The Neuroplasticity of Anxiety

Learning to live a life free from anxiety begins with you understanding why you keep experiencing it over and over again.

Just like any skill or learned behavior, when we repeat a task over and over again, the repeated behavior becomes easier for us to do. Soon we don't even need to think about it because it becomes effortless and unconscious.

If you have ever learned to play a musical instrument, you will know the feeling of when you first learned how to hold your fingers in the correct position to play a note. It's cumbersome, it takes time, and it takes a lot of focus to hold the right position.

Then you look at an experienced player who does the same chord effortlessly. They barely need to think about it. How come they make it seem so easy? 

Neurologists have a saying that explains why this happens – “cells that fire together, wire together”. This means that the more you do the repeated behavior, the more certain cells will fire together, creating neural pathways of perfectly timed synapses.

The result will be the desired outcome and will begin to happen with little to no conscious thought. This can be a great thing when learning to play the guitar and when learning to drive a car because it is something we don’t need to think about.

However, what happens when your nervous system has been repeatedly experiencing anxiety?

What happens if throughout your life, you have had many stresses, worries, anxious feelings, and your body reacts in a certain way (as it is hardwired to do)? Your body becomes more efficient at going into this response - "cells that fire together, wire together". It feels like small things stress you out, or aggravate the anxious response within you.

Most of the time your unconscious about what these small things that are triggering the response even are. You just know that you feel anxious.

The more you have the experience, the easier it can become to have it again and again. Often what ends up happening for most people, is a constant feeling of always being on edge, or that the body is always feeling a little bit anxious.

Soon it becomes habitual to have the feelings of anxiety and then you identify with it. You say "I am an anxious person", and it becomes a part of you.

Unfortunately, it can stick around for decades. I have many clients who would describe themselves as an anxious person. Being anxious is a physiological response – it’s not who you are!!!

If you are someone who suffers from anxiety and you are reading this, you may feel like you have some very well practiced negative patterns and it will be hard for you to make any change.

What I am about to tell you may come as a nice surprise. In the same way the “reaction” becomes stronger the more it is activated, if you stop using it, it becomes harder to activate - “If you don’t use it, you lose it".

At Inspiring Wellness,  we teach you how to stop going into patterns of thinking or being in both the body and mind that are triggering your anxiety and how to replace these with healthier, more effective responses.

 Almost all of my clients who are suffering with anxiety have had lots of stress in life, and this is stored in the body causing the fight or fight response to be switched “on”. I believe too much stress is the cause of anxiety. We help you find the switch and turn it to “off”. What's more, we teach you how to find peace in your body and mind. The more you do this, the easier it becomes to have this experience again and again.

You will start feeling calmer and more relaxed now that you have moved out of the downward spiral of being unwell into the positive spiral of increased well-being in day to day life.

Soon it will become habitual to have this new healthier response and then you will identify with it. You will say, "I am a calm, happy relaxed person", and it becomes a part of you. This all comes down to Neuroplasticity – the brains ability to rewire itself.

If you want help learning how to live anxiety free, or learn about our 12-week transformational program or other courses, books etc ... click on the link below to learn more.

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