Recognise that you, yourself, by continually watching potentially ‘negative’ news channels offering sensationalism to keep you in a state of fear and therefore keep you watching, maintain yourself in that bad place. Stop watching. Ditto much of social media and the online tabloid press.

Stick to the Serious Press

Do yourself a favour and stick to credible sources to stay informed on developments – ones which don’t flood you with panic-inducing pieces of dubious journalism, destined to create fear. Peace of the mind is important!

Watch with Whom You Talk

Watch the subjects you discuss very carefully. People fill themselves with even greater fear by repeating half-baked theories they’ve read via their friends’ WhatsApp, or their colleagues’ social media. This creates viral repetition and rapidly your fear infects fifty others. If you inform yourself responsibly with scientifically-verified material, you have no need whatsoever to pay attention to sites that create fear. Avoid them.

Keep a Strong Hold on Your Thoughts

Do not engage in speculative thinking. Yes, look at your pantry, the petrol in your car and be reasonably intelligent about it all. Make logical (and intelligence-based) preparations, as opposed to fear-based ones. And again – keep a strong hold on your thoughts. Think of the fearful ones as poison. Would you keep ingesting poison? No. So when they arise, tell yourself that while this problem does exist, and while the solution is not yet fully implemented, the optimal thing you can do for yourself and your family, is to keep a very firm control on your mind.

Be Grateful

For your health, for our connectivity, for the good people in the world whose best side is coming out during this incredibly unfamiliar situation for us all. Be grateful for blue skies, grey skies, rainy skies, and for the air we breathe. Be grateful for your loved ones, even if they are far away. Finally, be grateful for your ever-growing inner fortitude that allows you to find joy, even in the midst of all of this. Remember to find small joys every day – some peace if possible, multiple times. Small pockets of joy – that are under your control – can make such a difference to your day – every day.

And then Keep on Living in Peace

Read good books. Go for long walks. Enjoy good films. Play board games with your family. Have conversations about subjects you each enjoy. Learn from them and their knowledge. Your teenage son might teach you the history of hip-hop. You might inform him about the dark ages of floppy disks, or your youthful desire to study archaeology, participating on digs in Mesoamerica. If you find yourself in this pandemic on your own, keep in touch with everyone you love, have Zoom dinners or happy hours together, play online games, and above all, remind yourselves that you love each other.

Bring Back Your Balance

Understand that much of your physical health, your immune system, your psychological health, and that of those who look up to you, depends to a large degree on you taking the recommendations offered in this piece on board.
Be well. Take good care of your thoughts. May you feel safe inside your head, heart, body, and spirit. Remember that these are choices you can make, all day, every day. You choose what you focus on. You choose what you think and how you think. And therefore you choose how you feel. Practice not only good physical hygiene, but also good mental hygiene. Think good thoughts. I’ll see you on the other side.