This is the fourth in a four-part series about our integrative reality, and some suggestions for how to deal with it, during the never-ending pandemic – confusion.
Every single news cast is talking about it, social media posts are rife with it: confusion. Not just about the pandemic, but about what the ‘old normal’ we’re supposed to be aiming to return to is. Do we even want it? Existential crises abound. So, how can mindful awareness and integrative thinking help navigate through our pandemic-exit? It’s a tricky one, as with all things it depends on what the confusion stems from, so let’s start there.
Take a look at what is in your peripheral vision of thinking. When you’re looking forward (foreal) you tend to have a certain set of blinders on. Is there something you’re confused about that you’re missing a piece within your reach to help manage or mitigate? Start there by examining the confusion you’re laser focused on and break it down from different angles or views. Look directly at each of those new inputs and if needed, do the same with them and break them down. Then you can move on to the second exercise which is about what internal and external aspects you can actually control.
We covered this exercise in the third post, but it bears repeating as it relates more specifically to generalized confusion vs specific problems. Use the same technique to look at this issue, but a bit more broadly as pandemic confusion is an outer ring over the internal and external individual ones. We need education to fill in that gap. When you practice looking at what you can control to manage your confusion look to the ‘outer ring’ to fill in your information gaps and help calm your confusion and underlying fear.
Some confusion and fear, if unrealistic and out of proportion requires therapy, and none of this is a replacement for mental health professionals but can help focus in on what your confusion stems from and how you can help work through it. While going through these mindful exercises a calming essential oil such as lavender or tea tree can help you go a bit broader and deeper in your thought processes.
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Photo credit: "Confused traffic signal" by caesararum is licensed with CC BY 2.0.
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