Flip It | Stress Reducing Tips | @caroline-cavanagh | The Anxiety Alchemist

Today's technique is one that I most commonly hear from people to say, this is my favorite. I love it. It works. And part of that is because it is so simple. It's just called Flip It. Our brains will naturally catastrophize. If it sees risk, it will go off to the furthest possible path to see, if I do that, will I survive? And so we are trained neurologically to focus on the negative. But anything that you practice, you get really good at doing. And many of us become really, really good at thinking negatively, at catastrophizing. So flip it, as it says on the tin, is just to do the opposite. And a great way to use this is to address the what-if questions. As a speaker, I often think, what if I get there and the technology doesn't work? So I just flip it and go, yeah, but what if it does? Because your mind will naturally answer whatever question you give it. So rather than thinking, what if I get all my homework wrong? If you're a student, what if you don't? What if I miss my bus? What if you don't? Because the reality is none of those things have happened yet, and if they do, you'll just deal with it. But focus on your thought pattern, and rather than going down that negative thought, trip it into the positive direction. Flex that muscle, and it'll be amazing how quickly you start to naturally see all the positive side of things too. Give it a go.