Healthy Mindset Guide: Beat Stress & Anxiety Naturally

How Stress Rewires Your Brain

Following on from my previous post, this time the emphasis is on living well based on our minds. Emotions and levels of stress will influence our well-being, and over time, we condition ourselves to react to external happenings with frustration, filling our minds with negativity, noise and distraction. Finding ways to de-agitate the mind is important for long-term health, and striving for balance will be fulfilling.

Ideally, we could all have access to individualised attention, a customisable solution to our different qualms and experiences. However, what most of us have available to us are forms of prescriptive, compartmentalising ways of dealing with stress and mental health, which are slightly futile and counterintuitive. Anxiety and stress are powerful mental states, and the hormones released, like adrenaline and cortisol, increase blood pressure and can trigger the ‘fight or flight’ response and other habituated patterns of expression. I recall when I had quite severe anxiety that manifested as mild panic attacks, stammering, tremors, and stupor. This level of social anxiety I experienced was often perceived as shyness or rudeness by others, as I would mostly hide the severity of my symptoms, which included very visible heart palpitations, trembling voice, shortness of breath and muscle twitching, all of which would get worse with added stress. Mine is just an example of how the mind can paralyse you, and the accumulation of stress can be fatal. The fight or flight response, as an example, is a form of mismatch. From an evolutionary standpoint, our brains were shaped by selection in the past, and our present environment is different from the past. A response which was useful for past human generations to flee from predators and danger is a maladaptive constraint I faced in social situations which were hardly life-threatening. It just shows how significant the brain and emotions are for survival.

If emotion is a reaction to psychological change, the brain’s narrowing and fixations on negative thoughts not only affect expression but also shift normal brain chemistry. Meaning, that being angry, passive-aggressive, depressed, or obsessed harms you over time.

So I’ve come across many recommendations of ways to reduce stress, like upping Omega 3 intake, meditation, and affirmations, and I found detoxifying and breathing exercises to be effective, but the underlying cause for most stress is inner dialogue and mindset. We all have times of frustrated expectations, and often that leads to negative projections because of our lack of control, but one can learn to release anger assertively and positively.

The greatest remedy for anger and frustration is delay.

A way to stop inner dialogue from re-triggering negative thoughts is by changing your perception, rather than looking at your limitations and pain as negative, have the self-confidence to continue to make decisions in your life and embrace your best self. When you’re feeling unfulfilled or stagnant in life, welcome it as an opportunity to be more present and have a larger, more positive perspective.

I know that our culture has created social expectations, and the differences among people create a conflict. Along with the abundance of emotional stimuli, it’s just about trying to find that balance. I think the key to a healthy mind is consuming less, connecting more and ultimately being comfortable with yourself.

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