How To Calm Your Mind In Seconds by Facing Your Fears

You’re bound to find one thing lurking behind those nagging, unnerving, ineffectual thoughts that have sent your mind into a tailspin — fear.

Your unconscious mind has detected a threat, and, because you fear that threat, your brain has started to develop a plan to avoid the threat. Hence, the overthinking, negative thought spiral.

Here’s the thing though. The chances that this “threat” can actually cause you any real harm are probably pretty low. To prove this out, let’s consider a simple example that many of us can relate to.

You unexpectedly end up stuck in traffic. This lack of movement threatens your plans to arrive at an appointment at a certain time. Your fears set in — I’m going to disappoint people if I’m late, and it’s going to throw the rest of my day off. You start imagining how walking into the appointment late will play out. You think about how you’ll explain yourself. You watch every minute on the clock tick by.

You think your problem is the traffic, but it’s not. Your problem is the fears it is stirring up. But, are there any real threats here? Probably not. Sure, you might be embarrassed for a moment. Maybe part of your day will be a bit more hectic than you would like it to be. And then, sure enough, life will go on as usual.

The sooner you can identify, and face, the fears that are causing your negative thoughts, the sooner you can calm your mind. Your body just needs a little reassurance that there’s no immediate danger.

So, the next time you find that your thoughts are consuming you, ask yourself, “What am I afraid of?” Then, acknowledge your fear without fighting it. This simple act may just be powerful enough to calm your mind. And, with a calm mind, you can accurately assess the “threat” you are facing.

I’ve been practicing this technique recently, and it’s been very effective for me. Of course, it doesn’t work 100% of the time, and I know that it won’t always work in seconds. But, even if this technique only works to calm your mind once a day, I’d say that’s a win!

If you found value in this post, you might also enjoy:

Take Charge of Your Emotional Health: A No Nonsense Approach

or:

Why Is It So Hard to Create a Positive Mindset?

Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or would like me to point you in the direction of some specific personal development tools. Here’s my email: amanda@theexpectationgaps.com.

Click here for more posts with an “calm anxiety” theme.

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And until next time . . . have a FEAR-FACING day!