Do you find yourself negatively forecasting the future or even negatively introspecting about the past? It's something we all tend to do on a subconscious level. Every negative thought we have is accumulated and stored. Lets say its stored in a stress bucket. At the end of each day when we sleep we enter our sleep cycle and these negative thoughts are processed during a sleep phase called REM or rapid eye movement. When we wake, in theory, we should wake refreshed and restored ready to face the day. BUT this is not always the case. If we have too much piled into our stress bucket it becomes too much to be processed during REM so disrupted sleep patterns are one of the first signs that your stress bucket may be overflowing. There is an argument to be had that every one of us has stressful lives in some way shape or form so why do some people end up anxious and others don't? It's not necessarily the events in our lives that cause us to have anxiety but more about our thoughts surrounding those events.
Lets consider a scenario, imagine you have been invited to an event. Somebody you don't particularly like or get on with is going to this event too. You start to have thoughts -'I don't really want to go if they are going,' 'What if I get stuck with them and have to talk to them all night?' 'I have nothing to wear to this event and I'm sure if I chose the wrong outfit that person I don't like will be judging me.' and so the negative thought cycle begins and the brain starts to release negative brain chemicals cortisol and adrenalins etc. Intellectually you know deep down it will be fine but by this point you have thought about this event negatively, lets say 50 times. The date of the event comes. You have probably already thought through numerous excuses to get out of going BUT you cant get out of it and go. The person you were dreading seeing isn't actually there after all but by this point you have attended this event in your mind 51 times and 50 times it was a disaster. You actually have a great time and all is well but you have lived through the event badly 50 times before even getting there. The fact is its thoughts surrounding events that make anxiety not the actual event itself. Anxiety is not something we have its something we do and we do it with our thoughts. So next time you have a situation why not try and flip the thought process, try and imagine how you want things to be rather than how you don't want things to be. Look forward to the people you do want to see and not dread the people you don't want to see. Your brain chemistry will be much healthier for it and it could save you a huge amount of wasted energy. If you suffer with anxiety and negative thoughts contact me for your complimentary consultation, solution focused hypnotherapy can help you reframe your thought processes and can be a powerful tool for overcoming anxiety. #anxiety #negativethoughts
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