In my last blog I wrote about ‘stuck thoughts’. These are the lingering feelings and thoughts that remain despite a challenging situation being resolved.
The reason these thoughts and feelings become stuck is because the reaction is coming from our SUBCONSCIOUS mind. The subconscious mind is the more powerful part of our brains. Where our conscious mind is rational in its processing, our subconscious is often unpredictably irrational. This is well demonstrated when you are upset by something a co-worker does, you tell yourself not to be upset, but you remain upset. This is the subconscious mind at work.
I have discovered three helpful techniques that I use when I need to release unsettling thoughts and emotions, and regain peace.
1. CHANGE YOUR PHYSIOLOGY
JPPS co-founder Charles Kovess taught me this technique. Your mind and body have an inseparable connection. If you want to shift an emotion, shift your body. I use hand-stands but star-jumps are also a great method. If you were to rate your initial level of discomfort on a scale of zero to ten beforehand, you will find your rating improves with changing your physiology.
2. AFFIRMATION
During the ten years I owned my practice, there were many moments of high stress. I would never respond to my team during these moments because I had long since learned that I was to regret speaking out while upset. Instead, I would go to an office or outside the back door and repeat an affirmation.
My affirmation is a quote by Valery Satterwhite. “Everything is in perfect order whether I understand it or not.”
This statement takes me out of the moment and the ‘all about me’ mindset and allows me to accept a situation despite not being able to reconcile it in my conscious mind.
3. GROUNDING TECHNIQUE OF 5-4-3-2-1
This is a fast, easy and effective grounding technique. When you feel anxious and carried away with fears and emotions, this process will re-orient you to the present.
Take five deep, slow breaths.
Quietly say to yourself:
5 things you see
4 things you can touch
3 things you can hear
2 things you can smell
1 thing you can taste
Discovering how to be calm and thoughtful and present during intense situations has been vital to my development as a leader.
I commend to you these techniques, and also to discover other techniques that work for you, in regaining your peace.