Counteracting Doom and Gloom Feelings, by Gianni Murzi

 Few days ago, five of us, two medical doctors, two social workers, and a driver, went with the mobile clinic and a van to a senior people residence in Rome suburbs that was abandoned years ago and now is occupied by migrants. Most do not have access to the National Health Services.  It was a blustery and cold day. 

At the end of a long half a day visiting some 15 patients, we drove back to the city. We were all a bit tired and we were silently reviewing the day in our mind. It had started raining hard. Then the voice of my colleague, a former university professor and now a volunteer medical doctor, rose from the back of the van and deliberately put into spoken words what we all felt: -Today, I am very very happy, she said.  

Yes, the news of famine, destruction, death, war, climate change, and more are heart-wrenching, and leaving us paralyzed, but we can counteract the gloom and doom, the feeling of pessimism and despondency and live wisely, calmly, and at best, joyfully. 

A study from the University of Bristol, in the U.K., discusses outcomes from their “Science of Happiness” programme that since 2018 helps students achieve a sense of well-being. The study finds that personal happiness can be achieved through evidence-informed habits. How? By performing acts of kindness, by increasing social connections, including initiating conversations with people we don’t know, by savouring our experiences, by deliberately drawing our attention to the positive events and aspects of our day, by practicing feeling grateful, and endeavouring to thank people we have never sufficiently thanked as they would have liked to,  and finally by being physically active and by exploring mindfulness and other meditation techniques.

Do these seven points seem too simplistic? They are not. To put them in practice it requires work and self discipline. 

Try!

The mobile clinic

The run down abandoned seniors' home