We all know why its important to remain physically fit and eat healthily right?
But do you know why its important to treat your brain, instinct, humanness in the same way?
Muscles waste, if they aren’t looked after with the right nutrition and strength building then you start top lose its functionality. That’s why so many Karens struggle to smile these days. Jokesesy.
But yet, for some reason we are not REALLY thinking about our brain and humanness in the same way. Why?
Because, especially in the UK, its never been part of the curriculum but as generations have evolved in their emotional WOKEness, it is becoming a more requiring need for us to become more educated in our whole selves.
Im going to ramble now – I hope you can follow, if you cant read it again, work your brain – there is method in my madness – I promise.
So. We all have a level of stress that’s good for us, it helps us to perform (Im not necessarily talking about anxiety albeit i do sometimes wonder if it is actually the same thing in certain instances). But that level of stress can then tip into negative stress. Stress “activates” your anxiety. That’s how I like to think of it anyways. Its like your instinct is actually “the stress” its eithers aying yeah – do it or – hun you need to get the Feck out of here. And when this happens, your instinct channels its natural response mechanism called anxiety to start the real fretting! Bear with.
Now – our brains are that clever that they understand what the differences are between the good stress and the bad stress. And as such the messaging it sends to the rest of your body to “work” and respond accordingly…. Reflect whether its good stress or the bad kind.
The problem we have when it comes to anxiety is that if we don’t manage it – it WILL manage us. As someone who lives with acute anxiety and is a hyper sensitive person, I am on high alert all the time. It is exhausting.
OK – so you’re hopefully still with me and the pink flamingos (ill explain about this another time!).
Imagine that you get the opportunity to do a trolley dash in your favourite store – you’re there, you know its exciting, you have labelled the experience in a positive way and you’re optimising your performance levels by focusing on the task at hand.
This is great for you and your body. Your brain is sending messages all around your body, honing it to nail this opportunity. And you do – you THRIVE.
However……lets imagine another scenario, it’s the same as the above BUT you’re competing against others…..
You’re lined up against 5 other people, you’re weighing them up – the impact just seeing these people have on you will either heighten your good stress and enhance your performance OR for most, even if you are competitive, it starts to tip from the good stress to the bad.
The whistle doesn’t work so the starter has to get down from his elaborate tennis umpiring chair and waddles off – the anticipation increases but there is a change in the air and THAT is what we are talking about today.
When the tipping from good to bad occurs and its very individual how this happens, the body starts to prepare for damage. It prepares for flight more. Your brilliant brain wants you to FLEE from the big white bat cave like Ace Venture did – it wants you to simply LEG IT.
If you are in any form of vehicle – and you know you’re going to crash – you brace yourself for impact.
When your anxiety is triggered by negative stress, that is what your brain tells your body – its tells it to brace and it awaits impact while trying to help you avoid the collision which is where panic can set in.
The problem today is our anxiety – an instinctual and very normal characteristic we have as humans, a gift, if you will, to keep us alive, to keep us from danger and out of harms way – is sort of out of sync with our lifestyle but on an additional level is a very complex part of our programming and that of our ancestors too.
The need to proactively manage your anxiety and stress levels is essential for numerous reasons.
Here are some –
When we tip into the bad stress and our flight response is triggered, our body starts to tense up – now when youre exercising and tensing and clenching – the chemicals whizzing around your body are good chemicals like XXXXX, XXXXXX but when youre in flight mode, its not as helpful and can cause damage to your muscles. In addition to this, your breathing often increases which sends your heart rate into a faster pumping level, that increases and increases because you are struggling to breath. This causes damage to your blood vessles and capillaries because the blood is flying around your body without care – its priming for disaster.
This puts you at a higher risk of a stroke or of a heart attack. In addition, if you suffer with a dicky tummy, you’re then likely to be shitting yellowy coloured soup rather than logs to block the giant causeway – which means you’re stripping your body of healthy bacteria which allows the bad bacteria in, it allows cancer cells to fester and grow.
In addition to this, the more intense the experience you go through, the more wear and tear it takes on your brain and the rest of your physiology. I once read an article or book which was written by a guy who lived to a ridiculous age, I think he was a Chinese Doctor, and his philosophy was – the more you use a piece of equipment, the more it will deteriorate, things are generally not built to last forever…. The same principle applies to your body – the more you over do things, the more you will increase the wear and tear on yourself and I believe he is absolutely right.
Its about balance.
Think of your brain as a computer. When you are working at an optimal level and speed – you feel good, generally, when you are living in heightened states of sensory overload, you start to decline….. and sometimes the blue screen of death can happen – in brain language – that would be a state of psychosis of which we are all susceptible to – so be aware.
This is why mindfulness is critical to your life. It allows your brain to go to the gym. Think of it in that way. Its not about pink fluffy crap. Its about optimal work outs that will help you be stronger, and build your resilience levels.
This is why we promote things such as stretching – because it allows your body to relax, some stretch fanatics state that stretching properly every morning before you start your day (or night) will enhance your physical and mental abilities beyond comprehension.
This is why we want you to do tdifferent things, this is why if you do one thing today – we think you should sign up to theweekly warrior challenges and stick to doing them – its cheap, its easy and it will enhance your being in ways you could never believe – you can get them from www.mindofme.co.uk or you can just do our Woosah Wednesday days where we will post little brain building activities for you to do FOR FREE!!!
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