Yes, in today’s technological times, it is a must to stay informed, not only to be an interesting person to speak to at parties but also to survive. But at the same time, we must remember to turn it off once in a while or in other words to not keep feeding our bowls constantly with what’s happening around, or else we’ll end up with nothing but overflowing.
A balanced life requires an equal amount of both inner and outer concern. Yes, I should be able to get the general message of the information being provided and at the same time, I should not let it bother me and my rationale so much that I forget to fulfill my responsibilities. I should be able to both listen and mute. Sometimes we equate our humanity for our ability to feel to such an extreme extent that we forget that sometimes it’s equally important to numb oneself out., as a protective measure for oneself.
We need occasional relief from the picture painted of the world coming to an end. We need to tune ourselves out of this image and focus on hundreds of years ahead, kilometres far above where we reside to realise how little relevance the present might hold then. Time will and does dissolve everything.
This will help you build your resilience!
In both Positive Psychology and lay man terms, ‘resilience’ refers to cope with whatever life throws at you. It is the ability to face challenges and bounce back, even stronger and wiser than before.
A resilient person returns to normalcy by using their strengths and psychological capital like hope, optimism and self efficacy.
Resilience is a skill that is learned over time; it’s not a personality trait. It is never too late to become resilient. One way to do this is to place your current issue in the scheme of bigger things and thus, see its actual severity or the lack thereof.
So next time you face a crisis, imagine you holding your issue in your hand. Now slowly zoom out of yourself, out of the building you live in, out of the city, out of the state, country and even continent. Then go beyond even the ozone layer till you reach the moon and can see the whole earth. Now assess the severity of your problem.
Zooming out often helps you gain perspective on your issues while not demeaning how you feel about them. It helps you understand how manageable your current crisis is. Once the seriousness reduces, you can now look at problem solving the situation and learning from it. Come out stronger and wiser!
A wise person knows once he or she has learned whatever is required from the news, when the anchors are no longer speaking what one does not know, when the ongoing voices are doing nothing but further increasing the terror and it is during such a time that a wise person pulls the plug off, disconnects from the collapsing outside and attends to the needs of the inside.
