Have you ever awaken from a traumatic, scary dream to find your heart pounding fast, your breathing accelerated and your stomach in knots? Most of us have experienced this a few times in our life and upon waking, we repeatedly tell ourselves “it was only a dream, and thank God it wasn’t real, only just a dream.”
But here is the crazy thing, even when we realize we are safely tucked in bed and the vision was only in our head, it can take several minutes and sometimes even hours to quell our emotions and return our bodies to a normal resting state. That’s how strong the mind’s ability is to affect what we perceive as our reality.
Whether your thoughts are based on real or imagined events, every emotion that follows is triggered by your mind. In other words, anxiety or a feeling of “flight or fight” or elation and a feeling of “butterflies”, is in direct correlation to what is happening in your brain. As you filter through what your senses are taking in, you may experience a variety of physical reactions from a racing heart to dizziness, nausea and sweaty palms.
In other words, whether you feel overcome with joy by listening to an Operatic Aria or overwhelmed by fear from stepping on a 747 – each and every emotion is a direct result of the scenario playing out in your mind.
As we all have observed two people can be sitting on the couch watching the same movie or political debate on cable news and have completely opposite reactions. While one might be seemingly emotionally flat and non-reactive, the other might suddenly go from zero to ten and start shouting expletives at the screen. The information coming in the ears and eyes is exactly the same – the reactions are the result of the individual’s thinking, mindset, and belief system.
In our current divisive climate where everyone has an opinion about pretty much everything, if we aren’t cognizant and aware we could find ourselves being emotionally jerked around all day long. From a ridiculous hate-filled meme to a snarky, eye-rolling commentator on cable news our senses are constantly under bombardment. If we allow ourselves to take a ride on the emotional roller coaster, our quality of life may greatly suffer.
So how do you and I stay peaceful, protect our minds and keep our blood pressure under control amidst constant derision?
The answer isn’t out there somewhere nor is it blowing in the wind – peace, calm, lack of anxiety and your overall sense of well-being starts in your thoughts. Your same brain which creates amazing images when you are fast asleep can be accessed to help you be fully aware and in control of your own emotional state when your eyes are wide open.
Just as no one can “drive you crazy unless you hand them the keys” – no one can steal your calm or happiness if you don’t allow your thoughts to be taken hostage by your emotions. Just like the 1992 En Vogue song inspirationally points out . . . “Ease Your Mind; And the Rest Will Follow “.
With so much antagonism swirling around us daily it is going to be up to me and you to decide who and what narrative is allowed to penetrate our headspace. The story is mindfully yours!
The Zen Den
Hello and welcome to The Zen Den. My name is Alison and while I am passionate about many things, my most inspiring driving force is human connection. Blogger, content writer, orthopedic exercise specialist, motivational speaker, international yoga pro, published songwriter, avid poker player, mom and wife are just a few of my titles. But when I do my job at NASA, I am known simply as “The Fairy Zenmother” a role I deeply love because people invite me into their space to help them find their center, relax and stretch their muscles and destress their mind. Here in the blogosphere version of The Zen Den, I invite you into my world where I will explore ideas for creating a better tomorrow and a kinder today. And hopefully, with insight, authenticity and humor; my words, observations and experiences will help you feel calm, centered, intellectually challenged and spiritually enlightened. Alternatively, if you have something you would like to see covered in The Zen Den, just let me know. Your feedback is welcome and valuable to the success of this blog. Finally, my heart is filled with gratitude to have this opportunity to share with all of you.
