From perception to perspective

In a nanosecond, your entire body starts reacting. Your pulse quickens, your breathing gets shallow, your eyes dilate, your body starts producing adrenaline…your body gets activated to get you prepared for this emu encounter.

Now your body is in fight, flight or freeze mode.

There’s just one small problem. It wasn’t an emu. Just the shape of the trees in the shade.

This is what happens when you perceive a situation as threatening or stressful. Your sympathetic nervous system (SNS) gets activated and sends a signal to your adrenal glands to release hormones called adrenalin (epinephrine) and cortisol.

This is your body in survival mode. Replace the emu in the bushes with work stress, health issues, family drama, traffic, money, climate change or midlife crisis and you can quickly see how often fear and anxiety drive the pace of your life, whether you know it or not.

What if instead of perceiving a danger, you could slow down and see the situation from another side, and choose your emotional and physiological response?

When I help my clients slow down, we start with the practice of pausing.

Pausing means going inward first, before pointing a finger at someone or deciding something negative about a situation. We practice the art of becoming curious. We question your fear-based thinking.

The second thing is to stop your mind from racing into the future at the speed of light. We practice the art of being present to WHAT IS. Slowing down the mind so that your nervous system isn’t activated by a negative imaginary future.

When you relax and come out of the fight-flight-freeze mode, your parasympathetic nervous system enters the “rest-and-digest” mode where you can replenish your resources. Add a couple minutes of deep breaths and you brain can relax in alpha waves, the optimal state for creativity.

In this calm state, your perspective is broader and your focus, creativity and innovation capabilities are increased.

You can now respond to a challenging situation in a creative way, even feeling excited and stimulated by what you see now as an opportunity to grow and learn. Guided by the voice of your wisdom and intuition, you will access a whole new landscape of possibilities.

Read below my brilliant clients’ testimonial. When we met, she was so anxious that she couldn’t sleep, she was about to resign from work. Fast forward a couple months later, not only she kept her job but she regained confidence, self-esteem, motivation and created a new mindset. Today she’s thriving and committed to herself, focused on what brings her joy. Joyfully living.

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