This is a big subject Eric! I wish I could have seen that performance, it sounds amazing. I need to look this artist up. I recently bought a book I found on Amazon called, "Speaking Up Without Freaking Out" which attempts to cover all the variable and nuances of physiological anxiety and what we can do with it when it arises. What I'm finding out is that there's really no one answer. Everyone finds their own means of aligning in mind, body, and spirit in a way that helps them meet the moment in the best possible way. I find that moving my body when I have excess energy from anxiety is very helpful. Exercising vigorously before a big presentation can help channel and ground the extra energy. Engaging in my body helps me to avoid giving too much energy to rumination, which definitely does not help. Another hack I've used is to focus on something I know is going to go well in the day. My anxiety often revolves around the fear that a presentation won't go well, but if I keep my attention on something that is going well, or that is going to happen later in the day, meeting a friend, a nice meal, the opportunity to go to the gym—it helps me relax somehow.
Lang Lang is sublime! It's like dropping into a Cartmel sticky toffee pudding and wallowing in the sugariness of it all. Perhaps not the best analogy given so much sugar would not be good for brain health and - as many people with ADHD tend to discover - wreaks havoc with their mood and energy levels.
There is no right answer, indeed. That's really the beauty of the practice of dropping inside ourselves and observing. Because we are so accomplished at thinking (like focusing on something going well) and doing (like exercising vigorously), there's a practice of being - noticing what emotions are arising, where they are, their intensity, their flavour, their movement etc - that takes our "thinking" and "doing" brain out of the equation.
That's not to say thinking and doing are not effective in their own right. But I often notice a different quality - a depth and intensity - to the experience of overcoming anxiety when we drop into our internal experience and exploring it, as distinct from "distracting" ourselves by some thinking or doing.
I don't know what the science says about it, but my instinct is that dropping into our internal experience takes advantage of neuroplasticity and literally re-wires the neurons in our brains so that the next time we experience anxiety, we approach it differently.
As I'm thinking about this, perhaps one way to distinguish the various ways to speak up without freaking out are using will-power (reframing, going outdoors, having a conversation) vs using heart-power (welcoming the anxiety in).
Another Effortless Thursday reader summed it up in an email she sent to me: "An interesting and very different practice for those of us who are in our heads ruminating the whole time".
I'm saving this edition. The paragraph about his presence ... exquisite!
Thank you Karen!
Lang Lang somehow evoked those words from me!
This is a big subject Eric! I wish I could have seen that performance, it sounds amazing. I need to look this artist up. I recently bought a book I found on Amazon called, "Speaking Up Without Freaking Out" which attempts to cover all the variable and nuances of physiological anxiety and what we can do with it when it arises. What I'm finding out is that there's really no one answer. Everyone finds their own means of aligning in mind, body, and spirit in a way that helps them meet the moment in the best possible way. I find that moving my body when I have excess energy from anxiety is very helpful. Exercising vigorously before a big presentation can help channel and ground the extra energy. Engaging in my body helps me to avoid giving too much energy to rumination, which definitely does not help. Another hack I've used is to focus on something I know is going to go well in the day. My anxiety often revolves around the fear that a presentation won't go well, but if I keep my attention on something that is going well, or that is going to happen later in the day, meeting a friend, a nice meal, the opportunity to go to the gym—it helps me relax somehow.
Lang Lang is sublime! It's like dropping into a Cartmel sticky toffee pudding and wallowing in the sugariness of it all. Perhaps not the best analogy given so much sugar would not be good for brain health and - as many people with ADHD tend to discover - wreaks havoc with their mood and energy levels.
There is no right answer, indeed. That's really the beauty of the practice of dropping inside ourselves and observing. Because we are so accomplished at thinking (like focusing on something going well) and doing (like exercising vigorously), there's a practice of being - noticing what emotions are arising, where they are, their intensity, their flavour, their movement etc - that takes our "thinking" and "doing" brain out of the equation.
That's not to say thinking and doing are not effective in their own right. But I often notice a different quality - a depth and intensity - to the experience of overcoming anxiety when we drop into our internal experience and exploring it, as distinct from "distracting" ourselves by some thinking or doing.
I don't know what the science says about it, but my instinct is that dropping into our internal experience takes advantage of neuroplasticity and literally re-wires the neurons in our brains so that the next time we experience anxiety, we approach it differently.
As I'm thinking about this, perhaps one way to distinguish the various ways to speak up without freaking out are using will-power (reframing, going outdoors, having a conversation) vs using heart-power (welcoming the anxiety in).
Another Effortless Thursday reader summed it up in an email she sent to me: "An interesting and very different practice for those of us who are in our heads ruminating the whole time".
Well said Eric, no matter what, self-awareness (vs overthinking) can never work against you.
Yeh, you just summed up right there in one sentence what I tried to say in many! 😎