It is not easy to stay positive, calm and collected when you are bombarded right, left and centre with bad news, negative stories and panic. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not denying that the current situation is serious, stressful and inevitably will have huge impact and repercussions on us and our economy, but keeping our spirits up can only help us get through this a little bit easier.

There is a lot of fear and worry on a personal as well as business level and there seems to be very little emphasis on the positives, so I decided to share some positive outcomes that I have observed over this difficult time.

Increased appreciation and gratitude

We are so lucky to live in an era where we have access to healthcare, we don’t have to worry about lack of food in shops, we can easily travel to anywhere in the world… In the last few weeks, this has been shaken up and this has made many people stop and think about things we take for granted, think about how lucky we really are and focus on what we have rather than on what’s missing.

Taking time to reflect

Unfortunately, we don’t often make reflection our priority and it often takes something bad to happen for people to stop, reflect and rethink their priorities. The current situation has made many people slow down and widen their perspective. Time has earned a different, deeper and more powerful meaning. Looking after yourself has moved up to the top of many people’s priority list and let’s hope that when things go back to normal, people will not revert to bad habits.

Deeper connection with others

The current situation forces us to physically isolate, but spending more time with people who we love and care about has become more important than ever. Families are making more effort to spend quality time, have meaningful conversations, sharing their feelings and emotions. We are social animals, human contact doesn’t have to be physical and human interaction is one of the most important factors in predicting mental, physical health and wellbeing, so making that phone call that has been on a to do list for the last 6 months can actually improve your immune system!

Social support and random acts of kindness

In the last week, I have witnessed and have read about more social support and random acts of kindness than in the last six months. Communities are coming together, people are volunteering their time and skills to help and support those in need, especially elderly people. Neighbours that have not spoken before, now know each other’s names and are uniting to help each other out.

I’ve seen some beautiful and kind acts, and messages of support for people and businesses that have been heavily affected by the virus. Despite the isolation there seems to be a deeper and more meaningful sense of connection which is wonderful to witness.

The external world has a huge impact on our internal world, our mindset, our feelings, emotions. I realise it is easier said than done, to focus on the positives in these unfathomable times, however, if you set your radar to look out for some positivity and choose to focus on what makes you feel good, choose to be grateful for what you have, appreciate people around you, the support you have and help others, I can guarantee you will feel that little bit better. We can’t control the situation, we can’t control nature, we can’t control others but we can with practise, learn to control our thoughts, reactions and actions.

So, what positives have you noticed recently? Dig deep if you can’t think of anything, share your thoughts, and if you think that this post has had any positive effect on you, share it…Let’s spread a little bit of positive spirit around.