Having been hospitalised in a COVID ward, I have had a rather scary and shocking encounter with the virus as well as the frailty of human life and crumbling healthcare system, the latter, trying hard to serve and save while being overworked, anxious and over stressed. Addressing the importance of staying mentally fit and positive during these times, success coach and leading mental and emotional fitness expert, Anand Chulani conducted a session for medical professionals at one of the biggest COVID centres in Mumbai. Here is a lowdown of our chat where he has opened about the biggest challenges he is witnessing and ways our medical fraternity, patients and everyone else can stay mentally fit and positive during these difficult times. 1) What is the biggest mental trauma we need to fight right now during the pandemic?The biggest mental trauma we need to fight right now is fear and feeling like a victim. Every newspaper, every TV channel, every radio station and every social media site right now is sharing horror stories of what’s going on. And I have such a high level of empathy; my heart feels for everyone going through what they’re going through. The physical virus of Corona is spreading rapidly but we can’t let the virus of fear and feeling like a victim spread alongside it. The antidote to fighting the mental virus is courage and responsibility. Corona was not dropped out of the sky, it spread amongst human beings, from one to the other; and it needs human beings to spread responsibility and courage. We need to take responsibility of our actions, our health, the way we take care of ourselves and how we interact with other people. Taking ownership and responsibility is the oxygen our minds need and we need to direct and focus our minds on things we can control. As powerful as Corona is, courage is more powerful. Oxygen and vaccines is what is needed to save lives, but to ensure our lives are worth living, we need to boost ourselves mentally and emotionally. The only way out of the mental trauma of seeing everyone suffer, seeing their pain, is to give ourselves and each other courage. Feed it like we feed ourselves oxygen. Courage will help strengthen your immune system so it’s at its highest, it will boost you mentally and emotionally. Fear will bring you down, it’ll stress you out and drain your energy. We cannot be the India that is a victim that is irresponsible and fearful. We need to be a courageous and responsible India; one where people help each other, where they take ownership of their actions. 2) Observing the medical fraternity from up close from inside the COVID ward, I can see the extreme range of pressures they go through. What’s the need of the hour acc to you to keep the medical staff in control of their mental health?I can completely understand what the medical staff are going through right now and I feel for them. The biggest thing we can do to help them right now is to give them all our support. Every hospital, every doctor, every nurse needs to have access to professionals in mental and emotional health. Sleep may recharge their bodies, but what’s going to recharge their mind and heart? There are incredible people guiding the world right now and we need to help guide them. My message for the entire healthcare force is this- Medicine is your skill but healing is your gift. What I mean is this; of course, you’re providing every patient with vaccines, with oxygen, with all the medical support and resources that they need. But at the same time, make sure you’re also working on their spirit and their heart. To do that, follow these three things-• Create a vision- give your patients and yourself a reason to live. There is a power in a compelling vision, it’s what pulls you forward and gives you reasons to believe and have faith in something that’s greater than this virus.• Share stories of courage- Remind yourselves and your patients of all the times they’ve been courageous; tell them your stories and encourage them to tell theirs. Use it as a reminder of all the times you’ve conquered obstacles in your life and inspire yourself. See the strength of your spirit and use it to heal your patients.• Practice gratitude- Find things that you can appreciate and be grateful for; all the magical moments. Help your patients realise the good things in life, a loving family, a bed to sleep on, food to eat; however big or small it is. Hear and feel these happy and peaceful moments, and repeat out loud ‘peace, peace, peace’. 3) Many are worried about their families, worried about taking the infection home. How can society make their battle easy?It’s understandable to be worrying about your family and loved ones considering how transmissible COVID is right now; but the best way to support them during this time is by taking care of yourself. If you can take care of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, you will be setting an example for your family to do the same. In terms of taking the disease home, you do need to take the necessary physical precautions needed. You do need to think of the greater good and think about what’s going to protect them, you need to take responsibility to take care of yourself and them. But during this time when Covid seems uncontrollable and out of hand, what you need to avoid taking home most is fear, worry, anxiety, anger, bitterness and indifference. All of these are mental viruses that can affect a household and relationships more than COVID ever can. Take home the mental vaccines of love, compassion, faith, determination and self-love instead. Give your family the strength to push through and remind themselves of the courage they have. It’s time to stand together, it’s time to build each other up, not just physically but mentally as well. 4) What’s the most alarming conditions you have noticed during COVID counselling?In my 20 years of working as a mental health coach and therapist, COVID has bought to me the highest amount of anxious and depressed clients. But what I never expected to see are the amount of relationship-based cases and clientele that I’ve had to help. More couples and relationships have needed improving than I’ve ever seen; and not just improving but completely turning around their lives, turning them away from the verge of divorce. One couple was at the Supreme Court when we found a way to make their relationship work. People are aware of the impact on mental and emotional health due to COVID, but it’s the impact on relationships that happens as a result that is the biggest problem. When people lose their jobs and livelihoods, relationships take the biggest brunt of it. When people aren’t mentally and physically healthy, it affects their relationships. When human beings are in a state of fear and stress, we cause others pain and distress. Hurt people hurt people. If you’re happy with yourself, you won’t hurt others. Right now, the biggest need of the hour is to protect these relationships, we need to make them strong and resilient. Marriages need to find a way to stay strong on multiple levels, not just for the couple but also for their children and every other person in the ecosystem. The impact of COVID has been damaging, but if you’re aware of it, you can find a way to turn it around. And if you think it could have an impact on your relationship, make sure you work on building bonds that are so strong that you aren’t left with reasons to tear each other down. Strong enough that even if you get COVID, you are fit enough to maintain positive and empowering relationships. By building a support system, you have a stronger foundation to fight off this disease. 5) What are the physical and mental health exercises you recommend everyone?There are three exercises I would encourage everyone to practice everyday to improve their mental and emotional health.1. Practice gratitude- When there is so much fear, stress and pain around us, it’s easy to forget how lucky we are to have the things we do have. Instead of being worried and stressed about your health, come from a place of gratitude where you can appreciate that you’re healthy at this moment in time. Especially when everything in the media is forcing us to look at the downsides of life: the economy, the infrastructure, the culture, this disease; make sure you balance your mind with the upsides. Create a balanced mind where you can appreciate the family members you have, the air that you breath, the oxygen that you have when many others don’t. The one resource we’ve been taking for granted is not clean water, it’s actually oxygen. When it was abundant we couldn’t value it and now that it’s scarce, we’re stressed about it. Thank God that you can breath. And if you have COVID, appreciate and be thankful for the ability to breathe when you could and notice the contrast of your situation. Instead of fighting COVID, stressing yourself out and constricting your breathing, even more, see the other side of it: appreciate the gift of breath and oxygen. See a picture of yourself breathing well again, really visualise it, hear it, feel it and fighting COVID will seem easier.2. Use visualisation- Paint a picture of why you will come out of this situation, why you are made to come out of this. Give yourself a reason to live. Create a picture in the future where you’re happy, where you’re with your family and children, where you’re living in a world free of COVID. Create a vision of what life looks like post-COVID and cling to that image every day. Even if you can’t see it, believe in it. Create it in your mind and let it inspire and fill you with hope. A way to do this is, hold your wrist, close your eyes, take a deep breath, now remember a time in the past where you were happy and live in that moment. Say ‘peace, peace, peace’ as that image gets brighter. Now go to a new visualisation, you in the future where you’re happy and healthy. Take a deep breath in and repeat ‘peace, peace, peace’.3. Remind yourself that you are greater than anything around you- And as strong as COVID is, the human spirit is even greater. The human spirit has gone through floods, wars, the plague and come out of it. The human spirit is the champion and that spirit is in you. You can be greater than anything around you if you choose to be. Connect to your spirit, your soul. Remind yourself of the tough times in your life that you’ve overcome and pull yourself up with the memory of that spirit. Find moments where the resilient, courageous and powerful part of you showed up and got you through something you never thought you could: a breakup, a loss of a loved one, a hiccup in business, an earthquake. Inspire yourself with this tool. Inspire comes from the term ‘inpirito’ i.e. in spirit; find the spirit in you. You’ve been through wars before and you can get through this war. Stand guard at the doorstep of your mind and have the power, use the values you were born with: courage, love, discipline, and determination. Don’t let greed, fear and doubt pull you apart. Listen to the power of your core and remember who you truly are. You are eternal, you are unshakeable and unstoppable. 6) How do you think this second wave will leave people scarred? What can we start doing already?What we’re going through right now is traumatic. Just like some suffer trauma by witnessing wars, death and destruction around them, so will we. We’re all going to have some version of PTSD because of this. Even if we’re not going through trauma individually, we’re seeing it around us. It’s playing like a movie in our minds and the biggest thing we can do to kick us out of this loop is to realise that there are other stories unravelling alongside. Instead of feeding your mind with images of pain and suffering, take the same instance and look at the other side of it. Look at the courageous health care workers, look at the people who care, look at how resourceful our country is to lend a helping hand when there’s so much trouble, and look at how united every human being is right now. Look at the things around you- your supportive community, your family that are willing to sacrifice seeing you to protect you. Appreciate the gift of life when so many are struggling to live and see the courage, love and compassion everywhere. When you tell the story of Covid to future generations, don’t make it a story of tragedy and despair. Make it a story of hope, inspiration, belief, and courage. A story where the world was attacked at it’s deepest level and fought its way through. Corona is equivalent to a war, a world war where we need to triumph. We aren’t going to triumph fighting this physically, we need to do it mentally and emotionally; we can triumph this by working together. This virus is testing our values, our very core and we have to rise above it. We have to be greater as a human race, by that I mean, we need to be more conscious and caring of the environment, of each other. We have to value health instead of putting it second to success and achievement. We have to challenge our structures, our way of being, our standards and hygiene and we have to become better. Look at this time and redefine this chapter in history for you. Define it by growth, courage and strength, not destruction and tragedy. Don’t get stuck in a loop of blame, guilt and shame where you blame the government and others. Come from a place of forgiveness where you can accept and acknowledge what’s happened. Acknowledge any part you’ve played in it. Accept it. Take ownership for your actions and decide to act differently as a result. Be a person of high values and high standards and build a culture of cleanliness, responsibility, protecting each other, valuing health, respecting our bodies, our lives and our minds, and live from gratitude.
