A 3-Step Approach to Respond to a Crisis
by Barry Michels
Barry Michels articulated these three steps for responding to a crisis in a conversation with Gwyneth Paltrow on the Goop channel.
Crises bring out the best—and the worst—in everyone. The coronavirus and its fallout brought an incredible amount of fear and uncertainty into our lives in a breathtakingly short time. When I hit a crisis, the worst part of me gets angry and depressed, and the Covid-19 pandemic was no exception.
But as I spoke with client after client whose lives were shutting down, I quickly turned a corner as I recognized that people needed me. I saw that in all times of adversity there is an opportunity to inspire and serve others. Human beings are at their best when there’s an outflow of positive energy, because when we’re giving, we experience ourselves as having something to give, and that feels good.
More than just feeling good, giving energy to others also gives you access to information you can’t get any other way. Within just a few days I was able to articulate a 3-point program for dealing with this crisis. These guideposts are something you can hold onto in the midst of all the uncertainty.
“Human beings are at their best when there’s an outflow of positive energy, because when we’re giving, we experience ourselves as having something to give, and that feels good.”
—BARRY MICHELS
These practices will help you harness your potential and conveniently, they’ll also stop you from losing your mind. They are each focused on self-regulation and self-mastery—a way of overcoming the worst part of yourself.
I like how Leonardo da Vinci put it: “You will never have a greater or lesser dominion than that over yourself ... the height of a man's success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment.”
3 TOUCHSTONES IN A CRISIS
If you abandon yourself to your worst tendencies, this time is going to be hell. If you master those worst tendencies, you’re going to find yourself inspired in ways you never anticipated.
Use your time productively. Take constructive action. If you have extra time right now, make use of it. Work on a business plan. Write that screenplay. Connect with friends. Be of service to those around you in some way. The more you use your time productively, the more ideas and energy you’ll get from your unconscious.
Regulate your thoughts. Most people allow their minds to become a cesspool of negativity. The NIH estimates that 85% of our thoughts are negative. (And that was before the coronavirus!) That compulsive barrage of negativity sabotages us. You can free yourself from negative thoughts, but you’ll need something more powerful than positive thinking. You have to create an experience for yourself that the universe is constantly giving you things and supporting you in ways you take for granted. You can do this with the Grateful Flow Tool. It’s effective because it goes beyond your thoughts and beliefs into the realm of actual experience. Instead of thinking, you can actually feel the universe caring for you.
Control how much media you consume. In times of crisis, we often binge on media. But we don’t need to be plugged in all the time to be informed. Check in for 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes midday and let the rest of the day be a news blackout. The media wants you to think every “breaking news” story is vital to your survival. It isn’t. In fact, if you give it all your energy, it can destroy you.
It’s a higher good to be able to control yourself, to take charge of your own worst tendencies, and take authority back from the external places we cede it, like the news, the mob, the politicians, etc.
If you practice these three things during the crisis, on the other side of it you’ll find that you not only got through this time better than expected, you’ll also wind up with more control over yourself than you’ve ever had before. Self-control is one of the highest attributes of a human being. As Lao Tzu said, “He who conquers others is strong, but he who conquers himself is mighty.”
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