In COVID Times out basic needs are challenged.
Two of them I want to address specifically:
The need for safety, certainty and orientation (also control-ability).
The need for connectedness and attachment.
When our needs are violated, stress is triggered and our old coping strategies are activated,
e.g.. doing more, trying to control, fight, flight, paralysis, … and we focus on survival.
Unfortunately we tend to use old patterns that helped in the past and get more rigid when we
would need more presence, flexibility and fluidity in our thinking and acting.
It also increases the feeling of separation, instead of connection which would help us to reduce our stress.
How can Introvision help:
1. Increase presence by practicing AAP (acknowleding attentive perception) with different sensory modalities - listening, seeing, body sensations, - in a curious non-judging way while staying open what the next moment might bring up.
This awareness for the present moment helps you noticing your (automatic) reactions.
2. Practice AAP with a focus on the stressful situation with the question „Where’s the center of unpleasantness?“.
AAP helps you to maintain a balance between the perceptions and the challenging emotion without the need to react.
Sometimes quickly, sometimes over time the impulses from the emotional centers (where all you previous experiences are stored) diminish and you are open to create new pathways and to learn something new.
3. Practing AAP with a focus on moments of joy and gratitude to counterbalance the negativity bias we all have in our memory system.
4. Strengthen your feeling of being connected by practicing loving kindness inwardly and toward the people you encounter.
And of course it’s always good to tell people how important they are for you and how grateful you are for your connection.
Thank you for practicing with me today!
Norbert
---
Read and listen more on basic needs and connection:
Klaus Grawe, Basic psychological needs
David Rock, The SCARF model
Agustín Fuentes, OnBeing:This Species Moment
Join me LIVE on Sunday 14 Feb at 9:30am at Insight Timer