MONEY DOC KEEP YOUR COOL IN COVID FINANCIAL CRISIS
Top tips on how to stay calm if you are facing monetary meltdown during the Covid-19 crisis
Financial worries or just looking for better value for money? Consumer champion Fergus Muirhead can help
MANY of us are more stressed than we have ever been, having spent the best part of four months at home, trying to juggle work and family while getting to grips with the rules about what we can and can’t do with our days.
And that’s before we start to think about the issue that is causing more stress than most other issues at the moment, and that is how we cope with having less money to spend if we’re on furlough or, worse still, have lost our jobs. If money worries are getting you down or making you stressed then it’s time to try something a bit different to see if it will ease some worries. Martin Stepek teaches mindfulness and understands the fear that people have when their finances are threatened. He said: “Money has always been a problem for most people – the fear of losing a job, the fear of the Government freezing pensions or state benefits. “So even in good times, many people have fear. In bad times, the fears are magnified. “There’s a difference between stable bad times, such as Britain during World War II, and volatile or deeply uncertain bad times, such as we’re experiencing now. “The coronavirus crisis could be over by Christmas, though of course they said that about World War I. If you add bad times with uncertain times, the fears have two things to feed on.
“Things could get even worse. How can you plan when you don’t know what to plan for?”
Planning how to deal with your money isn’t easy at the moment, and Martin reckons mindfulness can help us deal with difficult issues like money in difficult times.
“Eventually you have to face reality, even if you try to run away from it through drink, drugs, pretending it’s not as bad as it is.
“Mindfulness helps us see reality. It nurtures a clear-thinking, calm and steady mind, the type that is perfect for looking at difficulties.
“We do not choose fears or worries. They automatically arise, usually in response to a triggering moment, or a crisis such as the world is going through at present.
“These negative traits dominate our everyday lives usually without us knowing about it.
“The real purpose of mindfulness is to strengthen the natural but underdeveloped mental trait that comprises calmness, clarity of thought, an absence of panic or haste, and a wider perspective.”
Angela Landers teaches transcendental meditation in