Staying Safe & Well - Help Your Worried Mind

Helping your worried mind

Creating space in the day to stop, come down from the worried mind, and get back into the present moment has been shown to be enormously helpful in mitigating the negative effects of the stress response.

Here’s a short practice you can weave into your day to step into that space between stimulus and response.

STOP what you’re doing, if you can; put things down for a minute
TAKE A FEW DEEP BREATHS say to yourself “in” as you’re breathing in and “out” as you’re breathing out – it will help with concentration
OBSERVE what you are experiencing just as it is – what are you thinking and feeling? What’s happening around you?
CHECK-IN WITH YOURSELF think about what is on your mind and take notice that thoughts are often not facts, and they may not permanent. Notice any emotions present and how they’re being expressed in the body. Do your shoulders hurt, are you getting a headache?
PROCEED with something that will support you in the moment. If you can, make time to call a friend, rub your shoulders, have a cup of tea
THINK about when there are opportunities in the day for you to just STOP – these could be before you get out of bed, while you are taking a shower or a bath, while you are in the toilet…take any chance you can to pay attention to yourself and what you need!