Many pieces of research shed light on how the virus can affect our brain due to the nose and brain connection. It can damage our nervous system badly. But even if you are not exposed to the virus the constant news reports, being in isolation, social distancing from loved ones, the constant terror of getting infected, death numbers, rising hatred between countries, and other negative psychological impacts of coronavirus can be a lot overwhelming. People have experienced depression, anxiety, loneliness more than ever. Losing jobs, living on their savings has been very harsh. But people have also got time to spend with their family. They have got time to look after themselves. People have grown, not just mentally but emotionally. Circumstances like these have led to another development. People have started spending time more on knowing the spiritual side of themselves. While each day during the lockdown was the same outside, it was different on the inside. This pandemic has brought the greatest opportunity for people from all parts of the world to witness a massive spiritual awakening. In such cases, spiritual helpers have taken a front foot to help people cope up with their daily exhaustion and traumas. Different helpers come up with different activities to help people find the right balance in their lives.
Spiritual activities for Healthcare workers and patients
Our frontline warriors are working day and night to help people. There is no second thought that their mental health has been compromised the most during a pandemic. Not only medical care but they have also been providing compassionate and spiritual care to the people. To help our healthcare workers and the people suffering, spiritual helpers have created activities for them to cope with the stress. These methods include the following main objectives:
To embrace the fear
To accept the uncertain
To nourish positive emotions in day to day life
To take a respite from the negativity around you
To receive what comes your way
To see that there are good parts of life too
Spirituality is very important in the healthcare sector because it promotes ways for coping with stress, promotes better recovery, and prevents workers from complete burnout. People have experienced fear, pain, loneliness all at the same time.Evidence has shown that spirituality plays a direct role in the health of a person. It has a psychological effect on the risk of diseases and the response to treatments. Spiritual care received from family members of both patients and the healthcare workers has led to massive recoveries.
Importance of spirituality during COVID-19
‘The only temple that matters can be found within yourself’ - Dalai Lama. As I said above, every day we woke up and it was like any other day. But with rising numbers our insides, our minds were receiving more stress. It was a signal that we needed to work on what’s going inside rather than what was going outside. We could not cure the patients or develop a vaccine. The only thing that we could do was to stay with precaution and calm ourselves. You might have noticed that most of our problems come from our perceptions. If we could change it, many of those problems will be gone. Spirituality changes how we look at the world. It brings more positive aspects to our life. Spirituality is the path where you understand yourself. If we understand ourselves and our perspectives, sufferings do not panic us easily. Spirituality helps you let go of your fears and stress by giving you a superior view of your environment.It was seen in many cases that people who were practicing spirituality way before covid-19 had a healthier and balanced mind and body. They were not stressed by what was happening around them and were able to help themselves and the people nearby.Spirituality teaches us values. It teaches us to be patient, to be humble, to love more, and to care. An important attribute that was much needed during the pandemic. Spirituality gives us the strength to understand what life serves us and we channel our vulnerabilities to our strengths. People who experienced spirituality say that this path led them to the healing of their minds and body. Spirituality is not about adopting what other people believe, but to create our own belief.
Spiritual development for business
People have suffered a lot economically during the pandemic. Many lost their jobs. Hospitality and travel businesses, restaurants, construction businesses, fun, and recreation parks suffered a setback. That affected business owners mentally and their families too. The economic crisis brought chaos in people’s minds. Business owners and entrepreneurs who started their day and work spiritually saw smooth running or even a boost in their businesses. ~ Oprah Winfrey, Arianna Huffington all started their day with some kind of spiritual activities like minutes of gratitude or meditation. Their chaos was replaced by calm and they could focus on how to work during such recession times. Being spiritual taught them the power of positive affirmations and sanity helped them to turn their businesses in favor of Covid-19. People utilized the time to learn their past mistakes, hurdles of their businesses, plan new strategies that could not only run their business during the pandemic but later too. Spirituality prepares you for the unknown.
The spiritual growth of Australians during the pandemic
Recent studies in Australia have found out that during the lockdown, People were more indulged in spiritual practices. A survey was conducted around the end of July by Mark McCrindle with 1000 people and around 41% started spiritual practices and around 35% started praying more. People started accessing their spiritual connection. Many started reading Bible as churches were closed. 47% of the respondents told that they thought about mortality and the meaning of life. There were around 24000 cases with around 19000 recoveries. People believed that they aren’t forced to stay indoors but are given to opportunity to seek our insides.
How to build a spiritual life during COVID-19
Just Do It - I am using the Nike tagline here because it fits the situation. Instead of watching the reports all day or spending your time on the internet, you can just start exploring which spiritual activity fits you. What better ways can be adopted to cope with your stress. (Netflix and Chill is just a distraction, not a solution) Do something that heightens your spiritual energy.
Plan your spiritual life and strive for it - Instead of doing random things and falling into the illusion of being busy, you can plan out some spiritual practices. These habits once practiced are integrated lifelong inside of us. Pandemic or not there is also some kind of stress in our life. Planning a session will help your mind grow and brings joy and peace to your life.
Spirituality is a journey, not a one-time process. It comes with practice and patience.
The pandemic is an opportunity and not a challenge - Spirituality helps you find different opportunities during the pandemic. It makes you optimistic and you don’t fall into the loneliness trap. Instead, you find more opportunities to grow. People have utilized their time in prayers, meditation, and health improvement. Many people were able to give time to a new start. Business merges and the launching of many new products have been seen.
Let me tell you a real-life COVID incident.
‘A man in my neighborhood had a clothing store for kids. During months of lockdown, he suffered a great loss. Because of the spiritual influence of his parents, he was able to cope up soon. He started selling the clothes at very lesser rates door to door. He made handmade masks and gloves for delivery people, caretakers, housemaids, and many others. He also distributed clothes for the poor and needy. Soon the news spread rapidly and people started buying more clothes from him for charity. Every day he woke up with an affirmation that his work will grow and spread. Soon every corner knew about his goodwill. They distributed to isolation centers, poor neighborhoods, elderly homes, etc. Now as the lockdowns have come to an end, his business is now more popular than ever.’ Spiritual development during COVID-19 has helped many people to grow and flourish and it can help you too.
Many pieces of research shed light on how the virus can affect our brain due to the nose and brain connection. It can damage our nervous system badly. But even if you are not exposed to the virus the constant news reports, being in isolation, social distancing from loved ones, the constant terror of getting infected, death numbers, rising hatred between countries, and other negative psychological impacts of coronavirus can be a lot overwhelming. People have experienced depression, anxiety, loneliness more than ever. Losing jobs, living on their savings has been very harsh. But people have also got time to spend with their family. They have got time to look after themselves. People have grown, not just mentally but emotionally. Circumstances like these have led to another development. People have started spending time more on knowing the spiritual side of themselves. While each day during the lockdown was the same outside, it was different on the inside. This pandemic has brought the greatest opportunity for people from all parts of the world to witness a massive spiritual awakening. In such cases, spiritual helpers have taken a front foot to help people cope up with their daily exhaustion and traumas. Different helpers come up with different activities to help people find the right balance in their lives.