Your thoughts trigger physical sensations instantly. Imagining worst-case scenarios tightens your stomach; positive ones relax it. A three-step method breaks the cycle: recognize the worry isn't real, replace it with something neutral, then ground yourself by feeling your feet on the floor.
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Thoughts become feelings. Now, that's a bit of a cliché, but it's true. And let me show you just how it works. Right where you are now, conjure up the thought of what for you would be really, really dreadful, really awful. For me, it would be something like receiving a phone call to say one of my children had gone missing from university. And even as I say that, I can feel a tension in my tummy that pops up straight away. And also notice how your mind takes that thought and runs with it. So even though you know you're standing here listening to this video and you're pretending to do it, it has a physiological response. So let's now do the opposite. Think about something that for you is the utopia, and for me it would certainly involve a hell of a lot more sunshine than we have in my world today. And as you focus on that thought, again notice what do you feel in your body? Where does your mind take that thought? Does it run with it just as easily? And if you feel a little bit tricky or awkward doing this, Play the game with someone else. Say to them, what for you would be the worst that could happen to you? And as they start to tell their story that for them is their greatest catastrophe, just notice how their physiology changes, how their expression in their face changes. They're telling a story. It's not real, but it's changing how they feel. And do the opposite again. Ask them to— what for them would be the most fantastic thing that could happen. Maybe they're winning the lottery, and you can see that change in their physiology too. That's your evidence. Thoughts become feelings. So when we focus on negative thoughts, that's when we create anxiety. When we worry about something that either has happened and you can't change, or something that hasn't yet happened, probably won't, and you can't influence in the now, worry is creating that feeling that we call anxiety in our body. It's releasing chemicals that's going to, in the long term, start to have a detrimental effect on health. And it is Possible. 2, just change that thought. Your signal to change the thought is that feeling. I'm feeling anxious. Step 1, is what I'm worrying about real? And the answer is always going to be no, because if it was a real risk, you wouldn't be watching this video, you wouldn't be worrying about something, you would be taking action. So thoughts aren't real, they're just imagined, and you can then, when you recognise you are worrying about something, change the thought. Just as readily as you did it just now, you can move your mind away from focusing on the catastrophe to bringing up something lovely and wonderful. And even if that is too much of a stress, you can bring up something that is real right now. A little technique that I use is to focus on how your feet feel in your shoes, and if you don't have shoes on, how do your feet feel against the floor? That is being present. It's another word for mindfulness. Your mind cannot focus on 2 things at once, so as soon as you move your mind away from the catastrophizing thought, the negative thought, into something that's real at the moment, how your feet feel in your shoes, you have weakened the hold of that thought over you. It changes how you feel. And just like anything, the more you do, the better you get at it. So thoughts really do create feelings, and now you have a way of changing how you think so that you genuinely can change how you feel too. Give it a go, because thoughts Create feelings.
