Pandemic Prudence

Are you excessively concerned about Coronavirus?

Constant worrying is bad for your immune system and can render you more vulnerable to infection.  The hypnosis file embedded below will teach you how to build a sense of psychological safety in a time of plague, allowing you to dial down your panic to a rational sense of prudence about using proper protective practices.

Are you irrationally unconcerned with the pandemic?

Failing to take adequite precautions could put you and everyone else at risk.  Please use the hypnosis file below to brainwash yourself into washing your hands and taking other precautions.  The life you save may be your own.

Pandemic Prudence

Right now society is in a trance

We're all frozen in place

Watching the big scary number

Getting bigger and bigger

Feeling the fear Increasing

As the number grows 

Out of Control. 

It's only natural to feel Helpless
against something As enormous in scale as this is.

Wouldn’t it be nice if your mind could find a way

To reduce your level of anxiety about the crisis

To the amount that is rational for your situation

By engaging in the very behaviors that doctors 

Recommend In order to prevent contagion? 

You’d want to learn more about that, wouldn’t you?

Yeah, I thought so. Well, if that’s what you’re looking for,

Then all you have to do is just keep on listening

And you will learn the secrets of how to face the day

Calmly and rationally in a time of plague, 

While maintaining your mental health 

Against the constant assault of bad news.

Because that big scary number 

Is gonna keep on getting bigger and bigger for a while now

And you need to learn to address this rational fear

By taking rational action to protect yourself.

So let’s see if we can let go of that anxiety, shall we?

Now I want you to simply notice that you are breathing.

Breathe in, and feel the sensation of the air entering you.

And as you breathe out, feel yourself relaxing, and let

All of the tension in your body leave with that breath.

You’re still breathing, and therefore you are alive.

And as you feel that tension fading away more now, 

You notice that you can finally relax. Let go of the stress,

And take a moment to be grateful 

that nature built you to keep on living.

You are the product of the survival of every person

Who lived before you, all the way up your line

To the dawn on humanity and beyond to the beginning.

So clearly you have a strong instinct to survive, 

Even in difficult situations given to you by nature.

And if these natural instincts persist on a timescale

Of millions of years then it stands to reason that 

They are effective in helping creatures to

Achieve the end of continued survival.

And it improves your chances of survival 

To stand down from the constant arousal

That the primitive parts of your brain have had you in.

So I’m gonna show you something you can do,

When your instincts DEMAND that you do something

In response to the present crisis.

It is right and proper that your instincts 

should protect you from existential threats.

Survival instincts are good, and when possible 

We should allow ourselves to be guided by them.

Because frustrated survival instincts are the

Underlying cause of much of your distress.

But those instincts lack the capacity for reason and

Because your subconscious mind relies on

Your conscious judgement to determine what action

Should be taken to address a threat, 

Using the most reliable information that is available

To develop a behavioral trigger

You can build yourself a little placebo button

To press when your mind needs an outlet, 

Which is unlikely to do harm, and may actually help

To reduce your risk of infection by this disease.

Now I want you to picture yourself Washing your hands. 

Looking down, watching the water 

Hearing the sound of the water, feeling the soap,

Slippery on your fingers, dissolving into the water,

Washing away all of the contamination, 

And washing away your concern with it. 

It’s only natural to want to extend this moment,

Lingering in the action of washing, so calming,

Almost hypnotic in its repetitiveness:

Cleaning off every trace of worry about the situation,

Leaving only the rational concerns, 

directly relevant to this moment.

This is a symbol of the state 

of prudence that we seek:

A rational concern without worry, 

Driven by taking rational actions 

In order to address rational concerns. 

And every time you take action, 

To rationally address your concerns about the situation

you feel less and less out of control about it,

Even if your actual level of control has increased very little.

Doubt is removed by action. 

And even the illusion of control

Can help you feel better about things 

you are simply beyond your power to resolve.

The CDC has declared that we are all allowed

To wash our hands as much as we need to 

In order to feel better about this present crisis, 

As excessive sanitation is generally harmless

And infinitely preferable to the alternative.

Because disinfecting the screen of your smartphone

May not do anything for the people dying of plague

In foreign countries that you just read about, 

But it might just reduce your own chance of infection, 

While giving you an earned sense of security to rely on

To strike a deal with your subconscious

To satisfy your basic instincts about the situation,

By realizing that our modern strategy of quarintine 

Is just a variation on the ancient instinct

To “Hide from the big scary thing.” 

A strategy so simple that an insect can do it,

And so basic to survival that evolution

Has retained the instinct all the way down to you.

So your own subconscious mind can easily comprehend

All the actions you take to protect yourself.

Because once your subconscious mind 

Understands that a basic evolutionary strategy is in play

You can stop being frozen in terror and begin

To use your conscious mind to develop 

a calculated response to the situation.

Allowing you to escape the paralysis of fear,

And achieve a place of prudence about it instead

Because safety is an integral part of the psychology

Of hiding from a predator, and any action that you take

To protect your home against the virus 

Increases your sense of safety in your home. 

Letting you be alert to danger

Without overt anxiety about it.

Because even if the big scary number 

Is growing exponentially at the moment

The threat it represents remains the same, 

And the measures required to hide from the threat

Also remain the same because hiding from 

A swarm of predators is exactly like hiding from one.

Your instincts already understand this,

And once you transition to a pschology that makes sense

For basic human instincts, you find that your actions

Are suddenly more satisfying to you.

And that every step you take to erase your own

Contamination in the world is suddenly satisfying:

Wiping away your traces from the grocery cart,

Hiding your face behind a surgical mask, 

Keeping your distance from strangers in public,

Even something as simple as cleaning your traces

From light switches, countertops, and doorknobs

All suddenly satisfy that primal need to hide; 

Making it feel satisfying and right to adhere

To the sensible guidelines that protect public health

Because once you transition to a hiding psychology,

You find yourself shifting from being stuck at home

And helpless against a force too large to fight 

To being safe at home and leary of the outside world,

While at the same time letting you feel less anxious

As you hide from the virus, safe at home.

Maintaining enough awareness to remain apprised

Of the changing nature of the local situation,

While also taking the time to recharge and

Focus on maintaining your sanity through the crisis.

And as you begin to find the

ways and places in your life

Where you can integrate 

And form or improve your healthy habits,

You will find that you may not be sure 

Exactly where the placebo ends

And your genuine good health practices begin.

Even a placebo button makes you safer,

If it keeps you from crossing against the traffic light.

And That may be just the thing you need

To realize that you are doing all you can

To stay in good health (as best you can?)

In body and in mind 

By giving yourself the time, like right now, 

to working on your outlook and approach 

To the conditions of the world ,

By starting at home and in your own spaces

Providing yourself a sense of security 

Within your own mind, First and foremost

With that image of washing your hands

That you can think about and return to,

any time that you need to, in order

To cleanse away those concerns that

you’ve become aware of and taken care of

To reassure you are doing what you can

So that you can continue functioning 

Despite changing and challenging circumstances

Because it shouldn’t take a pandemic

To realize that prudence is the solution

To a great many problems other than disease, 

And that many times simply feeling safe

Because you’re doing what you can about the problem

Is infinitely preferable to paralyzed helplessness, 

And perhaps it’s better to learn it now,

When the problem is of incomprehensible scale,

So that these lessons can prove usefull Against

 Less overtly existential challenges in the future.

Because there will be a future, someday.

And it’s good to keep sight of that fact.

While we sit and wait and console ourselves

That it’s impossible for the number to grow forever,

And that it rationally must start to come down again

As humanity begins to get the virus under control.

When we all can begin to awaken to the world we know

Until then, just aim to stay positive as best you can,

Knowing That you are going to do what you can.

finding the ways you can usefully contribute, 

So that you can take comfort in your personal responsibility,

Until then, Stay calm, and wash your hands…