to Wonderball.
How are you doing?
This is day three of our mindfulness in isolation course,
Where we'll look at mindful techniques to help tone down the anxiety that comes from consuming news about this pandemic.
It's natural to develop a bit of an addiction to huge global news stories like COVID-19.
The latest numbers,
The latest closures,
The latest changes.
We feel like if we can just gather up all the facts and make some sense of it all,
We'll feel more at ease.
But often that media binge just leaves us feeling even more anxious.
So here's a mindful way to read the news that will help you stay updated without feeling deflated.
The first step is to take a moment to think about the reason you're opening the news.
Do it purposefully.
Think to yourself,
I want to understand more about how people around the world are being affected or I want to know the latest things I need to do to keep myself and others safe.
What other good reasons can you come up with for checking news feeds?
If you head into the activity with a purpose,
You're less likely to be swept away by the news and the emotions that it brings up.
The next step is to take stock as you read.
What emotions do each news item invoke?
Take time to acknowledge the emotion.
Don't turn away from it.
Therapists sometimes say emotions are like a tunnel.
You have to go through them to get to the other side.
Or you could take a cue from the buffalo.
When a storm rolls over a ridge toward a herd of buffalo,
They don't run away.
They run straight into the storm.
That's the fastest way through.
Running away is running with the storm and only prolongs it.
So make like a buffalo and run into the emotion you feel from each news story.
Acknowledge it,
Name it,
And move through it.
These simple steps will increase your emotional resistance to news as it inundates our lives in isolation.
One day at a time.
Thanks for being here.
