Welcome to Episode #69 of the Fight for a Happy Life podcast, “Control Stress, Pain, and Fear.”
We all have a breaking point. Stress, pain, fear, and doubt will control you and steal away your freedom if you let it.
So, how do you stay in control when your mind and body freeze up?
I’ve got three tips that might help. I’ve also got a surprise—
I recorded this podcast on video! That means you can either listen to the show OR scroll down and watch it.
If you’re more of the scanning type, I added a quick summary down there, too.
So, pick your format and let’s start fighting back against stress!
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Thanks for listening! Keep fighting for a happy life! 🙂
How to Control Stress, Pain, and Fear
As promised, here’s the video!
SUMMARY
How do you stay in control when stress, pain, and fear freeze up your mind and body?
TIP #1: MOVE IT
Specifically, drop your stress into your stomach.
Now, I’m not a doctor and I don’t want to get mystical here, but when it comes to mental pressure, like stress, fear, and doubt, I believe your gut can take more then your brain.
Think about digestion. Your gut can sort, process, and balance almost anything and everything you throw into it. But your brain is delicate. It can really only handle one stimulus at a time. And if that stimulus is painful and frustrating, then your whole world is going to be painful and frustrating!
So, imagine dropping your stress—like a ball—into your stomach. I think you’ll find that quickly frees up some mental space so you can see the problem from a new perspective and start moving forward.
TIP #2: MOVE YOU
No, I don’t mean running or jumping, although you certainly could. Instead, simply try breathing… squeezing your fists… wiggling your toes… flexing your thighs… anything, really!
The reason this helps is because we tend to stop moving under pressure. It’s natural to retreat and curl up in a ball when we get sad, scared, or hurt. But then you’re trapped!
So, while we often let the mind lead the body, when stress and fear take control of your brain, let your body take the lead instead. Moving the body shows your brain that you’re not trapped, which can help it break free again.
TIP #3: GIVE YOUR MIND A TASK
Your brain is wired to focus on trouble and danger. It wants to help you, but often gets stuck just repeating a problem instead of solving it.
To break the cycle, purposely give it something else to think about. Like what?
Give yourself a math problem. Write a haiku. Sing a song. Make a to-do list for the day. Count sheep. Anything!
Remember–your brain is always ready to work for you. It wants to help. It’s a powerful weapon that just needs to be aimed at the right target.
Denial and Distraction
To be clear, I’m not telling you to ignore or deny trouble. An insult is still an insult. A threat is still a threat. A broken bone is still a broken bone. I’m just suggesting that you widen your awareness around the problem.
Information is power, right? Well, stress, pain, and fear are merely forms of information. The trick is to train ourselves to USE that information, not just repeat it over and over again. If we don’t, we get trapped and lose control.
So, don’t let stress freeze your mind or body. Don’t let anything or anyone control you and steal your freedom. Don’t let your own ego or doubts or fears control you and still your freedom.
When you feel the world crushing you or suffocating you, breathe… move… think.
Focus on what you CAN do, not and what you can’t.
Focus on what feels GOOD, not what feels bad.
Focus on what’s WORKING, not on what’s broken.
Focusing on what you can control instead of what you can’t control is the secret to holding on to your freedom.
Great article. Thanks for sharing.
Love the statement…”widen awareness around the problem.” Fits right in with being aware of our surroundings! Internal awareness and external awareness. Like that!
Hi Katherine!
Good catch–that one line really does sum up the whole episode!
There’s a time to narrow down stimuli from the outside world so we can hear our internal voice… and there’s a time to widen our senses to overcome our internal voice! Master both and we’ve got a good chance!
Thanks for being here! 🙂
I loved this podcast. Stress, as I have learned, is a MAJOR deal for animals…especially humans as we know how to ratchet up the stress.
Dunno if I’ve mentioned this…part science part just me. Each individual human has an individual stress threshold. (this is part of the GAS General Adaptation Syndrome…when at one’s threshold of stress stimulants become depressants and downers become stimulants, I can explain more later)…when one is at their threshold their REAL brain will not allow any information that would raise the stress level to be cogitated by our ‘social’ brain, fore brain. We literally become deaf, dumb and blind.
Our big brain takes pictures and makes clear records of what is happening that it won’t allow you to recognize until your stress level is reduced. This can take DECADES, then when one actually reduces their stress and are in a position to safely absorb the OLD news…all those pictures and records come back and very clearly.
The key is knowing how to reduce one’s stress. Stress accumulation is similar to a credit card. Until you’ve made a payment being maxed out will stop you from acquiring anything more (that will cause your stress level already maxed out to raise, or if you are potentially able to MURDER, your brain will keep you ignorant and stable)…
I’ve 5 or 6 major epiphanies…I could have murdered had I been allowed to understand what was right in front of me. At least a decade and up to two decades for some of these epiphanies to happen. (3 were when I was riding my riding lawnmower on a landscape that made mowing like riding Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride in Disneyland)!
This is called Cognitive Dissonance, btw. Definitions are all over the place.
One needs to have experienced physical maladies to be able to understand what you are talking about, I think. I hope not. But always good to be forewarned! That big brain IS paying attention and really really wants to survive!
Hi Sharon!
Wow! That is CRAZY interesting info. I’ll dig deeper. I wonder what old records are waiting to be accessed!
I like the credit card analogy, by the way. I get that.
Thanks for the push into a new direction of research!
🙂