Disappointment, or at least great astonishment, is the flavor that human behavior leaves us during the health emergency whose protagonist is the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) type 2 coronavirus and its variants.
We were not prepared, that is evident. There is not even certain proof of the origin of the virus. It is also not possible to know when the next one will appear, but it is feasible prepare psychologically so that we can emerge victorious from the crossroads posed by global emergencies.
Much controversy and questionable behavior was generated over vaccines. TOnalizing what happened, we discover imperceptible mechanisms influencing thought. If we know their “modus operandi”, we will avoid the repetition of the chaos that forever changed our way of life.
To do this, from Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), which is a set of models that study human behavior, we will review the Perceptual Filters: Generalization, Distortion, Elimination. They are extremely useful and indispensable for life, since they reduce and catalog the gigantic flow of information that reaches the brain from the outside world, allowing the mind to do its work. These operations occur without respite and, thanks to this, you create your image of what surrounds you or happens (the maps), that is, a simplification of reality combined with its own interpretation.
The problem is that human beings forget the difference between everything they perceive (reality) and the ideas they form about what they perceive (the map). Then he takes his perceptions as reality. Producing concepts, judgments and reasoning that are more, less, or completely far from the truth.
The success or failure of your personal performance depends on the maps. Because these are the raw material of your thoughts, your way of expressing yourself and your behavior.
Generalization
It occurs when your brain transfers something that happened once to all similar experiences (generalized) in combination with fear.
When petting a dog and receiving a bite, you generalize never petting unknown dogs, acting in this way you obtain certainty about what to do at a given moment. But, when fear intervenes, the person accepts the certainty (generalizes) that all dogs will bite him, develops cynophobia and decides never to have pets. The 700 million people who suffer from a phobia attest to this.
“Always, never, everything, nothing and similar phrases” are forms of generalization.
During the pandemic, any news, true or false, about the vaccine became widespread (with fear), producing certainties that ranged from immediate death upon vaccination to the certainty of a conspiracy to dominate or kill. Many decided not to get vaccinated.
A Nobel Prize winner stated: “Vaccines produce the variants.” The reality is that there were already variants before starting immunization. People generalized that, being a Nobel Prize winner, he knows everything and will never speak without basis ; This turned out to be false.
On the other hand, the issue of global conspiracies to dominate the world (Illuminati, Bilderberg Group, extraterrestrials, etc.) is nothing new, it is also a product of the mixture of generalization with fear.
Distortion
It happens when we plan trips, budgets, inventions, constructions or lunch. Indispensable for the progress of humanity, Distortion becomes a dangerous obstacle by adding a dose of fear
Claims are invented or accepted such as: metals attracted to the body, mutations, impotence, sterility, extraterrestrial virus, reduction and control of the world population, injection of microchips, bioluminescence by vaccine plus 5G antennas, we will be zombies in 3 years, vaccines contain undisclosed compounds etc.
An example: on Halloween night in 1938 in the USA, an adaptation of Orson Welles’ work: “The War of the Worlds” was broadcast on the radio where it was reported that the Martians were landing and killing everyone. Result: panic, vehicular and telephone chaos, etc.
Elimination
This filter acts whenever the person discards, omits or eliminates certain information because has forgotten it, fears it or does not consider it relevant. Used to study, drive a vehicle or chat at a party, you “eliminate” distractions so you can chat, analyze traffic or do homework. Elimination helps you not to be distracted from achieving your goal.
After watching a horror movie, many people usually sleep with the light on. They know that there is no murderous doll in their room, but their fear controls them, producing the elimination of reality (the threat does not exist), causing the idea of being attacked to dominate them.
Death from COVID-19, with all its painful and chilling situations, installs fear and distrust as the origin of most of the actions, logical or not (massive purchase of toilet paper), that human beings carry out. We focus on everything that justifies fear and discard the abundant scientific information which is available on reputable scientific websites.
As a result, you are no longer able to discern between the truth or a lie, you distrust everything and everyone. Therefore, he chooses not to get vaccinated and even campaigns so that no one else gets vaccinated.
To act ideally, educate yourself properly and do not allow the Perceptual Filters to come into action when faced with fear. But the first step is the most difficult: acknowledge that you are scared. Then realize the psychological flavor of this emotional state, that is, the characteristic sensations that accompany it. This way you will be able to detect and avoid the appearance of fear in your reasoning or judgments, confronting it with reality.
Train yourself in self-control methods. Examples: Mindfulness or Zen meditation. Becoming aware will radically transform your concepts, beliefs and behaviors.
If you find it difficult or think you can’t, seek professional help. It is imperative to discover, admit and then conquer the fear that has dominated you in this pandemic. Otherwise, you will be an easy prey to fear and this will prevent you from recognizing that the first person responsible for protecting your life and that of others is you.
