STRESS & WORRY
With the current worldwide situation that we find ourselves in, there is so much stress and worry amongst many of us.
Stress can be defined as a kind of emotional arousal that does not go away.
Some of the stress we have is short term as the problem goes away, or we find a way to solve it. But in some cases the stress may become long term and this can then lead to physical illness.
Some people are really good at coping with stress and looking at it in a “Logical way”. They look at it objectively, think clearly, then separate their feelings from their thoughts. In this way they achieve a better understanding of what is really happening. They are able to think and act clearly.
On the other hand, some of us just don’t handle stress at all well. We become flooded with many emotions such as anger, anxiety, sadness or helplessness. We feel overwhelmed and our brain just can’t focus on anything logical.
When we go into total “Overwhelm” our brains almost go into a “Fight, Flight or Freeze” like state. When we enter this state, it is physically impossible for us to think “Logically”.
Our body goes into a rescue mode and all the reserves that we have is used up to deal with the current big issue, rather than allowing that front/thinking part of our brain to be available to us for reasoning.
People often ask me…..How can I turn the dial down on my emotions when I feel them starting up and know that I will be completely overwhelmed?
My answer to this is……..Just recognising that you are going to go down this slippery slope, is already Step 1.
Step 2, would be to just take one minute to focus on your breathing, counting the breaths in and out and feeling your belly rise and fall. This immediately puts calm in the body and pulls the focus to the body and away from the thing or issue.
Just as we are all different, so we will all find different things that work best for us. A few things that have worked for my clients are:-
· A few minutes of controlled breathing.
· EFT/Tapping on the tapping points to reduce the anxiety.
· Doing some form of physical exercise, even if it is just a walk.
· Meditation.
· Journaling your emotions
· Drawing your emotions
· Putting a pillow on the bed and punching the pillow.
The idea behind these suggestions, is so that you can find a channel to release some emotions, rather than bottling them up inside you, where they will just cause you overwhelm and harm.
If you are not familiar with EFT/Tapping and would like to know more, you can get more info if you click the link below.
http://colmankim.com/about-eft/
Sending you support in these really difficult times.
In kindness and support
Kim Colman
