anxiety, stress & anxiety Shayla Peterson anxiety, stress & anxiety Shayla Peterson

Ctrl Shift Fire

When your anxiety shows up, picture it as fire and you have three choices:

Throw more logs in the fire (feed)

Watch the fire (passive)

Put out the fire (interrupt the cycle)

When we add more logs to the fire, you are thinking more anxious thoughts. Those logs can look like catastrophic thinking, all or nothing thinking or mental filtering.  Often times leading yourself to a scenario that may not happen.

When you sit back and watch the fire, you may not throw logs in the fire, but you not making moves to prevent it from spreading.  This can lead to feelings of panic out of nowhere. 

Put the Fire out, this is the opportunity to provide you with relief from your anxiety.  Take note that your relief may not be immediate or perfect.  You can reduce the escalation with tools.  This is the time to slow down, check in with yourself and slow down your thoughts:

1. Write your thoughts down. Schedule time to acknowledge them. 

2. Write down your feelings about the thoughts. Spend time with them.

3. Re-frame your thoughts. Educate them.

4. Recognize the small wins of relief.  

5. Repeat again.

Will you add more logs, watch it or put out the fire of anxiety?

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Ctrl Shift Feelings

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Get unstuffed and stop sticking.  Let's take today to address our feelings and being mindful of our emotions. The goals is to notice and experience our emotions and allow them to come and go naturally. That means sometimes experiencing painful emotions without turning the pain into suffering. Emotional Suffering can be created by stuffing or sticking to our emotions, and that's out of BALANCE.  

When Stuffing our emotions, we bottle up l, ignore and reject your emotions. Emotional Stuffers try to push their emotions away. Just because we stuff or ignore our emotions does make them go away. It causes emotional build up, leading to feeling overwhelm and possible breakdown.  

On the opposite end of the spectrum, is Sticking. When we stick to our feelings, we hold on to emotions and try to keep them around. When we emotional stick, we replay stressful situations and experience the emotions over and over again. Sticking prevent are emotions to natural come and go and never provide them with the opportunity to fade. Thus leading emotions to Stick around longer than hey natural would.  

Create Balance by actually feeling your Feelings. Feeling your feelings serves as a middle group between stuffing and sticking. Trying noticing your feelings without holding on to them. Observe and describe your emotions, your sensations, thoughts and urges. Take note of how intensity comes and go. When a new emotions is ready to come in, let the emotion go and notice the new feeling.

Are you Stuffing or Sticking?

Letโ€™s Chat about your feelings.

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With Balance & Wellness,

Shayla

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