Do you see a brighter future or a dismal future?
What do you see on the other side of this pandemic and social injustice?
Do you see more kindness, caring, love, compassion, connection or destruction, anger, pain and suffering? Which will you demonstrate?
The future is fiction until it arrives. You can make a difference.
Not everyone is living the same circumstance, however there is hope. The above is an unbiased self assessment. Do not judge, simply surmise where you may fall between the two poles of optimism and pessimism. Once you have a sense of where you may naturally fall in your thinking, based not only on your situation but also on your personality and life experience, assess how it makes you feel.
How we feel is important for our hope. When the cloud blocks out the sun, the sun remains shining above the cloud, but do you believe it? Your ability to find hope is vital to your well being. With hope you can cope!
Sustainability will be key as we all progress through 2020. This is a year that is challenging us to awaken. It certainly is not the anticipated visionary year we imagined. Or is it? Contained within the adversity and suffering, we may uncover greater clarity, compassion and contentment in our lives. Especially compassion. Reconnecting with what matters, finding our shared humanity, and securing our own peace may be the gift of suffering during these unprecedented times.
While predictions that the current situation may go longer and be more difficult than we originally expected, and accelerated in ways we did not predict, we can cope best by finding a healthy way to spend our time and energy. Adversity is not victimization.
How will you spend your precious energy in the coming months?
How will you progress through adversity?
What innovation or creation or connection to humanity is possible?
Through hoping and coping, your suffering may be heartbreaking but beautiful and create a better world.
I offer this useful infographic that distinguishes between active coping and negative coping for further self assessment. I also encourage you to reach out to me if you are interested in learning more about coping, mindfulness, resilience, stress reduction and more during these increasingly challenging times.
Kim Perone is a Success, Bereavement & Resilience Coach and Mindfulness Trainer at CENTER4C and author of The Case for Clarity, Compassion & Contentment: Finding Your Center. www.center4c.com, [email protected] (518) 301-3593.
