restore

When we’re stressed or anxious, our body reacts by releasing hormones that prepare it for action - the fight or flight response. That includes increasing our breathing and heart rate and pumping blood into our major muscles. The blood supply to our pre-frontal cortex, the part of our brain responsible for consciousness and rational thinking, is also reduced, on the evolutionary principle that you don’t have time to think if you’re about to be attacked by a predator. You just need to react.

That’s great if we need to physically fight or run away, but not so useful in the modern workplace, where the triggers are many and varied (but are usually other people!) and we have to carry on doing the day job while our physiology is playing havoc with our ability to think clearly. Because there are so many triggers in the modern world, we can end up in an almost permanent state of alert, reacting rather than responding to all those irritations, big and small. That’s why we can be short-tempered, snapping at the people around us, losing our cool, saying things we later regret or perhaps not being able to say anything at all.

Our anxious brain is extremely good at whirring through all the possible scenarios, aggravating the stress and keeping us stuck in a loop of unhelpful thoughts. That’s why it can be so hard to decide what to do when we face difficult decisions.

We can learn to manage this physiological stress response. We can calm our system and allow our rational brain to get back online. We can also tune into the wisdom we have accumluated through experience held in our body rather than our conscious mind.

I’ve recorded a short audio guide which teaches you a process that will lower your stress levels, reconnect you with what really matters, and help you find the next step forward.