Examining Your Thoughts: A Powerful Tool to Calm Your Anxious Mind

If the stress of the current global crisis of COVID-19 has you feeling anxious, uncertain and overwhelmed, you are not alone. These are unprecedented times. I happen to be in the “epicenter” here in NYC and it is collectively causing stress and anxiety that can be felt in the air here…and I’d imagine everywhere.

I wanted to offer this practical, evidence-based technique that you can implement immediately to help release some of the mental and emotional stress you are experiencing. This technique will help you calm your anxious mind. When you are overwhelmed, it may feel like your thoughts are racing, like there is impending doom, like there is no hope. When you use this thought examination technique, you create space to understand how your thoughts are impacting you, practice releasing them and offer yourself opportunities to get into a solution-focused mindset. 

Thought Examination Technique

This technique allows you to examine your thoughts and the impact they have on you closely. This technique changes your relationship with your thoughts and creates empowerment. Often thoughts and faulty beliefs are happening on a subconscious level, they are running in the background of your mind, however your physical body through the stress response, responds accordingly.

If you are having catastrophe based thoughts, then most likely your body will enter into a sympathetic nervous system response, or fight-or-flight mode. This is not a helpful place to be unless there is truly an immediate emergency. While this circumstance is an emergency for many, it is not helpful, and actually is damaging, to remain in this heightened state of stress and anxiety continually.

To begin practicing the technique, get out a piece of paper and practice going through the following questions based on any fears and anxieties you are experiencing and use it regularly to manage and change your relationship to any stressful thoughts.

1. Choose a fear-based thought that has been on your mind or troubling you recently.

2. Ask yourself what emotions are driving that thought.

3. Where do you feel these emotions in your physical body?

4. Ask yourself, is this thought true? Unless it is a present fact, the answer is no!

5. Ask yourself, is this thought useful? Unless you are trying to problem-solve, most likely the thought is not useful.

6. Ask yourself, what is it doing to me to have and believe this thought? This is important to evaluate how detrimental this one thought can be.

7. Ask yourself, how would I feel without this thought? This is important because it allows you to recognize how this thought is limiting your present moment experience and essentially causing unnecessary suffering.

8. Ask yourself, what is the opposite of this thought?

9. Notice how it feels in both mind and body to sit with the opposite thought. The purpose of this is not to lie to yourself or move into positive-thinking mode. The purpose of this part of the exercise is to be aware that if you are believing the first thought in this moment, then the opposite could just as well be true.

10. Mindfully reframe the thought, transform the thought into what is true right now, this process creates a reality-based thought.

11. If this thought does come true, what are three things you can do to cope with that occurrence?

Example:

1. What is the thought? If I lose my job during this health crisis, I will lose my home.

2. What are the emotions connected to having this thought? Fear, sadness, anxiety, helplessness, hopelessness.

3. Where do you feel these emotions in your body? Increased heart rate, nausea, tightness in my chest, tight jaw, neck and shoulders.

4. Is this a true thought? It could become true, but in this moment, no it is not true.

5. Is this a useful thought? Definitely not, it is causing me to suffer.

6. What is the impact of this thought on the present moment: Not be able to sleep well, pain in my body, no energy, can’t think clearly, feel sick.

7. How would I feel without this thought? Rested, peaceful, relaxed in mind and body. 

8. What is the opposite of this thought? I won’t lose my job or my house during this health crisis.

9. How does it feel to sit with the opposite thought? Better, but I still feel so uncertain.

10. What is a way to reframe this thought? Although I am afraid of losing my job, in this moment I am still employed and for that I am grateful. If I do lose my job, I will deal with that circumstance at that time.

11. What three things can I do now to prepare for if the thought comes true? If I do lose my job due to current unstable economy three things I can do now to prepare are: 1. look up how to file for unemployment, 2. update my resume, 3. look at my budget and see where I can immediate reduce expenses and create savings to prepare.

Notice how much different it is to be with the thought in a mindful way and engage with creative problem-solving? This process allows you to engage with the thought in a proactive responsive way rather than remaining in reactive-mode, which is emotional, stifling and illogical. 

When you practice this technique regularly, it will help to bring you into a more grounded, present-moment focused mind frame. This technique is helpful to practice anytime you are experiencing fear-based, anxiety provoking, catastrophizing thoughts. 

When you go into problem-solving mode you create more hope and experience less fear. The next time that you find you are stuck in a negative thought cycle, use this technique and end with finding solutions. Notice how this allows you to put your mind at ease and feel more in control and empowered.

How to Reset Your Mindset in 5 Days

Remember those plans you had to improve your health? Remember the desire to exercise more, eat more vegetables and drink more water? Remember how you were going to get more sleep, spend more time doing something creative or practice more self-care? The difficult thing with creating a new goal is sticking with it. This is where mindset is vitally important. When you have something well prepared in your mindset, you are far more likely to make it happen than if you don’t. Are you ready to reset your mindset but you aren’t sure as to where to begin? Here’s a plan to create a healthy mindset reset in just five days.

Mindset is focusing on what you want with determination and making each and every choice based on what you want. You decide to choose your desired outcome. This is a commitment to yourself and your future goal. To begin, get your calendar out and mark in it right now where you will devote 15-20 minutes to this practice for five days to reset your mindset.

Now that you have decided, planned and prepared for the reset, commit to following this plan for the next five days.

Day 1: What Do You Want?

What is the health-related goal that you have been meaning to do, you have been putting off or fantasizing about but have not yet made it happen? Ask yourself if there is a reason for this? Now, set a timer for 5 minutes and bring to mind what you want. Visualize it and stay with the imagery for the full 5 minutes. When the timer goes off, use this affirmation: “Today, I will focus my mindset on what I want.” Spend a few minutes reflectively journaling about your experience.

Day 2: Strengthening Your Desire

Day 2 day is about expanding and internalizing and strengthening your desire. Begin by visualizing what you want and while it is becoming stronger in your mindset, allow it to sink into your heart. Ask yourself: why do I want this? Allow yourself to tune into your inner desire and allow it to rest in your heart. Set a timer for 5 minutes and focus on how it feels to hold what you want in your heart center. Breathe and stay as focused as possible on your heart. Once the timer goes off, use this affirmation: “My mindset is becoming stronger with the strength of my desire in my heart.” Spend a few minutes reflectively journaling about your experience.

Day 3: Make it Happen!

Now that you have established what you want, you have felt the desire for what you want, now believe that you have the ability to make it happen. For the meditation, visualize yourself actively doing or achieving your goals. Set a timer for 5 minutes and hold this belief within yourself that you will maintain action towards your goals. You will make this commitment to yourself and believe in your ability to follow through. Once the timer goes off, use the affirmation: “I believe in my ability to achieve my goals.” Spend a few minutes reflectively journaling about your experience.

Day 4: Take Consistent Action

Action is the difference between wanting and creating. Action can cure any fears you have surrounding achieving your goals. Today, choose to take decisive action towards you goal. What you have in your mindset is focusing on action and the mindful meditation will be reflecting on the action you did take today. As you are ready for the meditation, reflect on the action you did take towards your goals. How does this reflection on your action make you feel emotionally, physically, energetically? Set your timer for 5 minutes and reflect on how it felt to take decisive action. Once the timer goes off, use the affirmation: “I create what I want through taking consistent, decisive action.” Spend time reflectively journaling about your experience.

Day 5: Maintaining a Focused Mindset

When you focus more on what you have accomplished and less on what you haven’t, you are more likely to feel accomplished and motivated. When you only focus on what you haven’t accomplished, it depletes your energy and will cause your mindset to waiver. Stay focused on what you want! Any time your mindset begins to waiver, check in with yourself. Remind yourself of what you want, reflect on your commitment to yourself daily. Set a timer for 5 minutes and visualize yourself pushing through any obstacle or challenge to achieving what you want. Notice how it feels to remain focused and to maintain this mindset of determination and overcoming obstacles. Once the timer goes off, use the affirmation, “I am committed to myself and what I want.” Spend time reflectively journaling about your experience.  

Shifting your mindset is difficult. Often, we get stuck in old patterns and habits and can be hard to change. When you create a daily practice with devoted time to reflect and search inward, you will bring what you want into focus. When you are focused, you are more likely to maintain the positive yet challenging journey to continue the hard work. Showing up for yourself, showing up for your life, your experiences and choosing to keep your focus on what you want will help you maintain the ability to consistently make the decision to choose what you want. Set your mindset daily, take decisive action and you will find that what you want it on its way.

Want a guided support to reset your mindset? I created a 7-day guided mindset reset practice to help do just that, you can find it HERE!

How to Manage Emotional Food Cravings Along Your Path to Making Peace with Food

We all have food cravings. You know, that feeling where you just want something sweet, or salty or crunchy, or maybe all three in one! But why do we have these cravings and what can we do about them? Occasional food cravings are normal, however if you struggle with emotional eating, the cravings may be emotionally driven. It is vital to become emotionally aware in order to differentiate what type of craving your are experiencing. This will allow you to make a conscious choice in the moment of a craving. 

A general food craving is a message from your body. It may be trying to send you the message that you are dehydrated, that you have a nutritional deficiency, or that your energy dip may be related to a blood sugar imbalance. These are all really useful messages that are important to notice. When you truly listen to your body, you receive and understand these messages with clarity. A general food craving may also indicate that your daily diet is boring, uninspired, dull in flavor and lacking in a wide range of nutrients. The good news is, you can do something about all of this!

An emotional craving is different. An emotional craving is due to experiencing an emotion and not wanting to be present with it. There is a big difference. If you are experiencing a general food craving, you might be satisfied by having a small amount of what you are craving or a healthier version of what you are craving. With an emotional craving, this is often not the case as the food serves to numb the emotion only temporarily.

An emotional craving is far more difficult to manage and can lead to mindless overeating, weight gain and negative feelings about yourself and your body. The challenge is to begin to allow yourself to experience your emotions and have an alternative behavior aside from eating in order to manage your emotions.

When emotional eating has become deeply engrained as a behavior and your primary go-to coping skill to manage your emotions, it can take a long time to effectively manage and change it. If emotional cravings that lead to emotional eating do not become managed, it can lead to eating disorders, depression, anxiety and a low self-esteem.

Here are some examples of common emotional cravings:

• When you are feeling lonely, food will be your friend and keep you company.

• When you are feeling anxious, food helps to calm you down and temporarily occupy your mind.

• When you are feeling sad, food becomes your comfort.

• When you are feeling bored, food gives you something to do with your time.

• When you are feeling down, food becomes your pleasure.

One strategy to begin to understand what may be driving your food cravings is keeping an emotional cravings journal. This is a place to write down, acknowledge and process your emotions in order to more deeply understand the why underneath and at the root of your craving. Another strategy is having a supportive person to talk to. This may be someone you trust, or someone such as a therapist or health coach to provide support as you work through your emotional cravings. Learning to manage, accept and experience your emotions will help you heal your relationship with food.

As a Wholistic Food Therapist, my focus is working with women who struggle with emotional eating. I have put together a 3-Step Emotional Cravings Protocol that helps to stop the cycle of deeply rooted emotional eating patterns. If you would like a FREE copy, sign up for my newsletter on my website so you can begin managing your emotional food cravings today.

Making peace with food is possible. If you find you would like more support along your path to healing, contact me as I have a number of ways to help support you along your journey to a healthy relationship with food as well as with yourself.