Ending overwhelm for good

- Imagine waking up feeling excited about the day ahead, curious about what might happen, and confident that, no matter what happens, it'll be a good day. Well, there are many ways we can train ourselves to spend more time feeling optimistic and becoming more resilient to feeling overwhelmed. Research supports this idea that, with consistent practice, we can create new mindsets, or new ways of seeing and navigating life. We know that any habit of thought or behavior will shape the brain, for better or for worse. So our goal should be to minimize the negative patterns by replacing them with habits that strengthen and support the way we want to feel. For example, studies show that if we make an effort to notice more positive things during the day, we develop a more optimistic outlook. If we train ourselves to see challenges as opportunities to learn and grow, we can decrease the negative impact of stress and become stronger over time. Three of my favorite ways to modify mindsets are gratitude, self-compassion, and healthy humor. First, feeling gratitude is one of the fastest ways to circuit-break stress. Your brain can't actually be feeling grateful and stressed at the same time. One way to strengthen your sense of gratitude is to reflect on specific things you appreciate before you go to bed. This also helps you to have more restful and restorative sleep. If you practice this for a few nights in a row, you'll probably be really surprised of how much better you feel when you wake up. Another great technique is practicing self-compassion, which basically just means being nice to yourself. Research shows that practicing self-compassion increases health and performance, while also decreasing stress. You can think about this as simply treating yourself with the same patience and encouragement that you would a close friend or a family member. But, it's easier said than done, and many of us need to actually practice catching our thoughts of self-criticism and then rewriting them and repeating them to ourselves in kinder ways. An easy way to get started with this is using self affirmations. You can write down some words or quotes to remind you to be kind to yourself, or even start a kudos journal, where you keep track of things you do well. And finally, one of my all-time favorite brain training strategies, is finding things funny. Many people think that you either have a sense of humor or you don't, but it turns out that, like exercising your body, exercising what I call your mirth muscle can also change the way you walk through life. If you want to see how this works, challenge yourself to find something funny today. Make a note of it in your calendar and then share it with a friend or a family member. Or, find something funny to share first thing in the morning for seven days in a row, and see what happens. I personally tried this, and I was shocked at what a dramatic impact it had on my mood, my creativity, and my focus in just 30 days. I even tested my negativity bias, using a clinically validated assessment, before and after my 30 day humor challenge, and I found that it dramatically shifts so much that I'm actually repeating the study later this year with a larger sample size. Now, keep in mind that the benefits of humor are not about being funny, but seeing funny. It's creating a more flexible and creative mindset, and research shows that humor not only reduces the production of stress hormones quickly; it also boosts immune function, enhances our memory, and strengthens cognitive flexibility. When we practice these mindset makeovers consistently over time, we're able to cultivate a more stable sense of calm and confidence that keeps us from slipping into overwhelm as often. And then, when we do notice our stress levels creeping back up, we can use our circuit-breaking techniques to calm down and carry on more effectively.