COVID-19 The Untapped Solutions: Part 2

By Mohamed Buheji and Dunya Ahmed

This part two of the 'COVID-19 The Untapped Solutions' book, continues to bring more perspectives about how to see opportunities insides the problems. The book has a variety of chapters in the four sections that shows the Covid-19 pandemic related spillovers, besides ways to mitigating it. The overall common thread of both books (parts 1 &2)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Westwood Books Publishing, LLC
• Release date: May 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781648036309

Mohamed Buheji

Brief about the Author Dr. Mohamed Buheji is the founder of International Institute of Inspirational Economy. www.inspirationeconomy.org. Youth Economy Forums www.youtheconomy.org He is considered a leading expert in the areas of Excellence, Knowledge, Innovation, Inspiration, Change Management and enhancement of Competitiveness for over 25 years, being a retired professor from University of Bahrain, he is still visiting professor for MBA programs in different countries in MENA region. Dr Buheji is also the Founder of Inspiration & Resilience Economy Journal & Int'l Youth Economy Journal. He teaches classes that are relevant to Inspiration Economy, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Knowledge & Change Management and Current Issues to both MBA Students and undergraduates. Besides he leads seminars on the Subject of Inspiration Engineering & inspiration Labs Dr Buheji has published since 2008 more than 50 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers and 17 books mostly in Arabic about thinking, lifelong learning, quality of life, inspiration and competitiveness. Also he has five books in English about Knowledge Economy, Inspiration Economy, Inspiring Government and Inspiration Engineering He is also a Fellow of World Academy of Productivity Science.

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Copyright © 2021 by Mohamed Buheji & Dunya Ahmed.

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Contents

Preface

Introduction

Part 1:Life

Section 1:COVID-19 Pandemic as a Complex Problem

Chapter 1: Optimising ‘Moments of Pauses’ – A reflections from COVID-19 pandemic

Chapter 2: Characteristics of ‘Problem-Based Learning’ in Post-COVID-19 Workplace

Chapter 3: Easing Post-Pandemic Socio-economic ‘Wicked Problems’ through Exploratory Visits – Taking ‘Generational Poverty’ as an Example

Chapter 4: Analysing Hardiness Resilience in COVID-19 Pandemic- Using Factor Analysis

Chapter 5: Optimising Empathy in Dealing with Complex Problems During Challenging Times- The Case of Mariam & Empathetic Parenting

Chapter 6: Living Uncertainty in the New Normal

Chapter 7: The Association between Symptoms of Nomophobia, Insomnia and Food Addiction among Young Adults: Findings of an Exploratory Cross-Sectional Survey

Section 2:Physical & Mental Health Solutions

Chapter 8: A systematic review of the prevalence of anxiety symptoms during coronavirus epidemics

Chapter 9: Mitigating COVID-19 Pandemic Spillovers on Suicidal Behaviours– The Second Wave

Chapter 10: Importance of Social Workers in Multidisciplinary Frontline Environment during Pandemics

Chapter 11: Re-Inventing the Intensive Care Units Capacity in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic Second Wave

Chapter 12: Ventilators in COVID-19, Between Scarcity and Abundance Mindset

Chapter 13: Design of Lean Tele-Rehabilitation Services for Post COVID-19 Pandemic

Chapter 14: Intelligent Living with ‘Ageing Parents’ During COVID-19 Pandemic

Chapter 15: Fluid Thinking for Ageing Parents – Compensating the Psychological Risks of COVID-19 Pandemic Using Gamification

Chapter 16: Comorbidities and mortality in elderly people with SARS-CoV: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Chapter 17: Influences of Meteorological Factors on COVID.19 Pandemic: Prevalence and Outcomes

Chapter 18: Alleviation of Antimicrobial Therapy in ICU during COVID-19 second wave – A Review Paper

Chapter 19: Mitigating Risks of Legionella Outbreak with Re-Opening post-COVID-19 Pandemic

Part 2:Livelihood

Section 3:Socio-Economic Solution

Chapter 20: Youth & Hope in the New Normal: A new Journey worth Exploring

Chapter 21: Retaining a Concrete (Middle Class) in Post COVID-19 Era

Chapter 22: Psychological Resilience and Poor Communities Coping with COVID-19 Pandemic

Chapter 23: Sharing Economy and Communities Attitudes after COVID-19 Pandemic -Review of Possible Socio-economic Opportunities

Chapter 24: Social Impact of IVF (after COVID-19 Pandemic and New Normal)

Section 4:Self-Sufficiency

Chapter 25: Emergency Remote Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic- A Comparative Case-study

Chapter 26: Capturing Accumulated Knowledge and Learning of COVID-19 Pandemic from Front-Line Nurse

Chapter 27: Re-emphasising ‘Geography Role’ in Socio-Economic Solutions– a Pedagogical Approach using Poverty Elimination as a Context

Chapter 28: Re-Emphasising the Future Family Role in ‘Care Economy’ as a result of Covid-19 Pandemic Spillovers

Chapter 29: Depth of Global Poverty and the Economy of Lockdown

Chapter 30: Restructuring Time Use Under Covid19 Pandemics

Conclusion and Reflections

Appendix (1)

Table of ‘Untapped Solutions’ covered in the Two Parts of the Book

Appendix (2)

List of Multidisciplinary Authors

Keywords

Brief on IIEP

Brief about the Editors

Preface

This book is a continuation of the ‘COVID-19 – The Untapped Solutions’ book (part 1). Therefore, the implications of the ‘untapped solutions’ and the mindset needed for such solution can still bring the ‘butterfly effect’.

Figure (0-1) represents how the COVID-19 pandemic helped to distinguish people relation with communities and socio-economic solutions. The figure also shows the essential global needs that became clear due to the pandemic, which led to exploiting more our future foresight.

This book similar to (part 1) utilises the observations and reflections on the directions of the waves created by the ‘concentric ripples’ in figure (0-1). Through managing the untapped solutions through the concentric ripples, many risks might be mitigated, or exploited, besides many hidden or untapped opportunities would be discovered.

Figure (0-1) The butterfly effect of the ‘Untapped Solutions’ of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction

This book is the second part of a project that investigates the COVID-19 ‘Untapped Solutions’ and the opportunities that came with the pandemic even as we live the first quarter of 2021. This work reflects the type of mindset and the main formula of inspiration economy that focus on (capacity vs demand), which help to address complex challenges and finding opportunities inside the problem. These opportunities might be in the area of ‘life’ or ‘livelihood’, and mostly might be focused on the community’s socio-economic wellbeing.

As we live the second wave of this devastating and life-threatening virus, each opportunity discovered might turn up to be a source of big insight and might serve to be an ‘inspiration currency’ that helps the world to come out stronger and with more abundant thinking. The type of challenges discussed in this book shows that there is a bundle of opportunities that might trigger many projects and publications by the ‘inspiration economy experts’ who see all the types of problems, risks, and challenges as opportunities that need to be investigated and presented to the knowledge-community.

The contribution of the multi-disciplinary experts coming from more than forty nationalities is so unique that oblige us to give each chapter a look at the deep thought that bring the untapped solutions within the problem. Each chapter reflects a type of research and interaction with the observed challenges, or the exploited the opportunities that the conditions of the pandemic brought.

Similar to the first part of this book, this second part is also divided into two main parts, as shown in figure (0-2). The first part, part one is about Life, while the second part is about livelihood, i.e., the (2L’s).

The First Part is about the first L, which is about Life. In life, we explore two sections, the first section: the COVID-19 pandemic as a complex problem, and the other section is the physical- and mental health solutions. i.e., the more we see the pandemic and its spillovers as a complex problem and bring solutions that protect our health, the more we can sustain life and develop it.

The section starts with chapter one, which overlooks how COVID-19 brought our life to a total halt at different times and in all the continents of the world. The total halt brought with it the opportunity to experience the ‘moments of pause’ which is missed in a busy life. The importance of these moments of paused are investigated, and its role in improving our contribution and potential differentiate performance outcome are discussed in detail.

The second chapter focused on how COVID-19 pandemic forced many workplaces to adapt to drastic changes in the work environment around the world. Despite the changes in the previous years in relevance to new technologies and digitisation, the abrupt changes of the pandemic required much of a steep-learning. As the world emerges from the lockdown, more collaborative approaches to solving complex problems are needed. Therefore, this chapter investigates the requirements of Problem-based Learning (PBL) in the new normal; an era expected in the post-COVID-19 pandemic.

The Third chapter emphasized how the pandemic of COVID-19 brought with it an increase in ‘wicked problem’ that would be both difficult to define and more complex to solve. Issues as poverty, youth unemployment, mental health and other similar known socio-economic problem will need a new mindset that sees things from different perspectives and take milestones towards long-term solutions or outcomes.

The Forth chapter, analyses the variety of the unprecedented volume of challenges that were brought by COVID-19 pandemic are so tremendous that made decision making exceedingly difficult and vague in certain situations. In this chapter, we shall explore the possibilities of using the attitudes of hardiness, supported by resilience to help prepare individuals and communities towards taking the proper decisions during and after COVID-19 pandemic, besides overcoming similar challenges in the future.

The Fifth chapter optimises the role of empathy and empathy learning in dealing with complex problems in this unprecedented difficult time. Empathetic thinking is becoming incredibly important in defining how to deal with the turbulent life challenges that affected life and livelihood since early 2020. In order to show the empathetic influence in dealing with complex problems, empathetic parenting is taken as an example. The chapter shows how empathy differentiates the emotions, feelings from the behaviours that could be gained and practised during difficult times.

Chapter six bring the importance of uncertainty, especially during this unprecedented human historical transformation. The chapter shows how we need to manage and mitigate this uncertainty since it is an opportunity that defines the fate and momentum of the next generation. This chapter explores uncertainty mechanisms in new normal and how the behavioural coping of uncertainty could lead to a positive psychological outcome as inspiration, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Factors that affect uncertainty are analysed to understand the relation of inspiration vs uncertainty. The findings show the effects of COVID-19 on uncertainty status and how this uncertainty affects our capacity to discover further inspiration currency.

The last chapter of this section, Chapter seven looks at the association between symptoms of nomophobia (the addiction to smartphone connectivity), food addiction and insomnia, which have noticeably increased during the pandemic lockdowns. Severe nomophobia, moderate-severe insomnia, and food addiction were found to be more common among female participants both for each disorder separately and in combination.

The Second Section of the Part One cover the health, both the (physical & mental health) solutions, it also contains seven chapters. It started with chapter eight, that brought understanding about how coronavirus pandemics cause systemic and mainly pulmonary changes. The prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in the pandemic survivors and the general population are assessed. The study reflects the depth of the GAD after COVID-19 infection and based on well-established databases and sixteen studies of a total of 25,779 participants from eight countries.

Then, Chapter nine looks at the advent of the second wave of the pandemic, which increased the ‘suicidal behaviours’ and created more potential mental health problems. The researchers see that these suicidal behaviours could be eliminated or alleviated through specific techniques.

The tenth chapter focuses on how pandemic brought many exaptational experiences for lots of professions, but mostly unique for front-line professions during this crisis, and mainly for front-liners as medical staff and the social workers. The role of the social workers in alleviating the human-factor of the COVID-19 patients and their families.

Chapter eleven, also proves how the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic since December 2019 been increasingly dramatic, and the number of confirmed deaths with respect to the total infected cases has reached the rate of 5%. The principal place where the deaths of infected patients have occurred in the early phase of the outbreak is the intensive care units (ICUs). While many governments have invested and allocated resources for improving the ‘ICUs capability’ of their hospitals, this chapter is taking another alternative perspective by focusing on the ‘ICUs capacity’ as a tool to accommodate for the demand or the surge being expected or experienced. Given the complexity of the complicated cases expected in ICU, and considering the respiratory illness and the challenge of contagiousness of the disease transmission, strategies for enhancing and re-visiting ICU capability during the COVID-19 pandemic are suggested.

As we move to Chapter twelve, we continue to explore what has been as an untapped solution in Chapter ten. The rush and anxiety of the pandemic similar to COVID-19, made many medical professionals and even governments to emphasis the demand and the need to deal with this severe respiratory illness by being dependent on the mechanical ventilation’ solutions. This perspective of being totally dependent on ventilators solutions created the insufficient capacity to provide ventilator support to all the rapidly rising cases in intensive care units (ICUs), worldwide. This never precedented demand for ventilators created enormous political pressure on governments and stretching many resources towards one end. The demand for more supply of the ventilators created a niche for the non-specialised manufacturers and even the armatures to go into this business due to this scarcity driven mindset. This chapter studies the rationale behind putting on ventilators on COVID-19 patients and the dangers of this decision. An emphasis for more evidence-based strategies that pull towards more abundant thinking is discussed based on the mortality and morbidity results and studies of the ventilated COVID-19 patients.

Chapter thirteen, shows alternative solutions that came with the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter gives a specific example on many essential health services who were affected yet opened alternative solution, especially for related therapeutic service. Here the rehabilitation services were the example, while in the beginning became partially or completely disrupted, spotting the opportunity for telerehabilitation design, given good outcome to many patients who used to go through the hustle of going to hospitals and wasting many hours for such services. The alternative of telerehabilitation given a chance for re-evaluating the way the rehabilitation services could be delivered in the future.

There are three variables that Chapter fourteen, focuses when living with ‘ageing parents’, especially those suffering from chronic diseases or dementia, during the COVID-19. The researchers investigate in this chapter the effects of these three variables on multi-generational living, the quality of life, while we are preparing for the changes coming in the new normal.

Chapter fifteen, focused on how ageing is a complicated process that most everyone probably would go through it as part of the life journey. Therefore, many family members are trying to find more innovative ways to manage their ageing parents and provide them with the best quality of life. Many of these ageing parents might have reversible dementia which can be restored, or maintained through specific cognitive activities, especially during the unprecedented times, as in the pandemic situation.

The objective of Chapter sixteen is to review and synthesize findings of the presence of comorbidities and mortality in the elderly during the SARS-CoV infection. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines was used in this comprehensive systematic search using Pubmed and EMBASE. Publications review were done for the first five months of the pandemic, i.e. until May 2020. For the prevalence estimates of the included observational studies using data of 64643 patients. The linear correlation analysis showed that in the elderly population investigated who was with explained comorbidities; the mortality cases reach 70% (r² = 0.69). In conclusion, the meta-analysis reveals that the general mortality explained is 62% of mortality in the elderly population studied, while the comorbidity in the elderly population with SARS-CoV 2 reached 95%.

Chapter seventeen take us back to late 2019 when the Coronavirus outbreak started from China (Wuhan Province) and then later spread to the world. The authors set forth a debate about the most important factors which influenced the feast and even the consequences of COVID-19 and then they foresight a COVID-20, which is influenced by the climate change and its related meteorological factors. The debate of this work exploits that climate change can affect directly on virus activation and indirectly on the host behaviour and even immune response. Persons living in a cold, arid environment that is hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life, and/or air polluted areas could suffer from both the spread of the pandemic and the serious complications of the COVID19 infection, as per the authors’ debate. The causes could be due to the low level of vitamin D, low activity of thyroid gland, with low levels of thyroid hormones (T3, T4 and TSH) and reduction in angiotensin 2 level. Aged persons living in these zones are the most victims from this pandemic plus climate change outcome.

The purpose of Chapter eighteen is to help distinguish between severe COVID-19 and secondary bacterial infections and thus help improve the decision of antibiotic administration during the ICU stay. The study focuses on mitigating the risks of the overuse of antibiotics thus avoid further aggravating the antimicrobial resistance. The apparent changes in the antibiogram differentiation due to the way many COVID-19 cases had to be treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics are reviewed. The community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is also covered here until possible bacterial superinfections had been ruled out. Waves of antibiotic resistance and numbers of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) and multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial strains and the fatality of patients secondary to sepsis were highlighted in this review.

As many communities start planning for re-opening after the lockdown due to the pandemic, Chapter nineteen, illustrates that the unprecedented scale of forced closures or the reduction of the use of many large facilities, as hospitals, schools, universities, and part of airports, etc. made many some or all of the parts of the buildings to be abandoned buildings. This type of sudden closure would make these facilities become a source for breeding for the legionella bacteria, or a source of cross-infection for the Legionnaires’ Disease (LD).

Part TWO of this book is focused on the Livelihood challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic brought many disruptions to our life and livelihood, in a way never precedented before, this second part of the COVID-19 ‘Untapped Solutions’ continues to cover some of the threats that have affected our physical and mental wellbeing, or our social and physical capitals. Similar to part one of this book, this devastating international emergency raised many questions about our way life and the reason of our existence at this history-defining moment. Yet, with these challenges and spillovers brought with questions about the deeply hidden opportunities that have been overnighted with our pre-pandemic lifestyle. Therefore, the search for better livelihood in this book cover also: socio-economic solutions and self-sufficiency. Section three brings in solutions to the current socio-economic challenges while the other section brings in long-term solutions.

The socio-economic solutions section, i.e., Section Three, started with chapter twenty, which explains one of the important transformation requirements for a better new normal that comes after the unprecedented change. The focus here on the transformation hopeful youth. With hope, the future becomes present, and youth can effectively live the reality of the new normal.

Chapter twenty one, continues to show how the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, led to the shack-up of the middle income and created disruption in the efforts of eliminating absolute poverty in almost all the countries of the world. The chapter shows how an increasing proportion of the world population is under threat of not having a majority of stable or what could be called a (concrete) middle class. This means many communities might not find a way out of the vulnerability condition or the risk of being poorer and could suffer the consequences of unstable socio-economic spillovers of the pandemic.

With the rising need for rebuilding communities resilience that leads to total recovery from the devastations caused by the international health emergency Chapter twenty-two, is set to address this issue. The chapter discusses how it is important to eliminate or mitigate the negative spillovers from all the social classes, especially the lower middle class and the poor. The paper reviews the efforts of poverty alleviation since the early 1960’s of the last century. The outcome shows that despite many people moved in- and out-of poverty, few work based on resilience have gone to ensure the in-depth poverty elimination and poverty prevention. Therefore, this chapter suggests building psychological resilience linked to specific approaches that would prevent people from going into or staying in the trap of poverty, or similar vicious cycle.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its spillovers have managed to create new types of communities’ attitudes all over the world. Therefore, Chapter twenty-three is about sharing economy and explores the pandemic influence on community-focused sharing practices and how it should be embedded in the business models. The paper discusses the possible socio-economic opportunities of this outbreak, and how it enhances the capacity for communal problems solving through the attitudes of sharing.

At another look at livelihood continuity, Chapter twenty-four, aims to analyse the different IVF services and its possible impact on family and social life, after the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors selected the Kingdom of Bahrain as a context for the research and explored the IVF influence on the ‘family stability’ and the ‘social stability’. The framework proposed shows the importance of future foresight of IVF transformation in both the area of life and livelihood.

The fourth section of part two focuses on Self-Sufficiency. All the chapters in this section help for the propagation towards long-term solutions in the new normal. It started with chapter twenty-five, which focuses on how education could be delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic with the most effective and innovative way. The chapter shows that despite many education organizations closed their doors to contain the spread of infection, the majority of education institutions continued to strive to provide distance learning service by online delivery. To explore the challenges educators faced during emergency remote learning, the researchers managed to meet educators from a variety of nationalities to learn from their experience. The case-study shows the experience of educators and then compares how education continuity was provided in Bahrain, Iraq, and Russia; despite specific obstacles and challenges. Personal insights gathered using Zoom, complemented by documentary evidence, explore the ‘lived experience’ of the emergency changes made to teaching and learning provision.

As part of the self-sufficiency that tackles the ‘untapped solutions of COVID-19’ the value-added knowledge to all health professionals with a specific focus on nurses is reviewed. Due to the type and the number of unprecedented challenges they faced in just the last twelve months since the outbreak, Chapter twenty-six, shows how this novel zoonotic virus brought new waves knowledge to one of the most critical jobs during the pandemic, that is nursing. The authors show how this sudden new accumulated nursing experience need to be analysed, synthesised, and then stratified.

Chapter twenty-seven looked at how geography has always been seen as a classical subject and rarely been linked to realised socio-economic developments, or community’s problem-solving. Since literature is scarce about the role of geography in overcoming challenges, specifically self-sufficiency, the authors bring forth the role of geography based on a collective students’ questions after a class presentation about the role of geography in socio-economic problems. More research needed in this area, to help prepared many communities for more difficult coming challenges similar to the COVID-19 pandemic, where geography could play a unique role in communities stabilities and development.

Since many things have changed in the family’s life since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, chapter twenty-eight shows a collective of scenes for different families situations. Some families found to suffer conflicts, instability, and even divorce due to the sudden devastating pressures and negative spillovers effects that came as a result of the strict lockdown or social distancing. Other families exploited the opportunities that this pandemic and its spillovers brought and established stronger ties by strengthening their bonding. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the influence of COVID-19 pandemic on families and how it would emphasis better ‘care economy’ practices; taking Bahrain as a context.

As part of mitigating the self-sufficiency efforts, Chapter twenty-nine focuses on how to eliminate poverty during the lockdown. The partial closure of economic activities carried with it risks beyond the economic effects to influence on the socio-economic life, especially among the poor communities. The study identifies different levels of challenges facing the poor communities during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and its related spillovers. Questionnaires and interviews were used together as a method of this study in three countries in parallel— Nigeria, Ghana, and Bahrain.

The final chapter of the book is Chapter thirty. The chapter emphasises viewing time as a social construct and available leisure time where the patterns of life are strongly concentrated in it. The consequences of the coronavirus pandemic have disrupted the traditional structure of daily time. The use of hybrid time, as performing personal and domestic activities while working and enjoying leisure time at work and interacting with social groups (students, teachers, office specialists, traders, etc. This chapter, therefore, calls for initially considering time management as one of the hallmarks of social behaviour during a pandemic. Therefore, this paper optimizes this time utilization and to avoid a further collapse of boundaries between time for work, leisure, and obligations.

PART ONE

Life

Section One

COVID-19 Pandemic as a Complex Problem

CHAPTER ONE

Optimising ‘Moments of Pauses’ – A reflections from COVID-19 pandemic

¹

1.0 Introduction

It is amazing how many people go about their lives constantly giving, helping, contributing and yet they never take pause to recharge. It is no wonder why a number of individuals report feeling overly stressed and over-worked in their lives. It has gotten to the point where it is almost an epidemic.

In this literature review, we explore the importance of keeping pace with our current focus and the pauses created by COVID-19 pandemic. The author presents how taking the right pauses are essential for managing the challenges of the new normal. The chapter also exploits the role of live labs in enhancing its return to pauses.

The review shows the importance of taking the right pauses during an unprecedented international emergency, that does not show a clear end, is very important. The pauses play an important role in our future life and livelihood since it eliminates the negative side-effects of uncertainty. Buheji et al. (2020a).

The author presents to the body of knowledge the importance of designing consistent moments of pauses through the technique of ‘habit stacking’ that help us retain the wisdom and exploit the opportunities, Buheji and Ahmed (2020c). The chapter shows that as we go through forced pausing status due to the pandemic, we could optimise the inspiration flow and improve our visualisation.

Taking a pause in life found to lead more to sharp and resilient mindset. As an example, for the importance of ‘gap years’ for the post-COVID-19 generation is further reviewed with some importance for taking pauses in business.

2.0 Literature Review

2.1 Keeping Pace with our Current Focus

Taking a pause helps to retrieve the images of our current focus. This enhances our capacity to continue with life challenges and overcome the repercussions of any type of crisis.

Ganly (2018) emphasised the importance of cultivating a reflective practice that enhances the learning landscapes using PARA model (pausing, attending, revising, adopting, adapting). Pausing leads to existing reflective practice which establishes more focus as transformational potential. The act of pausing gives a good kick-start.

2.2 ‘Moments of Pauses’ created by COVID-19 pandemic

The message of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it brought to us unavoidable severe slowdown of our life and livelihood due to the pandemic. This should make us take a pause about many things that became routines of our life. This incidence helps us to see many hidden opportunities that were unexplored in our life journey. Buheji and Ahmed (2020c).

The pandemic crisis has propelled many tools and new technological gadgets that started to fill what has been paused since the start of the lockdowns in many countries. As if the world was waiting for this pause to happen to start changing many old aspects of life, or how we deal with life.

2.3 ‘Moments of Pauses’ Essential for Managing the Challenges of the New Normal

As we enter the official biggest recession in recent human history and an unprecedented total phase of modern humanity, called the new normal, or post-COVID-19 era; we would need to reallocate lots of resources and take lots of pauses to ensure that we are in the right direction. The new normal is expected to come with lots of shack-ups, or spillovers that might shift from one industry to another. Thus, we should consider that we would be in a dynamic environment like ‘work-in-progress’ for a few years, before we settle for the final shape of our business-models. Taking more attempted pauses won’t be a choice but an essential tactic and even strategic decision that would define our capacity to manage the challenges of this new normal.

The pauses need to take care of the alternation of statuses that would be the norm of that shape the new normal and the decades that follow. In this era, our capacity to make us a focus on ‘what we need’ and not ‘what we want’.

2.4 Role of Live Labs in Enhancing the Return to Pauses

Live Labs are meant to create an environment that promotes taking proper pauses at the right time. In inspiration labs, part of the international inspiration economy projects, taking the pauses to lead to both more effective projects and publications that enhance the concerned community learning and engagement.

Buheji (2018) mentioned that by asking ‘what’ and ‘why’, and then taking a pause to capitalise on the benefits, we could create the necessary learning community. Once theses labs are open to a complicated multidisciplinary problem, the pause would help to develop the proper exploration and focus on overcoming challenges, on starting the ‘how’ questioning.

Through focused Inspiration Lab initiatives, we can overcome barriers and create a transformation in our communities. This environment, once created, helps us to carry out more experiments that help to support the currencies of inspiration. The labs actually help to create a new type of design in thinking, together with tools for the targeted sector. These labs pause help to build capacity for effective change with minimal resources. Such a change helps improve service delivery while enhancing autonomy.

Figure (1) Sequence of Questions in Inspiration Labs

We can assess and then develop any plan and test its suitability in the new normal by evaluating the appropriate checks and balances to reach the goals, after each pause. The Labs include pauses that allow us to have our fingers on the vital signs of the organisation and know-how many milestones have been covered.

2.5 Eliminating the Negative Effect of Uncertainty through Right Pauses

Taking a pause would help us to take quality time to reflect and then learn from the tests and trails, or increase our focused ‘experiential learning’ attempts. The pause helps us to establish sustained inspiration through looking back continuously over what has been observed, or carried out. This deep looking back helps us to extract the net meanings of what we achieved and we fail to achieve, or what we are striving to achieve. These alternations help us to formulate a currency that eliminates the negative sides of any uncertainty we go through. Thus, moments or even phases of uncertainty become moments of reflection that helps us to reconstruct and association the different observations and experiences which can lead to organising our ideas for future moves. Buheji et al. (2020a).

As we sail towards an unknown field in the new normal, fuzziness will become and go at different frequencies and at different times of our life. Fuzziness represents an auto soul and/or self-search exercise that influences us to pause and reflect, which enhances our ability to contribute to life and to our socio-economy.

2.6 Designing Consistent ‘Moments of Pauses’ through ‘Habit Stacking’

Taking moments of pauses consistently give us chances to develop a physical phenomenon in the brain called ‘synaptic pruning’. These synapses are a series of connections between the different neurons in your brain. The action of a pause prunes our brain neurons connections that are often not fully utilised and build up association paths and new connections that get used more frequently. The more we take moments of pauses and reflect, the stronger the brain connections become. Not only that, but the brain connections also become faster, and more efficient after each pause. This biological change in the brain leads to new attitudes or ‘habits stacking’. Jack and Roepstorff (2002).

Synaptic pruning plays an important role in building new habits as synaptic pruning occurs with every habit we build. The more the pauses are taken at the right time, the stronger and more efficient the connection becomes. When we link a current habit we already do and then stack it with another behaviour, we establish ‘habit stacking’. This establishes a clear intention for implementation where the pairing of taking moments of pauses would replace our striving for achievement without doing enough reflections and pauses.

2.7 Building Wisdoms of Life through the Habit of Pausing

Wisdom comes when we start realising the connectedness of specific behaviour which make us appreciate specific meanings of life. This happens due to reflections that come as a result of pauses.

Utilising the patterns and the behaviours that have been strengthened in the brain connected neuron over the years build for potential for wisdom if we stop to think and reflect. The pauses give us the chance to revisit the routes that are already built into our brain. Jack and Roepstorff (2002).

Designing such journey means we would have more focused exploration about our life-purposefulness while taking many pauses in life to explore the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of the things around us, and in our way.

The waves of lifelong learning that create the collective wisdom make us more capable of linking stories of life through taking pauses in life. It is actually full of excitements, challenges, attempts, besides pauses for reflections and learnings. Living a life that is full of insights and ideas to be tested or investigated, or problem to be explored, or visualising hidden possibilities that could be discovered can be rarely achieved without taking effective pauses.

2.8 The Opportunities of Forced Pauses during the Pandemic

Buheji and Ahmed (2020) mentioned about the variety of opportunities that devastating pandemic as COVID-19 could bring along. One of these opportunities is that the pandemic enhances the individual and the community capacity for being more creative towards challenging and complex problem, Buheji and Ahmed (2020c). Taking a pause after visualising the problem outcome helps to optimise the decision-making process, thus building the innovation elements needed. Buheji (2020d).

2.9 Flow of Inspiration After Taking Moments of Pause

Effective and inspiring moments of pauses come only when we go through the status of humbleness, determination and focus. The more we make special focused efforts we live humbleness, while the more we make achievements, we could extract hardiness that leads to determination. Both focused efforts and realisation of achievements help us to build new objectives based on scientific decisions. Such a cycle which occur based on taking selective pauses triggers the flow of inspiration, as shown in Figure (2).

Figure (2) Flow of Inspiration after Taking a Pause

Sometimes we will lose inspiring moments in life due to our inability to capture the flow of inspiration at the right moment of time and space.

Inspirational moments depend on the positive effects and the insights of the aha experience and inspiration. The aha moment facilitates a fluid transition that makes us appreciate more the importance of taking pauses practices.

2.10 How Taking a Moment of Pause to improve our Visualisation?

Taking a pause happens after visualisation helps to optimise our thoughtful action. We can see that visualisation after a pause, enhance our capacity to have critical reflection and ‘stand back’ from the emotions and better judgments.

Every challenge or problem needs a ‘visualisation representation’ framework that brings a proposed solution. By taking the right moment of pause, we can visualise not only the data observed and collected, but also our relation to the problem. Using a visualised framework helps us to highlight the key relationships between the problem that needs to be solving and its stakeholders. If we study all those that have a powerful visualised aim that influenced their own lives and their community, we would see that they have managed to do this by taking effective moments of pausing.

Thus, to retain an effective visualisation pause, we need to get involved in community issues and set a link of how these issues are related to us. This involvement would help us to start gradually pause and visualise, with less fuzziness, the life we want and collect the hardiness to work for it.

Visualisation is considered one of the most important techniques that gurus, leaders and sports legends use to excel in the achievement of their goals. However, we must manifest realised observations, which does not come easily without moments of effective pausing and reflecting.

2.11 Emphasising Gap-Years for the Post-COVID-19 Generation

‘Gap years’ used to be an optional choice amongst some of the youth pre- or post-graduation, especially in highly developed countries. However, as we are entering a new normal that requires new employability competency that depends on attitudes more than skills, ‘gap years’ are becoming more of a must for the post-COVID-19 generation. Buheji and Buheji (2020c).

Taking a complete pause that makes youth reflect on the essence of life helps to really explore their type of life progression needed. Gap years pause help to avoid fatal mistake and when to press the button.

With gap-year, we have more opportunity to have natural moments of pauses which might increase our visualisation, and thus can synthesise any learning outcomes that would be reflected in our lives and our communities condition. The gap-year helps us to map our life and to see how different opportunities around us could set up our most entire life flow.

2.12 Taking Pauses and Resilient Mindset

When we take a pause and think about it, we start to shape a resilient mindset. The main differentiation for any resilient mindset is its capacity to create failures and challenges after any pause. The learnings created due to the different pauses make any constrained mindset to be less constrained, as it is injected with a new spirit. Such a spirit would lead to high forecasting capability, as illustrated in Figure (3). Buheji (2020b); Clark (2020).

Figure (3) Illustration of the role of Natural and Artificial Pauses that build a resilient mindset.

Once resilience occurs the mindset trigger a reaction to the problems. The resilience mechanism helps to increase our capacity to take more pauses. Intrinsic driven pauses improve self-regulation and the type of creativity Buheji (2020b).

2.13 Importance of Taking ‘Moments of Pauses’ in Business

COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated many challenges facing businesses models and their capacity for operational efficiency. Taking pauses can help bring many startups in this unstable competitive environment since the entrepreneurs would understand the type of flexibility they need to interact with or adapt to the changes introduced due to the new normal caused by the pandemic. The uncertainty that dominates the market has prompted emerging companies and markets that require reduced costs and high cash liquidity. Buheji et al. (2020a).

After evaluating the new market demands, almost all the entrepreneurs are likely to reconsider their long-term business models, and thus shift their focus towards urgent consumer needs. Pauses enhance the capacity of investing in important demanded solutions such as information and telecommunication system (ICT).

The pause enforced by the lockdown created by the pandemic introduced many programs and initiatives dedicated to supporting startups. The business partnerships would also be reviewed as part of the requirements of the new normal and its required creative solutions.

3.0 Methodology

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Inspiration Economy Project (IIEP) taken different pauses to observe, absorb, reflect, realise and foresight the ‘untapped potential solutions’ that this international emergency crisis brought, Buheji and Ahmed (2020b). These pauses generated a variety of multidisciplinary research that tackled different issues. The chapter put a ‘case study’ on the type of research opportunity that the different type of pauses brought. This methodology could create a transformation towards how the publications, for the example, could be extracted when we are faced with coming new challenges, as in the case of the new normal.

4.0 Case Study

This case study presents the outcome of applying ‘moments of pauses’ by the researchers of the International Inspiration Economy Project (IIEP) on the main challenges and issues of COVID-19 pandemic and its spillovers. Table (1) shows a sample of 22 studies our 32 published peer-reviewed paper since February 2020. The list of papers in the table shows how the ‘moments of pauses’ were utilised to realise and/or visualise the benefits from developing a new approach to the world, or our lives and our societies during this unprecedented world pandemic. Studies due to moments of pauses also could come from taking advantages in developing new solutions for what opportunities for risks that could be hidden or coming, and not only what challenges are existing.

Table (1) shows the type of studies that ‘moment of pauses’ brought. All these studies were published in peer-reviewed journals during the months of March till August 2020, i.e. during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each study is linked to one or more type of pauses, i.e. a pause for observing, or absorbing, or reflecting, or realising, or foresight to exploit ‘untapped’ potential solutions, or opportunities. Buheji and Ahmed (2020b).

Table (1) Studies that are Published due Moments and Type of Pauses

The list of in Table (1) shows that when we take effective moments of pauses during extraordinary times, we could bring treasures of knowledge and contribution. Taking pauses in the right time helps to improve our (capacity vs demands) and the potential to exploit opportunities. Thus, the pause helps us to disseminate ‘positive energy’ and deal with ‘ambiguous situations’. Buheji and Buheji (2020b).

5.0 Proposed Framework

Based on the literature review and the case study, a framework is proposed to optimize the effect of the ‘moments of pause’ through exploiting the ‘reflection lines’ that help to take the pause and improve the capacity to be more focused. In order to encourage and then optimize the outcome of taking the ‘moments of pause’ our knowledge-base needs to be optimized so that more stories are built, Buheji and Buheji (2020b). Thus, the observation and the absorption pauses help to bring more possibilities for effective analysis and synthesis of information that create the ‘lessons learned’. These inputs in the proposed framework lead for better attempts and repetitions that establish a ‘realisation pause’ that establish part of our early focus capacity.

The framework in Figure (4) shows that by taking a ‘foresight pause’ we experience creative development for better achievement that are supported by mind mapping those associate things together, Buheji and Ahmed (2020b). The ‘association-lines’ develop a mind mapping that helps in analysing and synthesizing the information or the observations accumulated in the brain. Last but not least, the proposed framework would help to latent focus that enhance the contribution of the ‘moments of pause’ and would lead to the capacity to the foresight and visualise.

Figure (4) Proposed Framework for Taking the ‘Moments of Pause’

6.0 Discussion

The literature review and the case study show that whether the ‘moments pauses’ are taken due to natural, unplanned conditions or due to planned artificial conditions as labs, similar to inspiration labs, they are all found to contribute to building and to shape a ‘resilient mindset’. Such resilience driven mindset is highly needed in the new normal, i.e. post-the COVID-19 pandemic where challenges need to be met with a better mental and physical capacity that maintain and improve life and livelihood.

The variety of multidisciplinary papers listed in Table (1) of the case study show that there is ‘flipping point’ for any effective ‘moments of paise’ where we can extract solutions and outcomes from negative events or challenging moments. The case study also shows that we have a variety of pauses that could be used to bring the best outcome. In this case study, we could see that global problems as: diseases, mental health, poverty, refugees, family stability problems, children psychology, socio-economic spillovers, social responsibility, traceability, uncertainty and more can come from different types of pauses. These pauses that are presented in the scope of this research are: observation pauses, reflection pauses, realisation pauses and foresight pauses; they all could help to develop better visualisation to explore the ‘untapped potentials’ or the ‘hidden opportunities’.

7.0 Conclusion and Recommendation

7.1 The Call for More ‘Moments of Pauses’ Research

Literature has rarely linked the importance of ‘moments of pause scientifically’ with the capacity to observe, or absorb, or reflect, or realise, or foresight. This chapter put through its ‘case study’ the type of opportunities that the different type of could pauses bring to the world and the type of ‘untapped solution’ that could be exploited, taking the academic research in relevance to the COVID-19 pandemic as a context. The simplicity of the methodology is meant to help generalise, qualitatively, the use of ‘moments of pause’ to develop our life contribution and our capacity for bringing effective solutions in different fields.

7.2 Main Implication and Limitation of this Study

The implication of this chapter is that there is a great relationship between the following variables: capacity to observe, or absorb, or reflect, or realise, or foresight, in one side, and two other main variables: ‘moments of pauses’ plus ‘effective focus’. The main limitation of this study is that its framework needs to be further tested in different contexts and through empirical field study that uses both qualitative and quantitative approaches with a higher sample. The other limitation is about failing to cover the depth and length of the pauses in this work, due to the scope and time constraints.

This outcome of this chapter shows that taking ‘moments of pause’ more frequently could create a major transformation towards how life could be managed and improved. The contribution to ‘moments of pause’ could lead to better human, organisations and community capacity towards happiness, managing challenges, solving problems, and managing risks or disasters. Certainly, the chapter could be a source for further studies in relevance to how ‘moments of pause’ could help us manage or mitigate the risks, or improve the returns of historical moments as the ones we have been experiencing with COVID-19 pandemic.

7.3 The Essential of ‘Moments of Pauses’ in the New Normal

The research gives us signs that the flipping point for any effective ‘moments of pause’ can come from one or more of the following: observation, reflection, realisation and foresighting they all could help to develop our visualisation to explore the ‘untapped potentials’ of anything around us. The issue of ‘moments of pause’ is not a choice any more, but rather an essential practice for creating our capacity to be part of a ‘Generation Defining Moment’. It is a moment in history where we could change a devastating trajectory, due to a highly contagious pandemic called COVID-19, that is taking the world towards a deep economic and mental depression. Only deep pauses can help us to see the unseen and re-align the world and out communities trajectory to be positive and leads us towards an era that is full of opportunities and ‘untapped potential’.

‘Moments of pauses’ give us a chance for prioritising what we need to learn and test in the new normal. Building the attitude of pausing gives us a chance to recollect and to discover new horizons and keep in touch with reality. Pausing gives us a valuable chance to experience emotional reboot, which might lead to moments of inspiration.

References

Ahmed, D; Buheji, M; Fardan, S (2020) Re-Emphasising the Future Family Role in ‘Care Economy’ as a Result of Covid-19 Pandemic Spillovers, American Journal of Economics, Vol. 10 No. 6, pp. 332-338.

Buheji, M and Buheji, A (2020a) Characteristics of ‘Problem-Based Learning’ in Post-COVID-19 Workplace, Human Resource Management Research; 10(2): 33-39.

Buheji, M and Buheji, A (2020b) Intelligent Living with ‘Ageing Parents’ During COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences; 10(3): 76-83.

Buheji, M and Buhaid, N (2020) Capturing Accumulated Knowledge and Learning of COVID-19 Pandemic from Front-Line Nurse, Human Resource Management Research 10(2): 27-32.

Buheji, M; Ahmed, Dunya and Jahrami, H (2020a) Living Uncertainty in the