Many of us are feeling that in recent weeks we have moved our clocks not to daylight savings time but instead to the twilight zone. The Coronavirus (Covid-19) virus has had massive impacts on every person in North America and there is much fear and uncertainty.

Short term, there are many things we can do to stay positive in this crisis and ensure we come out stronger on the other side. When there is a crisis, we need to go inside to reflect and learn valuable lessons to apply in our lives, communities and the world. This time can be used to read, cook, spend time with family and strengthen client and candidate relationships with calls and videoconferencing meetings. Most importantly, we can practice being grateful each day. Being grateful isn’t always easy when tough times hit and they certainly have right now. Some of us feel scared and others are allowing fear and negative thoughts to dominate each day.

How can we remain positive during this crisis? It comes down to a personal choice and a habit. Yes, you can choose to be grateful even when the you-know-what is hitting the fan and you can practice every day to make it something that goes from being very difficult to very easy over time.

Why bother? Because research consistently shows that expressing gratitude can positively affect both your mental/emotional state and your ability to achieve your goals and the life you want more successfully. 

Below are 5 great reasons why Being Grateful will help you get better manage over the next few months:

1.         Research has shown that being thankful is good for our physical health and offers us improved immune systems and better heart health (A 1995 study in the American Journal of Cardiology showed that appreciation and positive emotions are linked with changes in heart rate variability. This may be beneficial in the treatment of hypertension and in reducing the likelihood of sudden death in patients with congestive heart failure and coronary artery disease). Protecting our immune system is vitally important right now and our thoughts impact it directly. In addition to our thoughts, adding more sleep, exercise and more foods high in Vitamin C, Vitamin D, zinc and iron will be beneficial.

For anyone who wants more information on immune boosting foods, please accept a copy of my book as my help during this crisis. The link to the e-Book is below:

ABC's of Food: Boost your Energy, Confidence and Success with the Power of Nutrition.  

2.         Research shows being grateful helps reduces stress and anxiety. We need to ensure we get enough sleep as well so I am also giving away a large number of seats to access my Stress Management Guru course.  Below is the direct link to the video and hand-outs for your members.

The course contains a video and hand-outs to help reduce stress, improve sleep and reduce negativity and anxiety. Click on the below link to sign up for free for the next few weeks:

Be a Stress Management Guru

To activate the course, select Be a Stress Management Guru.

Create an account with your name, email and password and click ‘Sign-up’.

At check out, click ‘Have a coupon’. Type in code COVIDCALM to obtain this course at no charge.

Start the learning and go through the video session and hand-outs at your own pace.

3.         Being a grateful and appreciative boss also fosters much higher team morale which is critical to keep staff motivated and engaged for successful outcomes at work during this crisis. Staff and more likely to experience higher life satisfaction and team satisfaction when they are grateful. Employees are more committed and productive when they know that you are thankful to have them on your team. 

4.     Being grateful draws success into our lives. When you are grateful, others like to be around you. Your appreciation includes and supports them. You help them see the positive in life and to feel more hopeful about the possibility of future success. Customers and prospects love to feel that you are grateful for    their business; it creates strong bonds of loyalty and mutual support. Great resources and partners of all sorts are attracted to you when they feel appreciated for who they are and what they bring to the party. Now is a time to reach out with empathy and support to clients and candidates and show you care about them. To help maintain a positive outlook, try sitting outside if you have a garden. If you don't have access to the outdoors, make sure you open your curtains and windows to get some fresh air. You can also practicing mindfulness -- for example by seeking out calming music that can comfort you or practicing deep breathing to stay calm and grounded.

5.     Being grateful can help you from being overwhelmed by negative emotions that come with loss of any kind. When you can focus on any reason to be grateful even during very difficult times, you will come out stronger and more resilient after you work through this crisis. Try Seek out information that will uplift, entertain or educate you on a variety of topics instead of going into panic mode on this situation. The internet is a boundless resource of information and education and if you have membership, you can access thousands of movies and series via services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. You might want to avoid too much drama right now that's going to make you sad and focus on positive forms of entertainment as there is enough negative news drama in the real world at the moment.

Below are 2 easy exercises to help get you in the habit of being grateful starting right now:

Wake up each day and spend 1 minute thinking of all the reasons you have to be grateful even if the list starts off small. Over time you will see how it grows. Anything goes and you can be grateful for air, water, your comfy bed, food, friends or just the cup of coffee in your hand if you want. It is up to you and you make the rules here. Try it each day for at least 30 days and see if you notice a difference.

Write down “BE GRATEFUL” or “BE THANKFUL” and post it places you can see it like on your fridge, at work, beside your bed or on a bathroom mirror you use every day to give a visual reminder of your goal.

Be Grateful for whatever struggle is in your life, for it is a lesson for you to work through.

We will grow and learn from this health crisis and new jobs will open up to support new beginnings when this is over. Even now companies are shifting gears in manufacturing and healthcare to name a few sectors.

Stay healthy and well and be grateful for each day.