Not so long ago when I was in Australia, on one of the islands within the Great Barrier Reef, preparing for my first-ever snorkelling experience with three other first-timers, our young guide gave us a clear and simple advice. “We will not go far from the beach to remain in the shallow zone but if fear of any kind is radiated, you’ll end up drowning even when there are no chances for it. Just remember, you’ll be safe.” And we did return safely to the beach after 45 magical minutes in the water. Rather, we were back with a thrilling experience, catching glimpses of rare aquatic life.
With the fear of coronavirus everywhere, this memory keeps crossing my mind and as it echoes, I go on sharing it with others. Truly, the pandemic has enveloped most of us in fear despite the choice to remain calm. Fear is no panacea; instead, it only snatches away every ingredient of our much-needed tranquillity. Yet, we hold on to it tightly.
We forget when calmness is gone, we become more helpless and perplexed. In other words, it makes us cry before we are hurt and if several medical studies are to be believed, fear not only disturbs the digestive system but also plays havoc with our immunity, for which we have been ubiquitously concerned since the pandemic’s arrival. Hence, isn’t it the worst companion?
Whenever my octogenarian maternal grandmother called up during the second wave, she always began the conversation with the latest number of Covid deaths. “Don’t go out, just stay home. Keep washing your hands,” she would add after sharing the gravest Covid news she had read or heard. But when my aunt from the village would call, I could sense the serene ringing in her words, which may also be resonating with several books on psychology. She reminded me that it’s all in the mind. “There are many taking all precautions but still scared. But if we tell our mind (also refers to it as a parrot), that we are safe and healthy; we will remain so, because our thoughts hold huge power for our body. We should only think what we want to experience and it works.”
{{/usCountry}}Whenever my octogenarian maternal grandmother called up during the second wave, she always began the conversation with the latest number of Covid deaths. “Don’t go out, just stay home. Keep washing your hands,” she would add after sharing the gravest Covid news she had read or heard. But when my aunt from the village would call, I could sense the serene ringing in her words, which may also be resonating with several books on psychology. She reminded me that it’s all in the mind. “There are many taking all precautions but still scared. But if we tell our mind (also refers to it as a parrot), that we are safe and healthy; we will remain so, because our thoughts hold huge power for our body. We should only think what we want to experience and it works.”
{{/usCountry}}The fear of Covid was so high with an elderly woman in the neighbourhood that whenever any vegetable seller would come up, she would throw a fit. “Don’t come here! Go back, right away.” When children would play near her house, she would chase them away angrily. With all precautions in place at her home, neither she nor other members in her family ever got infected with Covid but the fluctuation in her blood pressure turned into an everyday tale.
A late uncle of mine who was told by doctors that he may survive only for few months due cancer eventually ended up living for many years. We all believe that it was because what we always believed in and often said: “Cancer can do nothing to me, and I don’t even think that I have any disease.”
For an obvious reason, American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson came up with this thought: “Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.” I absolutely agree. rameshinder.sandhu@gmail.com
The writer is an Amritsar-based freelance contributor