Stress can only last 90 seconds
It's your mind that keeps it coming back
Every emotion you experience lasts a maximum of 90 seconds.
After that, you’re just triggering another emotional reaction by hanging onto the thought and re-running it in your mind. Unless you learn to drop the thought (drop the banana 🙊🍌) you’ll keep experiencing it.
Thinking (something to think about)
Dr Jill Bolte Taylor, is one of the world’s leading neuroanatomists and the first person to have a TED talk that went viral - ‘ a stroke of insight’. She discovered that when we have a stressful emotion and the body releases chemicals such as adrenaline and cortisol, they are flushed out of our blood within 90 seconds. They’re meant to help us in moments of danger, where we get ready to fight or take flight, and after that we return back to a normal state. But if we keep returning to the thought that triggered the stress hormones, we’ll keep pumping our body full of stress hormones.
If you’ve ever remembered something that someone did to you in the past that made you upset, you may well have experienced the same feelings as if you were in that moment again. The mind can’t tell if it’s a real situation or a thought about one, so it just acts to keep you safe.
Unthinking (something to stop thinking about): We all get stressed and angry. But if you can notice and then let go of the thought that made us feel that way, you can return to a state of stresslessness. You don’t have to keep reliving it. Drop the banana (thought) that’s keeping you in the stressful state.
First, you need to be aware that you’re having these thoughts. Most people go through life not even realising that it’s usually their thoughts about the situation causing the stress, not the situation itself.
Syncing
So next time you feel stressed about something at work, or at home, don’t fight it but simply be aware of the fact that you’re feeling stressed or angry. If you can notice you’re having these thoughts, it’s a huge step towards being able to let them go.
When you can unthink (detach from the thoughts), the body will physiologically return to a calm state within 90 seconds.
If the thought pops up again, notice it and then take a deep breath. Don’t beat yourself up about having the thought again, the mind is actually trying to keep you safe but you unless you’re actually being attacked, you don’t need it.
Today, and this week, just try and notice the thoughts you are having, especially when you’re feeling stressed, worried or angry. Become aware of the thoughts, and your reaction to them. You may even notice that you are reliving old thoughts, and they’re triggering emotions. Once you can notice your thoughts, you’ll be able to learn to let go of them.
(there’s more about that at www.stresslessness.me and in previous blogs).
