Stress: How to Think Straight Again and Connect with Your Inner Wisdom

Posted on January 26, 2020 by Fausta Luchini, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

When stress is unrelenting, you can’t think.

You probably know what stress feels like. Your breathing gets shallow. Your heart rate speeds up. You may feel hot. These are some of the signs that your body is ready to respond to danger. It’s the classic fight/flight/freeze response and it’s a basic biological fact.

We don’t often talk about the next part of this. When your body is poised to deal with danger, your frontal cortex – the part of your brain that thinks things through, that uses logic to weigh the pros and cons and make decisions – that part pretty much shuts down. And that makes sense. Of course it does – it doesn’t want to distract you from reacting to the danger.

When you say, “I was in such a panic, I couldn’t think straight,” that is literally true. When you’re sensing danger, it’s not the time to get philosophical, and your brain knows it.

Calming Your Brain:
Fortunately, there’s a very simple way to change that. By focusing on your breathing, you can re-engage the frontal cortex so you can think clearly again. It doesn’t have to be deep breaths, although they can help, but just noticing your breath, as you breathe in and breathe out, can make a big difference. That one step lets your brain know that you’re safe, you’re not going to die right now, and it’s ok to start thinking again.

When the stress you’re experiencing comes in waves, when it is unrelenting, you may find yourself feeling constantly tense and on high alert. That can cause a new level of problems, from high blood pressure to burn-out. You need more than a few breaths. You need time and space to look at your thoughts and feelings, to be able to share them, to challenge them, and to reconnect with your most resourceful self.

How Coaching Helps You Reconnect:
As your coach, I offer a calming presence on your journey. Together, we find the tools you need to re-engage with yourself and access your inner wisdom. Working together, you’ll develop sustainable habits and patterns to help you stay connected with yourself so you become your own calming presence, your own best coach.