Reducing Anxiety Through Thankfulness
Reducing Anxiety Through Thankfulness
For most of us, thankfulness wouldn't be the first thing that comes to mind when looking for ways to combat anxiety, but maybe it should be.
A few years ago, a guest speaker at my church with a background in brain science and psychology talked about how thankfulness and anxiety operate in the brain. He explained that in our brains, there is what is the equivalent of a switch that moves us between anxiousness and thankfulness.
We can't be operating in anxiety and thankfulness at the same time.
This is such an important thing to know. It is impossible for our brains to be anxious and thankful at the same time. Sure, our brains can switch back and forth quickly. It may even seem like it's happening simultaneously, but it's not!
Most of us live with our brains switched to anxiety. Our world is so full of anxiety inducing things that it makes sense our default would become living in anxiety, but it doesn't have to be that way. The cool thing about our brains is that they can change. We can change our brain's default setting if we put in the effort to retrain it.
The thing is, our brains didn't just get set to an anxious default yesterday. If you are operating out of anxiety as your default, chances are it's been that way for quite some time...maybe months, but probably years. You aren't going to change your default overnight. But the good news is that you can change it!
Changing Your Default
So, how do we change the default setting of our brains? Thankfulness. The guest speaker challenged all of us to practice sitting in thankfulness for 5 minutes, twice a day, for 30 days. The first several times you do this, you are going to think it's a giant waste of time. You aren't going to be able to come up with 5 minutes worth of things, and that's okay!
The goal isn't to come up with hundreds of unique things to be thankful for. The goal is to train your brain to flip the switch to thankfulness and stay there. It's okay if you repeat the same three things you're thankful for over the five minute exercise. Just focus on getting your brain to switch to thankfulness. Think about why you're thankful for each of those three things. The longer you practice this exercise, the easier you'll find it is to get to a thankful state and the more frequently you'll find yourself operating out of thankfulness as your default.
My Challenge To You
If you're serious about changing your brain's default, I'd like to challenge you to sit in thankfulness twice a day, 5 minutes each time over 30 straight days. At the end of the 30 days, I believe you will be able to notice a significant difference in how often your brain operates in anxiety versus thankfulness as its default.
Practicing thankfulness can look like a variety of things: journaling, meditating while going on a walk or run, simply thinking about things you're thankful for while laying in bed, or any other way that captures your focus. Your goal should be to remain in thankfulness, not to come up with hundreds of unique things to be thankful for. Expect that your brain will take you away from thankfulness at times, especially the first several times you practice. That's okay! Just notice the distracting thought and redirect yourself back to thankfulness.
Next Steps
If you or your child struggles with anxiety and you want to dig deeper into the root causes and find more ways to reduce your symptoms, we can help! Give us a call at (260) 475-3519 or email at seth@abundantfamilycounseling.com to begin your journey toward wholeness.
