Do you ever feel that you are just going around in circles, not achieving much and getting frustrated and demotivated? You are not alone.

There could be many reasons for this, depression, anxiety, physical illness, etc. or it could be due to how your brain is processing the incoming information. This leads us to answering with a reason or creating an excuse.

Use of different parts of the brain – amygdala V thinking brain:

• The amygdala – this almond-shaped mass of grey matter in the brain’s base is responsible for emotions, especially fear, anxiety, and rage. The amygdala is part of the limbic system and is involved in identifying threats and triggering the fight-or-flight response. The amygdala reacts automatically and impulsively, mostly unconsciously, in milliseconds.
• Thinking brain – the cerebrum, located at the top of the brain, is responsible for conscious thoughts, actions, memories, planning, imagination, and reasoning. The frontal lobe is part of the cerebrum and is responsible for complex thinking. The thinking brain is more rational than the amygdala and thinks relatively slowly and carefully.

When the amygdala takes over, it can cause a person to act in ways they later regret. This is known as an amygdala hijack, which can happen when a person’s emotions rule their reactions without logic or reason. Emotionally intelligent people have strong connections between the amygdala and the thinking brain and can de-escalate their emotions.

So, what helps us stay with our more logical thinking brain?

Here are a few ideas:

Self-reflection – journal writing. Journaling about how we feel can be a huge benefit to mental health. In a world where things change quickly, we all need a reliable and easy way to cope more effectively. For more information – https://www.susangraingertherapy.co.uk/journaling/

Manage Stress – there are many ways that we can identify and then manage stress levels more efficiently to avoid the worse of the effects.

Breathing techniques, mindfulness, Emotional Freedom Technique and reflexology are just a few. https://www.susangraingertherapy.co.uk/introductory-sessions-and-workshops/

Reflexology https://www.susangraingertherapy.co.uk/reflexology/

Understanding the stress response and learning how and why it happens and what you can do about it to regain control is vital in the war against stress, anxiety, worry and overwhelm. https://www.susangraingertherapy.co.uk/enquiries/

Identify emotions – again, it is all too easy to just bunch everything together and convince yourself that your life is just rubbish, or you are just rubbish, this can lead very quickly to depression, anxiety and overwhelm symptoms. Learning to work with and identify a variety of emotions and emotional states can effectively help regulation so you remain calm and in control, able to make good decisions and have a productive day. To understand more about your emotions, let’s have a chat. https://www.susangraingertherapy.co.uk/enquiries/

Slow down. We are all ‘so busy’ these days, but what are we actually doing? And if you are the one who is doing all the doing – who is looking out for you? https://www.susangraingertherapy.co.uk/self-care/

I hope that you find some useful information here and if you are interested in discussing how therapy might be able to help you, please get in touch. https://www.susangraingertherapy.co.uk/enquiries/