Are you trapped in a cycle of anxiety, constantly worrying about the future or dwelling on the past?

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00:00:00 Rewire Your Anxious Brain

00:04:12 Taking Charge Of The

Anxiety Loop.

This video delves deep into Chapter 2 of Nick Trenton's "Rewire Your

Anxious Brain." Learn how to break free from the anxiety habit loop and

take charge of your mental well-being. Discover the simple ABCDE method

for overcoming overwhelm, managing expectations, and changing your

beliefs. Join us as we explore how to turn your anxiety into a

superpower and start living your life to the fullest.

Rewire Your Anxious Brain:

Stop Overthinking,

Find Calm,

and Be Present (The Path to Calm Book 12)

Written by

Nick Trenton, narrated by russell newton.

Experiencing anxiety is not a character

flaw.

It’s not something that you’re

doing wrong,

and it’s definitely not something

that is a permanent part of your

personality.

Instead,

it’s far easier to remind yourself

that anxiety is simply a learned

behavior.

When we consistently repeat a behavior,

our brains store the associated

response.

The more we repeat,

the more entrenched those associations

become.

Even if you’ve been anxious for a

long time,

or your associations are very deep,

they are still just habits,

and they can be changed.

When you think about it,

so much of our daily life consists of

these automatic habitual “loops."

It’s just that most of them are quite

neutral—the way we make coffee in the

morning,

the way we get dressed,

the order in which we clean the

kitchen,

and so on.

Again,

our brain is smart,

and it uses this kind of autopilot

thinking to help us complete essential

but mundane tasks as efficiently as

possible.

Habits are great.

We need habits—they are what allow us

to save our mental resources for the

real challenges of life.

The brain,

however,

does not differentiate between

different kinds of information.

It doesn’t know that it is helping

you be really,

really “efficient” ...at worrying

about nothing!

The brain does something that is easy

and time-saving with no concern for

whether it is accurate,

useful,

or in the interest of your overall

wellbeing.

In just the same way as you

automatically brush your teeth every

morning,

you may worry and stress in endless

loops.

Again,

this is not a character trait or a

personal failing.

The reason you have anxiety doesn’t

need to involve any heavy trauma from

the past or complicated metaphysical

explanations.

The reason you are anxious today could

be as simple as “because you were

anxious yesterday."

The way you currently respond to stress

is an indication of the way you have

most consistently reacted to stress in

the past.

Once the brain has been programmed to

respond in a certain way,

it will continue to make connections to

the same loops,

even if those reactions are

counterproductive in the present moment.

It will continue to do it,

that is,

until you deliberately stop the cycle.

Automatic learning and habit cycles

form in the area of the forebrain known

as the basal ganglia.

The three-part story of how a behavior

becomes cemented as a habit goes like

this - 1.

A cue from the environment triggers you.

2.

You do the behavior or run through a

routine in response.

3.

There is a reward so that the next time

you encounter the cue,

you remember and do the behavior again.

Every single behavior that you do

automatically today,

good or bad,

was once “programmed” via the above

three steps.

For example - .

1.

Cue - you see an email from your boss

in your inbox.

2.

Routine - you put off opening it for as

long as possible.

3.

Reward - you don’t have to face

whatever it is you might find in there

(for a while,

at least)

A reward doesn’t have to be a carrot

on a stick.

It can sometimes be the simple

avoidance of something unpleasant.

Importantly,

the cue,

routine,

and reward don’t have to be genuinely

linked—if we perceive them as linked

somehow,

then they are.

Every time we run through the routine,

that neural pathway strengthens.

It gets to be so that we never see an

email from our boss and open it

immediately.

Taking Charge Of The Anxiety Loop.

Step 1 .- Map out your anxiety habits.

Keep in mind that most of your anxiety

habits developed as a way to reduce

stress,

even if they don't always benefit you

in the long run,

and even if they ultimately increase

stress.

The first step is to do a biopsy on

your habits and identify the cue,

the exact behavior itself,

and the reward/consequence.

Step 2 .- Work with your brain’s

reward system.

Your anxious behavior is in place

because there is a reason to do

it—the reward.

Reward a different behavior,

or stop rewarding the current one,

and your behavior will change over time.

The great thing is that with awareness,

every moment of anxiety is actually a

hidden opportunity to learn more about

yourself and to grow and develop as a

person.

When dealing with anxiety,

you are never punishing or forcing

yourself.

You are working with your brain and not

against it.

You do not want to wrench yourself away

from behavior that your brain considers

a safety blanket—that will be painful.

But you want to make it so that you

naturally become dissatisfied with your

old coping mechanisms and move away

from them willingly without having to

exert much willpower.

Step 3 .- Create new habits.

Most suggestions for anxiety reduction

only tackle this step and ignore the

other two.

We all know the healthy habits and

behaviors we want to adopt,

but we often seem unable to make the

logical choice the thing we actually

choose and make a habit.

But consider that you are never really

breaking a bad habit or eliminating

it—you can never be without habits.

Rather,

you are always replacing bad habits

with better ones.

Take the habit away without giving

yourself something to realistically

manage stress,

and you risk creating discomfort that

will only have you rushing back to your

old tricks,

often with even more determination!

How does all this look when applied to

real life?

Let’s go back to Annie and the case

of the Terrible Treadmill.

Step 1 .- Annie carefully identifies a

behavior she wants to change - her

inability to stick with her gym goals.

Cue - feeling hot on the treadmill.

Behavior - quitting.

Reward - a feeling of relief.

Step 2 .- Annie tackles the behavior on

both ends.

She tries to reduce the cue by making

sure that she exercises under the A. C.

vent and brings a spray bottle to keep

her cool.

She also reduces the reward by asking a

trusted friend to hold her accountable

to her gym goals.

The agreement is that the friend gets

one hundred dollars if she quits (not

to mention the embarrassment).

This makes quitting feel like much less

of a relief!

Step 3 .- It’s not just about

engineering a different response,

though.

Annie also creates new,

healthier routines.

She gives herself a healthy treat every

time she completes a planned treadmill

workout.

Every time she does,

she is creating a new pathway in her

brain - treadmill equals good feelings.

Now,

some of us might take exception to

thinking of our behavior the same way a

dog trainer thinks of an Alsatian

jumping through hoops.

Even though the above might seem overly

simple,

the truth is that so much of our

habitual and automatic behavior is that

simple.

Stubborn,

yes,

but not overly complex.

The way to break out of these

conditioned responses and habits is

with mindfulness and awareness.

A few tips as you work on your own

“programming” and start to change

some of the carrots and sticks that

keep it in place -

•Maintain awareness and a sense of

curiosity .- Rather than judging

yourself for being anxious,

or getting obsessed about where your

anxiety is coming from,

just get curious.

This is answering how and what

questions instead of why questions.

What does it feel like,

and where?

How does it change?

Get really familiar with yourself and

your habits—they’re nothing to be

scared of!

•Breathing .- Breath and awareness go

hand in hand.

Tune into the breathing sensations in

your body and you automatically connect

to the moment.

Try breathing “into” places where

anxiety shows up.

For example,

Annie notices that her anxiety often

feels like hot and cold prickles along

the skin of her back and neck.

So she slows down and,

with every breath,

imagines that the oxygen she is

inhaling is diffusing out into her skin

and soothing and calming it.

•Try the R. A. I. N. acronym .- This

is a mindfulness practice where you

relax into the present moment;

accept and allow it to be there;

investigate your bodily sensations,

emotions,

and thoughts;

and note what is happening.

For example,

as Annie runs on the treadmill,

she breathes deeply and evenly and

relaxes,

she notices that weird hot feeling but

doesn’t fight it,

she becomes curious about what is

happening,

and she simply notices it without

reacting and without getting off the

treadmill.

She is teaching herself to be

non-reactive,

and learning that just because a

trigger happens,

it doesn’t mean she has to respond to

it.

•Noting .- This is a practice of

labeling what experiences are

predominant in your mind moment to

moment,

including any of your senses (hearing,

touch,

sight),

thinking,

or feeling.

This creates a sense of distance (more

on this technique later in the book).

•Loving-kindness .- The practice of

sending kind,

caring thoughts to people,

including yourself,

and feeling that sense of warmth in

your body.

Being gentle and kind with ourselves

takes so much of the sting of anxiety

away.

Often,

our anxious thoughts have a punitive or

self-critical attitude.

What happens instead when we forgive

ourselves and hold ourselves with care

rather than irritation,

fear,

or judgment?

Every time you use any of the

mindfulness techniques from above,

you are teaching your brain to be

different in the face of old triggers.

You are giving yourself a chance to

feel something new,

to react differently,

and to tread some new neural pathways.

With anxiety,

our minds are hyper-focused on the

negative and the threatening.

But being mindful tunes us into the

positive.

You may be surprised to find that

breathing,

slowing down,

and being kind to yourself actually

feels pretty good.

In time,

you may even prefer this to your

ordinary sense of “relief” that

avoidance used to give you!

Annie has made her arrangement with her

accountability partner and has worked

hard to change the cues and rewards of

a certain behavior.

This will take her far.

But in the moment-to-moment unfolding

of her experience,

she can continually remind herself to

be mindful and aware of what is

happening.

This is a very different state of mind

to the fearful hyperfocus we get in a

runaway anxiety loop.

This is the feeling we get when we

consciously stop,

look around us,

and become cognizant of what is

happening.

From that point,

we have a choice to behave differently.

So Annie is on the treadmill one day,

and despite being near the A. C. ,

she notices that she is beginning to

feel hot.

She recognizes that awful sinking

feeling of panic rising in her—slow

at first and then all at once it seems

to be there.

It’s happening again ...she thinks.

But this time,

instead of strapping herself in for the

anxiety rollercoaster her body has done

so many times before,

she deliberately pauses and becomes

mindful.

She immediately checks in with herself.

With gentle and kind awareness,

she notices those familiar feelings

across her skin and the speed at which

her thoughts are beginning to run.

She sees all this and decides there and

then to change her thoughts.

She tells herself,

“I am experiencing these sensations,

but I don’t have to react to them.

I am not in any danger.

I recognize this old anxiety loop

because I’ve been here before,

and I’ve come out of it.

I’m okay.

I’m learning new ways to cope.

What do I want to do right now?"

She looks down at the clock on the

treadmill dashboard and,

regulating her breathing,

tells herself to just focus on the

number changing,

one second reliably after the other.

She reminds herself that they are just

sensations.

She thinks of how she ran on the

treadmill yesterday with no problem,

and she can do it again today.

It’s difficult.

Several times she feels herself being

pulled again into that same old panic

spiral.

Several times she pulls herself back.

But something interesting happens—she

is still on the treadmill when she

notices that the feeling is starting to

subside.

Eventually it passes completely.

For today,

Annie has broken the cycle and taken a

step toward something new and better.

A word of warning here - analyzing and

unpicking the components of your own

stress response is a fantastic skill to

learn.

But don’t make it a purely

intellectual exercise.

Overthinkers and worriers tend to be

rather good at ruminating endlessly and

examining a tiny detail from multiple

angles.

This is not what you’re doing when

you familiarize yourself with the

anxiety loop,

however.

Done incorrectly,

analyzing and unpicking can just make

anxiety worse.

So how do you know the difference?

Well,

ask yourself to take every insight and

understanding and convert it to real

change using action.

Don’t just learn something new about

yourself and think “huh,

that’s interesting."

Ask what small change you can make

right now.

Then watch what happens.

Unless your analyzing and unpicking

results in concrete changes in your

world,

it will serve no purpose.

This has been

Rewire Your Anxious Brain:

Stop Overthinking,

Find Calm,

and Be Present (The Path to Calm Book 12) Written by

Nick Trenton, narrated by russell newton.