The Link Between Movement and How You Feel
Many of us are already familiar with the fact that anxiety can either cause paralysis or rushed movements. Sadness and depression can lead to slower and fewer movements. Meanwhile, the adrenaline rush from excitement can lead to more energetic movements. These are all examples of how the way we feel influences how we move. They show that the brain and our bodies (in motion) are linked. Again, these are all examples of how the way we feel influences our movements. But let’s take a moment to consider the opposite: How can our movements affect the way we feel? Can movement be another way to better our mental wellbeing–another tool to…
Overcoming Anxiety: Six Ways to Keep Calm and Carry On
Anxiety–that ill-feeling you get when your mind is consumed by worry, dread, and fear. It’s when the words “Keep Calm and Carry On” written across posters and coffee mugs just seem like a beautiful sentiment–a statement of something that’s ideal but unrealistic. Yes, not being anxious is about keeping calm and carrying on. So it is actually good advice. But how does one learn to keep calm and carry on? Here are some strategies. Six ways to keep calm and carry on Breathing: Sometimes the biggest thing we need to do is press the pause button and just breath. Take deep shallow breaths, counting to five with each inhale and…
Just Take a Chance: The Importance of Facing Your Fears
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt This week I did something outside my comfort zone: getting behind a video camera. Every part of me wanted to call it off, but a little voice in my head kept saying “face your fear.” Taking a chance and facing your fears doesn’t necessarily mean living on the edge, making reckless decisions, or doing things that…
Break Time: Why Regular Work Breaks Are a Must
I have a very hard time taking breaks while I’m working on something. There’s always that one more thing I want to finish–There’s always that constant search for the perfect stopping point. Inevitably, the stopping point I had in mind comes and goes without any pause. But what if taking regular breaks between work is a routine part of one’s day? What if it comes so naturally that you don’t even think much about it–you don’t feel like you have to try to squeeze it in? Just imagine how much better any unpleasant task would be with more pleasant things interspersed in between. Well, that’s just one reason to take…
Control and Anxiety
It’s a natural human condition to want everything to go exactly how we picture it in our heads. However, to much of our dismay, life can be unpredictable. Things may not always go according to plan. And whenever life feels unpredictable, unplanned, or uncertain–with major life decisions in front of us, it’s natural to worry. It’s the moment that those things that are uncertain, unplanned, and unpredictable seem out of our control that our worry quickly turns into anxiety. But it doesn’t have to. To The Control Freak and Everyone Else First of all, ask yourself: what are you trying to control? What can you do about your situation that’s…
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The “Happier” Alternative to Pursuing Happiness
“Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, just remember how far you have come. Remember everything you have faced, all the battles you have won, and all the fears you have overcome.”
“Lighten up on yourself. No one is perfect. Gently accept your humanness.”
How to Combat Anxiety at Work By Refocusing Your Attention on God
Unless your job is doing absolutely nothing, you are sure to experience some level of anxiety from time to time. Maybe you have a presentation, work meeting, a tight deadline, unending emails, toxic boss or coworkers, uncertain outcomes, or uncertain job security. Whatever the case may be, anxiety originating from job-related challenges is quite common. But here’s the silver lining. If you aren’t anxious about anything, then you’re not being challenged. However, while challenges can be good, they’re not good when they manifest into debilitating and self-destructive anxiety. So, how do we keep anxiety at bay so the challenges we face on the job build us rather than destroy us?…
Anxiety Part 3: So Now What? Using Our Understanding of Anxiety to Develop a Personalized Plan
Before we can address any problem we first need to understand it. That’s what Anxiety Part 1 and Part 2 tried to do. In Part 1, we looked at the difference between stress and anxiety. In part two we talked about anxiety developing from either a cumulation of mini-traumas or a major traumatic event. So now what? What steps can we take to address our anxiety using our knowledge of what it is and how it got there in the first place? It cannot be stressed enough (no pun intended) that dealing with anxiety is not a “one size fits all” situation. What works for one person might be useless…
Anxiety Part 2: How Knowing the Way Anxiety Develops Can Reduce Shame, Increase Understanding, and Inspire Action
People who suffer from anxiety often feel ashamed to admit it. It’s seen as a sign of weakness—that they aren’t tough, resilient, courageous, or strong enough. Unfortunately, those who struggle with it start believing they aren’t tough, resilient, courageous, or strong; but rather, weak and unable to withstand the challenges of life. They may imagine they lack some kind of “strong” gene that everyone else seems to have. But knowing how anxiety develops in the first place will help to remove these destructive thoughts. In addition, it’ll add an understanding that we are all susceptible to it in some way, shape, or form. In Anxiety Part 1, we differentiated between…
Anxiety Part 1: Is it Stress or Anxiety? Why You Should Know the Difference
If you were to look up the words stress and anxiety in the dictionary, you’ll find two different definitions. However, we tend to clump these words into the same category. We think of them as having the same symptoms. And sometimes use them interchangeably or as an inseparable pair: stress and anxiety. Even dictionaries and thesauruses have these words as synonyms of each other. Don’t be fooled. There is a difference between them. Knowing the difference is crucial to helping you determine whether anxiety is present, how it got there in the first place, what you can do about it, and even how to prevent it from becoming an anxiety…
