I don’t feel like I’ve been stressing out too much about the pandemic lately. I’ve just been following the rules, staying at home, and keeping myself busy. But I’ve been having a lot of COVID-19 related dreams. I had dreams about going somewhere and forgetting a mask or someone coughing on me and worrying about catching something. The other night I dreamt my mom got COVID-19 and then made me food without telling me she was sick. So, COVID-19 is obviously on the brain.
Today I caught the following podcast by Mindvalley with Vishen Lakhiani and Steven Kotler. It’s titled, ‘Why this will be the last pandemic’, and Steven talks a little bit about that at the beginning of the podcast, but I found the last part more interesting as it answered a question I’ve been having about why I always want to go into the country when I’m stressed.
It turns out that when you are feeling acute fear, there are a few things you can do to minimize that fear. One of them is to expose yourself to a panoramic view.
Steven Kotler says that widening out your field of vision helps because when you are in acute fear, your focus is very narrow and tight, and widening it to a panoramic view helps your brain to get out of that state and relax. It explains why when I’m feeling stressed out, I always want to drive to the lake and just look at it.
You can listen to the podcast for more tips on releasing fear and feeling as good as possible throughout your day. If you don’t have time, I’ll sum up a few of the things he mentions below.
Steven Kotler talks about other things you should be doing every day. I’m going to skip the science (listen to Steven’s podcast if you want to hear that) and just talk about the things he mentioned.
Steven Kotler’s Advice For Acute Fear
The panoramic view was one thing.
Then he talks about inhaling as much air as you can through your nose and when you’ve sucked in as much as possible, take a real big sniff in. This felt weird to me. I felt it in my chest. It almost felt like a high on oxygen, as if I was getting way more than I needed. But it did feel weirdly good too.
He also talks about thinking about your favorite memory. I’ve been doing that a lot lately. From my experience, thinking of a good memory helps lift you into the energetic vibration of that memory’s energy, even if you are sitting at home in a chair. For instance, when you think about a memory where you felt joy, you often feel that vibration of joy as you reflect on the memory.
Steven Kotler’s Advice On What Everyone Should Be Doing Daily
This stuff is not a surprise to me. He talks about most of it in his quest on Mindvalley.
Basically, he says to:
- Get enough sleep. (7-8 hours)
- Hydrate and eat well.
- Be as social as you can be.
- Practice gratitude. (At least 5 minutes per day)
- Practice mindfulness. (At least 10 minutes per day.)
- Exercise. (At least 20-40 minutes per day until your brain starts to get quiet.)
Steven says that normally you can get away with not doing one thing and still be a high performer, but in this time of the pandemic, you should do everything. Just check it all off the list because it will be beneficial to your stress levels and productivity.
You can click here to check the Zero To Dangerous website they were talking about where you can learn peak-performance secrets.
And, if you are interested in Steven Kotler’s quest on Mindvalley called The Habit of Ferocity you can read my Habit of Ferocity review here. I took it at the end of last year and I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to perform better.
