Katy Manna  

In Today’s Economy When You Feel There Is No Where To Turn- TURN HERE

We are all being bombarded with scary economic messages and bleak scenarios. There is no doubt that many people are facing their biggest fears. The fear of financial insecurity, home foreclosure and job loss are all common symptoms of the current state of our world.

Sadly, the ten ton weight that has set up camp on our shoulders has likely impacted our relationships and thrown our zest for life out the window. We feel the darkness of constant impending doom.

What would you give to make that feeling go away? Like most of us, I’m sure you’d give a lot to rid yourself of those feelings. The good news is that you don’t have to give much at all. The truth is, you that you don’t have to live in fear – no matter what the media tells you.

What is happening in the world right now has thrown us into what I call “Collective Survival Mode.” Survival mode implies that we are having a physiological reaction. Here’s a glimpse of what that looks like:

A lion is chasing you. Your adrenalin is pulsing through your veins to keep you alive. Your heart is racing, your breathing is fast and shallow. You have little energy and little blood going to the vital organs in your body. You are fully focused on staying alive and staying alive only, which means you pay no attention to anything else.

What’s different in Collective Survival Mode versus the scenario above is that the lion is chasing all of us – our friends, neighbors, co-workers. We are all experiencing survival mode at the same time.

Enter, insomnia, anxiety and addictions – en masse. But that’s just the beginning. After sustaining survival mode, or what is commonly called the “fight or flight response,” for any length of time, heart disease, heart attacks, strokes and a depressed immune system ensue.

With such a substantial impact on our collective health and so many cards stacked against us, how can we expect the world or our own lives to come out of this whole?

To pull out of the economic state we are in, not to mention all the other external issues facing society today, we need healthy, clear-thinking, thriving people. And I want you to be one of them – and I want you to start today.

Here’s how you can begin to heal yourself and the world around you:

            HEALTHY BEHAVIORS TO HEAL AN UNHEALTHY WORLD

·        Ask yourself what you are really afraid of? Get to the root of your fear.

·        Ask yourself what your worst-case scenarios look like and what would you do if they really happened? Would they kill you? What’s the reality? (Remember, feelings can’t kill us even if it feels like they could).

·        Begin a mindfulness practice. This can be a walking meditation, listening to your breath or even going to  the gym to blow off steam.

·        Take a yoga class. Notice how you feel before and after.

·        Keep a journal of everything you are going through.

·        Do something everyday that makes you feel happy. Don’t underestimate the power of play.

·        Find a group of supportive people who refuse to sit around and talk about how difficult life is. Meet with them once each week to talk about what you are doing to stay positive.

In picking just one or two healthy behaviors and working them into your life, you will decrease your heart rate, normalize your blood pressure, reduce stress hormones and strengthen your immune system. This creates a foundation that will not only give you a good night’s sleep and physical health, but will also give you your vitality back. You will have more energy and patience because you have slowed down enough to reconnect yourself to your body and your life. Negative thoughts that used to eat up much of your day will roll off your back. You will have more energy for your family and hobbies, and your relationships will flourish again.

If enough of us do this together, we will have the collective clarity to affect change in the world. We will be out of survival mode and into thrive mode. The trick is for each of us to focus on the internal rather than the external, knowing that we will all benefit from the synergistic effect.

But whether we take this on together or not, one of the most important things to remember is that no matter what happens on the outside, if you are not your best self on the inside you will never really obtain the true happiness that is available to you. That is true in good times too.

At some point, we will all be the phoenix rising from the ashes. Don’t you want to be ready to fly?

Katy Manna is a Conscious Living Coach in Baltimore, Md.

To contact Katy for corporate speaking or one on one email Katy at   Katy@LiveWithTheLightsOn.com