Swimming with sharks... 🦈
...in your head
Thoughts can trigger emotions whether or not they are based in reality.
Imagine you’re paddling around on a surfboard and you look down to see a shark below! Your body will respond by releasing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, to ensure you’re prepared for an immediate response and protect your chances of survival. But if it turns out to be a clump of seaweed, and not actually a shark at all, you’ll still have the feelings of stress.
These emotions were triggered because of the thought of a threat, not because of any actual shark. Whether that threat is real or perceived, your physiological response is the same.
The same thing can happen if your mind creates a story in your head about a potential issue at work that may, or may not happen the next day. The body senses you are stressed, so releases hormones to ‘help’, which then can make you feel nauseous, or even trigger a headache.
Being aware that your feelings are often linked to your thoughts is important. Sometimes the mind triggers these feelings because of a story you’ve made up in your head, and somehow the physical reactions seem like validation that the story is real - whether it is or not.
Next time you feel stressed because of a thought, try and be aware of what is happening - notice that you have had a thought, and it’s caused an emotion. By creating this awareness, you’ll be able to minimise the impact and duration of the negative emotions in the future.
