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Learn How to Modulate Thoughts and Emotions to Manage Anxiety

Our thinking is steadily carried away by a rapid cascade of experiences and nonstop thoughts crossing our minds. The stream of news about the pandemic and current events have taught us one thing – life can spiral out of control. Imagine we could modulate our mind to absorb thoughts and emotions without triggering anxiety. But how can one do this?

First, understanding how our minds work

Our minds are made of two thinking systems: the autonomic and intentional systems. The autonomic system reflects our intuitions and emotions. It is housed mainly in the amygdala and other primitive parts of the brain. The autonomic system directs our daily habits and helps us react to life-threatening situations via the fight or flight response.

The intentional system is centered on rational thinking. It occurs in the prefrontal cortex region, the part of the brain that evolved most recently. The intentional system is responsible for complex intellectual activities like learning new information, logical reasoning, and navigating group relationships.

Next, realizing how emotions shape thoughts

Have you ever wondered where seemingly random thoughts aka spontaneous thoughts come from? Emotions play a major role in several types of spontaneous thoughts. For instance, negative emotions like anxiety lead to intrusive thoughts which are directed at real or perceived threats. On the other hand, positive emotions like happiness lead to intrusive thoughts directed to confident anticipation.

And… distinguishing situational stress from chronic anxiety

Stress and anxiety have many similarities; however, there are a few key differences. Stress is usually short-term and occurs in response to a distinctive threat. Anxiety, on the other hand, is often chronic and may seem like it has no trigger.

When we face unexpected circumstances, we may feel acutely stressed. This type of situational stress is driven by the evolutionarily conserved fight or flight responses. When we feel threatened, we release stress hormones which make our heartbeat faster, resulting in more blood being pumped to our limbs. This reaction would have been appropriate in primitive times when we faced “true” life and death situations like encountering a tiger. However, in modern times, this response is less than ideal. Instead of facing tigers, we face numerous micro stressors such as being stuck in traffic, losing our keys, or looming deadlines. When stress becomes the norm in our daily life it can lead to rumination, mostly driven by circular, repetitive and negative thoughts we cannot control. This can easily trigger chronic anxiety that may become crippling and require therapeutic intervention.

How to manage chronic anxiety

When we have anxiety, we are in a negative state of arousal. And instinctively, we tell ourselves to calm down. However, shifting to being calm, a positive state of low arousal is quite difficult. That’s because of the deep physiological and physiological states at play. These include not only the release of hormones that keep us alert and awake but also our heightened heartbeat and breathing rates.

So instead of trying to calm down, a better and easier alternative is to reframe your anxiety, a phenomenon referred to as anxiety appraisal. Quite simply, it is changing the narrative about our anxiety. Instead of seeing situations as threats, you see them as opportunities. You are changing your internal narrative from one of anxiety to one of excitement.

Mindful framing, a mindfulness practice, is another way to manage anxiety. Instead of trying to run away from negative intrusive thoughts, just frame them in your mind. You observe and organize them without judgment, then let them go using a visualization practice called ‘the anxiety bus.’ This practice allows you to release the stronghold that circular, repetitive and negative thoughts have on your mind. Besides helping dampen these thoughts, mindful framing also boosts resilience and possibly reduce cognitive decline through regular use of your mind’s eye.   

Journaling your thoughts is another way to give in to your thoughts, rather than trying to resist them. Journaling your thoughts helps you delve into common themes that may plague your thoughts. It also allows you to brainstorm solutions to things that may be worrying you.

Socializing with friends is another great anxiety-reliever. When you focus on connecting with others, you can minimize stress and pointless rumination. In fact, research shows that people who have strong social connections ruminate less. They also have less stress-linked inflammatory responses. Connecting with friends can also help as a great distraction from your stressors. So, pick up that phone, or head out the door and meet up with a friend.

Life will throw many curveballs at us, triggering rumination and anxious thoughts. However, by running towards instead of away from them, we can modulate our thoughts and the emotions attached to them, helping you manage anxiety.

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Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global interview with Oscar Segurado

The post Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global interview with Oscar Segurado first appeared on Mindful Framing.

How to Achieve Maximum Flow with Mindful Framing

Mindful Framing is a mindfulness practice to support your daily life, providing a mental framework for your continuous stream of experiences and thoughts. To realize all the benefits of mindful framing you require focus and regularity.

There is another element to supercharge mindful framing: Maximum Flow.

What is Maximum Flow?

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi described flow in his best-selling book as “The state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter” In the state of flow, your mind achieves intense concentration.  You’re totally immersed in the task at hand, and nothing else seems to matter. In fact, sensations such as hunger, tiredness, or pain just melt away. You lose your sense of time. Time seems to slow down. Your actions seem effortless, and you feel like you’re “in the zone.”

Maximum flow can be achieved when certain conditions are met. For instance, there must be a good balance between the task and one’s skill. If the task is too easy, or too difficult, you will not achieve a state of flow. Flow also tends to occur in active activities such as work, versus passive activities such as watching television. However, researchers have postulated that watching television can lead to a state of flow provided that the show is relevant to the viewers’ life. Additionally, the activity one is involved must have clear parameters for success. Therefore, it is easier to achieve maximum flow when playing games such as tennis or chess because they have set rules one must follow. Finally, there must be intrinsic motivation to perform the task. In other words, one must be internally motivated to perform the task.

Csikszentmihalyi called flow “the secret to happiness.” That’s because when you’re in a state of flow, you’re not getting a temporary high, so-called hedonic happiness. Instead, you experience a lasting sense of personal meaning and fulfilment: eudaimonic happiness.

Going with the flow helps you stay resilient during tough times. This is because flow helps divert our thoughts from stressful experiences to things that are more enjoyable. Being in the flow in turn helps guard against depression. In fact, during the covid-19 pandemic, people who had more flow fared better emotionally. When you’re resilient, you’re able to bounce back when things don’t go as planned, and get back on track with healthy habits instead of abandoning them outright.

When you’re in the flow, you’re also able to focus on the task at hand. This increased concentration leads to greater productivity and higher quality work.

 

What Happens in the Brain with Maximum Flow?

Research shows that flow is associated with decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex. Notably, the prefrontal cortex is responsible for higher cognitive activities such as memory and consciousness.

However, when we’re in a state of flow, the prefrontal cortex is downregulated, leading to being less self-conscious, being less critical of ourselves, and losing our sense of time. Also, the downregulation of the prefrontal cortex may cause the implicit mind to take over. This in turn leads to more communication between regions in the brain, causing one to be more creative.

Research also shows that when we’re in a state of flow, the regions of the brain that help us feel rewards and pursue our goals are activated. This in turn makes us feel joy and feel focused when we’re in a state of flow.

Despite all the benefits of maximum flow, most of us don’t experience it often. Only 20% of us experience flow several times a day. And a full 15% of us never experience flow at all. But the good news is that with practice, you can get better at achieving maximum flow.

 

Practice Mindful Framing and Mindfulness

When you’re being mindful, you put your attention on the present moment, and suspend judgement of and emotions or thoughts that arise. Recently, mindfulness has been shown to improve the flow state. In a study done on athletes, those who engaged in a six-week mindfulness training program not only improved their flow state, but also decreased their anxiety. 

And the good thing is that you don’t have to be a yogi to practice mindfulness. You can practice mindfulness by practicing gratitude, taking deep breaths, practicing active listening with your spouse, or even eating a meal mindfully. By incorporating mindfulness into your daily activities, you set the conditions for a flow state.

 

Eliminate Distractions

To get into a state of flow, you want to keep the distractions to a minimum. This can involve putting your cell phone on silent, having a website blocker, wearing headphones, or having a dedicated study space.

 

Eradicate Multi-Tasking

In today’s society we’ve been told that multi-tasking makes us more efficient. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

That’s because our brains aren’t made to multi-task. In fact, when we multi-task, we experience cognitive switching penalty. In other words, it takes some time for our brain to adjust to constant switching between tasks.

By very nature, flow depends on us being laser focused on one task. Hence, it stands to reason that multi-tasking would be counterproductive to flow.

 

Establish Rituals, Habits, Routines

When you’re about to start an activity that requires intense focus, engage in a ritual. This could be having a warm cup of tea or doing a short meditation. By engaging in a regular habit or routine, you’re priming your brain to gear up for the task at hand and get into the zone.

We all know the importance of sleeping well, our most precious routine. When we sleep well, our concentration is optimal. So minor distractions won’t derail our flow. To ensure a good night’s sleep, you can engage in moderate exercise during the day, avoid caffeine at night, and create a soothing sleep environment/bedtime routine.

 

Life is full of challenges. However, by incorporating maximum flow into our daily life, we can frame our mind towards the needed resilience to handle life’s blows, and rise above any circumstances. Begin today by practicing mindful framing and mindfulness and let yourself “go with the flow.”

The post How to Achieve Maximum Flow with Mindful Framing first appeared on Mindful Framing.

The Anxiety Bus: Transform Your Situational Anxiety into Vital Energy

Everyone experiences anxiety; it’s part of the human condition, let’s embrace it! When we experience anxiety we also feel it by irritability, sweating, inability to sleep… It’s no wonder we want to get rid of it, but should we?

What if we could transform some types of anxiety into a “superpower?” Let’s start understanding the different types of anxiety.

Situational Anxiety

First of all, anxiety is a normal emotion in response to some experiences or thoughts. After all, it’s your brain’s way to alert you of potential dangers. It serves an evolutionary purpose; to alert one to potential threats and come up with a plan of attack to keep us safe.

We can have normal or situational anxiety and abnormal anxiety. By some estimates, close to 100% of the world’s population experiences situational anxiety.

Situational anxiety is a type of anxiety one has in response to specific situations, such as job interviews, speaking in public, meeting someone on a first date, and one’s first day at work.

Situational anxiety is actually pretty commonplace, therefore it is not classified as a condition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is the manual that doctors use to diagnose mental health disorders.

Some of the symptoms of situational anxiety include nervousness, sweating, trembling, rapid breathing, increased heart rate, difficulty concentrating, and dry mouth in response to specific situations or thoughts. However, after a few minutes, we return to our original state.

High-Functioning Anxiety

Those able to take care of their daily tasks yet be full of anxiety on the inside. This type of anxiety is referred to as high-functioning anxiety. It’s a specifi form of anxiety that usually goes unnoticed and has an impact physically and mentally but doesn’t impair one’s ability to perform daily tasks. This insidious anxiety can be successfully managed by a personal focus on healthy coping skills potentially combined with external help.

Chronic Anxiety

An excessive worry that persists even when the stressor goes away is considered chronic anxiety or stress. When this chronic anxiety starts to interfere with your personal relationships, work performance, or overall wellbeing, it’s a big red flag to get outside help to deal with this anxiety disorder.

Chronic anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, phobia disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Extreme anxiety and fear may lead to severe psychosomatic manifestations, including headaches, skin rashes and even autoimmune diseases. With therapy and/or medications, these anxiety disorders can be managed.

Anxiety and the Brain-Body Connection

Emerging research shows a connection between anxiety and how the brain perceives the body’s inner signals. As mentioned earlier, rapid breathing, increased heart rate, sweaty palms, etc., are all symptoms of situational anxiety. But they are also the brain’s way of preparing one’s body for an impending or potential threat. However, suppose you tend to carry higher levels of situational anxiety. In that case, these signals can reinforce situational anxiety, causing a downward spiral.

In fact, decades earlier, Claire Weekes, a scientist, and physician, described this mind-body phenomenon thus as “first fear” and “second fear.” “First fear” is the primal fear that is activated when animals, including humans, sense danger. “Second fear,” experienced only by humans, is the fear that one develops based on our negative feelings and thoughts about fear.

According to Dr. Weekes, this “fear of fear” feeds our anxiety and starts a vicious feedback loop between the mind and body, leading to situational anxiety-related panic attacks.

Become a Transformer

Situational anxiety is a part of everyday life. Still, this anxiety can be transformed into positive energy, what I call “vital energy.” Vital energy encompasses all the physical and emotional energy that one often wastes in anxious, often irrational thoughts.

In my free, best-selling Kindle book “Mindful Framing: Transform your Anxiety into Vital Energy” (also available as paperback and audiobook) I describe an entire NEO Chi Lifestyle and devote chapter 2 to a visualization practice to cope and transform anxiety. This means dealing head-on with the triggers of anxiety before they start to get stuck in our heads leading to chronic anxiety. This is the notion of the anxiety bus.

The Anxiety Bus

Visualization is just imagination, seeing with your mind. This happens when we retrieve visual memories. With practice you can “see” anything you want, even become a screen writer, producer and director of your very own mental movies. The anxiety bus guided visualization helps you “see” all the triggers involved in situations or thoughts causing you anxiety, as well as people or mechanisms that help you cope.

You are the driver of an imaginary bus, at different stope you see people entering the bus and sitting either in left rows, behind you, standing in the aisle or in the right rows. The left row represent loved ones, colleagues that you can support, for example your ailing dad or mom. The aisle represents people or situations outside your control, for instance the plumber not showing up. The right rows are filled b people that can help you cope or just are available if needed.

Once all the passengers are in the bus, just step out, press autopilot and step out, watching how the bus turns the corner and disappears. I do this quick practice every morning. During the day I work on identifying the triggers and coping mechanisms and optimize my bus for the next day

Tackle Your Worries

To learn how to identify your anxiety triggers, start here:

Acknowledge situations leading to anxiety. For instance, do you have an upcoming job interview that is causing the anxiety?Next, observe your mind without criticism. Notice if you are responding to the trigger with an action, an emotion, or both.Disengage from the anxiety trigger. Don’t assign any meaning to the thoughts or emotions or label the thoughts as good or bad. Just observe them objectively, and let them be.Identify your physical reactions, e.g., sweaty palms, racing heartbeat.Take countermeasures to deal with the trigger. One such countermeasure is using the practice of mindful framing, which includes 4 more steps: engage your five senses, connect with Nature, regulate your Emotions and care for your Organism, the NEO Chi Lifestyle.

Ask yourself what you can do to alleviate your anxiety about a particular situation. More often than not, we spend time worrying about things that are out of our control. By asking ourselves what we can do about our anxiety, we can make a To-Do-List that tackles things in our control. For something out of our control, we can just flag it as “No Action.”

In the example of being worried about an upcoming job interview, you can list possible interview questions that could be asked and how you will answer these questions. In terms of whether or not the interviewer will “click” with you, you can flag it as “No Action.” Whether or not the interviewer likes you are out of your control.

By tackling the worries we can control and not acting on the things we can’t control, we can stop our fears from spiraling out of control. This, in turn, helps you get off the anxiety bus.

Tackle your Emotions

Listen to your negative emotions. The negative emotions that come with anxiety can enlighten our path. They are there to direct us to what we treasure and value.

So instead of feeling beaten down by them, feel them and learn from them. In the example of being worried about an upcoming job interview, you may be anxious because you’re interviewing for your dream job. Perhaps the current position you have now doesn’t give you satisfaction and meaning. So your upcoming job interview represents something significant to you. As a result, you want to put extra effort into preparing for your job interview.

 

Life is full of challenging situations that can bring on anxiety. At times like this, we may want to cower in fear. But by recognizing the triggers and dealing with them head-on, we can achieve mental, emotional and physical wellbeing.

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Wellbeing: The Real Key to Happiness

The pursuit of happiness is part of the human condition. We’re constantly buying things in the hopes that they will make us happy. Or we’re pursuing new experiences in the hope that they will make us happy. But the joy we get from them is often short-lived.

To understand why happiness seems so elusive, it’s necessary to understand the difference between pleasure and happiness.

Pleasure versus Happiness 

Pleasure is often confused with happiness, but there is a distinct difference. Pleasure is the fleeting feeling of joy that you get when the brain’s reward center is activated. When you eat a decadent meal or binge-watch your favorite Netflix series, you experience pleasure.

Happiness, on the other hand, is a profound feeling of calm and contentment, it’s a journey. When you have a deep conversation with your significant other, for instance, you experience happiness.

Here are some critical differences between pleasure and happiness:

Pleasure is short-lived, while happiness is long-lived.Pleasure is exhilarating. It causes elevations of your blood pressure and heart rate. Happiness, on the other hand, is more even-keeled and calming. In fact, it causes your heart rate and blood pressure to fall.Pleasure comes from getting something, e.g., winning the lottery. Happiness comes from giving, e.g., giving of our time or money.Pleasure is often a solitary experience. Happiness is often connected with others.Pleasure is often obtained by using substances. These include sugar, caffeine, and drugs. Happiness is connected with deeds or success, such as watching your child graduate from high school.Why Seeking Pleasure Can Be Damaging

The reward system evolved to promote activities necessary for our survival. These activities include activities such as eating food and sexual reproduction. Eating food activates the reward system, causing the release of dopamine. Dopamine, also known as the feel-good hormone, creates a pleasurable, enjoyable sensation. This makes it more likely that we will repeat this survival-enhancing behavior.

However, overstimulation of the reward system can be damaging. The more you stimulate the reward system, the more dopamine you release. This causes less serotonin to be produced. Serotonin is a hormone that helps you feel calm. Too little serotonin production leads to depression. So, ironically, the more pleasure you seek, the more depressed you feel.

Types of Happiness and Effects on Your Health

According to researchers, there are 2 main types of happiness: eudaimonic and hedonic happiness.

Eudaimonic happiness is the happiness you achieve from having a profound sense of purpose and meaning in life. Work and putting effort into tasks contribute to eudaimonic happiness. When you’ve completed a challenging task, you often feel a deep sense of satisfaction and pride.

Hedonic happiness, on the other hand, is happiness that is not associated with a purpose. Instead, it is the presence of positive feelings and the relative absence of negative emotions. Engaging in leisure activities contributes to hedonic happiness.

Studies show that both types of happiness lead to lower depression levels. However, individuals with eudaimonic happiness have more favorable gene expression profiles than those with hedonic happiness. Specifically, they have low levels of inflammatory gene expression. They also had strong expressions of antiviral and antibody genes.

So, does this mean one should give up hedonic happiness in favor of just eudemonic happiness? Definitely not. Both types of happiness have their place in our lives. According to researchers, hedonic happiness is likely vital for motivating us to take action in the short run for survival purposes. On the other hand, eudaimonic happiness likely encourages more social interaction, which is also beneficial. After all, we are social beings.

Here are some ways you can increase your happiness:

Connect with others

In today’s modern world, we’re often glued to our screens. We’re logging on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram being social. But new research suggests that those who spend over two hours a day on social media platforms are twice as likely to feel isolated as those who spend less than 30 minutes a day on them.

These feelings of isolation can be due to various factors. First of all, when you spend more time on social media, you have less time for real-world interactions. Also, posts on social media are highly idealized – they typically don’t reflect what is really happening in other people’s lives. But when one is exposed to these highly idealized posts, one can feel envious and discontent.

So, log off your social media and make time to interact with friends and family face-to-face. Doing so will fuel empathy and serotonin production, something you can’t get with emojis.

Contribute to others’ wellbeing

The greatest satisfaction you can have in life is a life well-lived, a life of service. At the end of your life, you’re probably not going to wish that you had accumulated more things. Instead, you’ll look back and want to feel that you left the world a little better than it was before you existed.

You can make a difference in the world by engaging in little acts of kindness. Volunteer at your local Food Bank, give to charity, help a senior citizen cross a busy street. You’ll be helping not only others, but yourself as well. That’s because contributing to others’ wellbeing improves feelings of self-worth, increases contentment, and lowers your blood pressure, heart rate, and stress levels.

Care for your wellbeing

In our modern world, we often run ourselves ragged. This results in being chronically stressed. Chronic stress, in turn, can lead to depression.

Exercise, on the other hand, is a great stress reliever. In fact, in some cases of depression, exercise can be as effective as antidepressants. When you engage in high-intensity exercise such as running, your body releases feel-good chemicals known as endorphins. When you engage in prolonged low-intensity exercise such as walking, your body releases proteins known as nerve growth factors. These proteins help your nerve cells grow, forming new connections. This enables you to feel better.

Also, stop multi-tasking and be more mindful, i.e., be more present in the moment, practice mindfulness or mindful framing. Research has shown that mindful people are significantly happier than those whose minds are distracted and wandering. In fact, people who keep their minds in the present moment are even happier than those whose minds wander to pleasant things. But why is this?

One reason is that mindfulness also encompasses acceptance. Acceptance simply means allowing your experiences to exist without judgment or clinging to them. Acceptance can make us happier because it leads to a shift in mindset. Instead of focusing on what we don’t have or what might happen in the future, we can let go and be okay with things just as they are. And that is true happiness, isn’t it?

It’s also important to watch what we put in our mouths. Highly processed foods such as sugary foods are often eaten because they may improve your moods in the short term. However, research shows that processed foods don’t promote happiness in the long term. In fact, they may lead to depression.

Instead, you want to focus on whole foods that are rich in B vitamins and omega-3s. Folate and other B vitamins are vital for the methylation cycle that produces BH4. This substance is essential for making dopamine and serotonin. Without the methylation cycle, you’re more likely to suffer from depression and heart disease.

Omega-3s are also crucial for the brain. In fact, when you don’t have enough omega-3s, serotonin action is decreased, making you less happy. Good sources of B vitamins and omega-3s include seafood and fish.

 

Life is full of many shiny objects that promise happiness. However, they often give us a temporary high – and leave us disappointed and wanting something else. By connecting with others and caring for our and others’ wellbeing, we will find true fulfillment and happiness.

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How to Identify and Heal Traumatic Experiences

We hope life can be an idyllic bed of roses but reality is that a traumatic experience can happen to anyone at any time and shake our most basic sense of security. Indeed, as many as 75% of us will experience a traumatic experience at some point in our lives. When this happens, we can feel like our world is crumbling. However, with the right approach, we can rebuild our lives and move on.

What is Trauma?

Trauma is anything that wounds you psychologically, inducing a sense of fear. Traumatic events can entail a range of experiences. These include physical or sexual abuse, a violent assault, the death of a loved one, or financial, professional, or personal losses.

What are the Effects of Trauma?

Traumatic experiences can take a serious toll on us, both psychologically and physically. Psychologically, we may experience:

Shock, denial, or disbeliefAnxiety and fearDifficulty concentratingA sense of guilt or shameFeelings of hopelessness and griefFeelings of disconnectedness

 Physically, we may experience:

EdginessInsomnia or nightmaresMuscle tensionTirednessInsomnia or nightmare

Types of Trauma

Trauma comes in various forms. These include:

Acute Trauma or Shock Trauma: This is trauma that one experiences from a single event. Often, the event is sudden and unexpected, with a clear-cut beginning and end. This trauma can make you feel like your world has come to an end. Examples of events that lead to acute trauma include accidents, natural disasters, and invasive medical procedures.Chronic Trauma: This is trauma that occurs from continual exposure to highly stressful events. This includes domestic violence, bullying, and child abuse.Complex Trauma: This is trauma that is due to exposure to several traumatic events.Secondary Trauma: This is trauma due to exposure to someone who has had a traumatic event. One form of this is generational trauma, which is trauma that passes through generations. Indeed, research has shown that women who have suffered childhood trauma can pass this memory down to their offspring.

Trauma and the Nervous System

Research has shown that trauma can alter the central nervous system. How trauma affects the brain can vary between individuals. However, these are the major areas of the brain that are impacted by traumatic experiences:

Hippocampus: This is the area of the brain that is responsible for memory and learning. Under the stress of trauma, the hippocampus may actually shrink. This shrinkage decreases the amount of information and memories one can process. Indeed, impairments in learning and memory have been observed in people who have had traumatic experiences.Amygdala: This is the brain area responsible for detecting and reacting to places, people, and things in our environment that could be dangerous. After trauma, this region of the brain can be even more attuned to potential environmental threats. This hyper-attention can make it hard to pay attention, socialize with new people, or even go to novel places.Prefrontal cortex: This area of the brain controls the amygdala and is responsible for learning that previously threatening people or places in our environment are now safe. After trauma, connections between the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex can be weakened. This results in the medial prefrontal cortex not being as effective at lowering amygdala activity to places, people, and things in our environment that are indeed safe.

Thankfully, our brains are pretty plastic. With the proper healing modalities, changes in the brain that occur after traumatic experiences can improve with time.

Healing Modalities

There are various modalities that you can utilize to heal from traumatic experiences. These include:

Somatic Experiencing: This approach is used to heal shock trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder. It is an approach that is built on the study of stress physiology, biology, neuroscience, medical biophysics, psychology, and indigenous healing practices. With this approach, a therapist helps the client relieve traumatic memories in a safe environment.Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): With this approach, a therapist encourages the client to briefly focus on the trauma memory as the therapist directs their eye movements. This helps the client process and integrate traumatic memories. In turn, this leads to a reduction in the emotion and vividness that are associated with traumatic memories.Emotional Freedom Technique: This is an alternative treatment to alleviate emotional distress. With this approach, the client taps on meridians within the body, creating balance in the energy system, bringing a sense of calm.Brainspotting: This approach locates points in the client’s visual field, which aid in accessing unprocessed trauma in the subcortical brain.

Self Care Steps You Can Take to Heal from Trauma

In addition to some of the healing modalities above, there are self-care steps you can take to propel you on the path to healing. These include:

Exercise: Traumatic experiences can initiate your body’s fight-or-flight response, putting your body in a constant state of alertness. This, in turn, wears down your nervous system. Exercise can help alleviate some of these effects.

In fact, research demonstrates that aerobic exercise can help treat post-traumatic stress disorder. When exercising, aim for a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week. To make it even easier, you can break up your activity into three 10 minutes sessions during the day.

Mindfulness: Mindful breathing, mindful framing, and other mindfulness-based practices help ground yourself in the present. This, in turn, prevents you from relieving the traumatic experience.

In fact, research also demonstrates that mindfulness-based practices on their own or in addition to other treatments may help treat post traumatic stress disorder. To practice mindful breathing, take deep breaths, paying attention to your breath. Notice how your diaphragm moves up and down. Also, pay attention to your senses in the present moment.

Connection with others: After experiencing trauma, the natural tendency is to withdraw from others. However, staying in contact with friends and families is essential.

In fact, staying in contact with others can prevent trauma from developing into post-traumatic stress disorder. Staying in touch with others does not have to entail talking about your traumatic experience. Just being around other people can improve your psychological well-being. To stay connected with others, consider participating in recreational, community, and religious activities.

Journaling: Write about your trauma. Research also demonstrates that writing about your traumatic experiences can help you process them. Journaling can also help reduce stress and boost your immune system.

Traumatic experiences can be life-changing. It can feel like you’re walking around with a gaping wound that will never heal. However, with the right help and support, you can feel whole again.

The post How to Identify and Heal Traumatic Experiences first appeared on Mindful Framing.