10 Keys to Living Happily In Pandemic Times
- Give.
- Connections.
- Exercise.
- Consciousness
- Try out.
The pandemic and the physical isolation that people have undergone to stop the spread of COVID-19 became new opportunities to explore technology a little more and to reorganize the way we work.
Although many organizations and businesses already had a hybrid work model, one of the main challenges for human beings in these times has been adapting to a “new normal” that forced us to carry out our professional activities from a distance and to stay at home .
Within the framework of INCMty2020 , the expert author in applied psychology and director of Action For Happiness , Vanessa King , shared some tips to apply the " 10 keys to living happily " from her eponymous book in times that have put our economy, patience to the test , mental health, and wellness.
Vanessa studied psychology, but was always interested in business and how to help people within companies improve at work and life. The writer has worked in human resources departments of many companies around the world.
"This started 12 years ago, I was on my travels, working for large organizations around the world, looking for talent and in a development congress in this area I came across this new science (applied psychology)."
Today the goal of the psychologist is to inspire people by focusing on their well-being and happiness, so she explains that the keys that we will give you below, "are a framework, a menu, not a recipe."
Image: bruce mars via Unsplash
The tips grouped in the acronym Great Dream , which invite us to perform good external actions to improve our interior and vice versa are:
G iving (Give): what you can do for others today, "is about our connection with other people." According to Vanessa, this is a time when we can “do something nice” for the people around us. "Feeling lonely can become a physical symptom, we are social beings by nature", for this he mentions the importance of using technology for communication.
R elating (Related to): in this key Vanessa invites us to review, how is our relationship with others? With the people we build those connections. "Something that happens with the pandemic is that we feel physical losses of things that we were used to and I invite you to ask yourself: what do they mean to you? How do you create your community?"
E xercising (Exercise): “take care of your body, do physical activity, it is scientifically proven that exercising improves depression and anxiety”. In this section, the expert highly recommends trying to sleep well. "Sleeping well is an investment for me in my performance."
A wareness (Consciousness): this key invites us to be aware of our attention, for this the specialist recommends mindfulness to improve concentration on your tasks and be more efficient.
T rying out (Test): "keep learning new things , " explains expert who is about psychological flexibility, explore, read, learn something new we "help you be more creative and constantly entrepreneurs need to convert new ideas into great business".
D irection (Directions): "something small that you enjoy during the day do, even if it was a bad day". Small goals at the end of a workday or taking small steps in that project that you have stopped become something satisfactory that will help us to stay positive.
R esilience (Resilience): “As I said at the beginning, having a happy life does not mean eliminating problems, this is not a recipe, it is about facing them. During the pandemic and every day people have ups and downs and we must learn to manage them.
E motions: To achieve resilience, Vanessa recommends choosing positive thoughts about different situations. "We need to train our brain to see what is right, not to ignore what is wrong, but to focus on what is right, the simple practice is before going to sleep write down three things that you enjoyed or are grateful for that day. , it can be little things ”.
A cceptance: This key is about personal acceptance "not being so hard on ourselves when we make mistakes", it is about having compassion and learning from them. And to achieve this we must know who we are, our strengths and weaknesses.
M eaning (Meaning): the expert invites us to look for “different sources of meaning” to sustain performance. It also explains that focusing on a single source can be dangerous if we lose it. "If your business is one of them, it is important that you do not leave it as the only source of meaning, having others will become the basis of your performance within your enterprise."
“See the care of your well-being as an investment. The most creative people, with the most creative ideas, know when they are really working on the problem or if they do not know at that moment they take a break, exercise, sleep, see some friends, do something else and then the idea makes a pop (the sound of popcorn) in your mind; If you keep struggling to do this too much, think that your brain will keep working and you won't have better ideas, unlike if you disconnect it a bit, ”concludes Vanessa King.
