04/07/2021
A HUGE part of wrangling your stress load is reframing your thought patterns.
Often we can worry or overthink ourselves into a fight-or-flight stress response. This looks a lot like, and for some of you this may develop into, a full blown panic attack - Increased heart rate, rapid breathing, cold sweats, indigestion or loss of appetite, etc…
Our thought patterns are learned, and can be unlearned or retrained.
Our brains are amazing! The pathways of thought (called neural networks) can be broken down and re-directed with intention. All it takes is some conscious effort on your part to make this happen.
Meditation is a part of that🧘♀️
Some call it mindfulness, others call it prayer, quiet time, or contemplation.
Titles are inconsequential, it’s the action that matters.
Quiet time alone in your own head, being aware of your thoughts while letting them come and go without fixating on them - this allows our brain to let go of “default” thought patterns and activates areas of our brain for cognition and emotional control.
(doi: 10.2741/s542)
👆𝘞𝘩𝘰𝘢, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦👆
Basically, mindfulness & meditation help you mange your spiraling thoughts, keep them under control and also help you to control your emotions.
This isn’t a one-and-done kinda thing though, it takes regular practice - AND fortunately it doesn’t take hours at a time! Benefits can be seen in as little as 1 minute a day of meditation 🤯
Have you tried meditation or mindfulness practices in a stressful situation? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments below ⤵️
(𝘖𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘋𝘔 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘢)
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Here’s the research that inspired this post, a randomized control trial comparing anti-depressant therapy to mindfulness based therapy.
Spoiler alert: I wouldn’t have written this post if the research didn’t back it!
doi: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2010.168.
