Resilience: An Anxiety Vaccine
“People experience increased stress and concern in times of crisis as we are currently facing.”
– Dr. Asim Shah, professor and executive vice president in Menninger’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine.
A word that has gone viral in our society is anxiety, keeping in mind that anxiety is needed and adaptive in supporting us and preserving life, along with fear, anger, sadness, or happiness.
Until a few years ago, it was estimated that 20.6% of the world’s population suffered from anxiety. A recent survey by the American Psychiatric Association shows that Americans are suffering from anxiety.
The survey found that four out of 10 suffer from anxiety when they think they may become seriously ill or die, five out of 10 Americans experience anxiety about getting coronavirus and six in 10 suffer from anxiety because family members get the virus. In addition, individuals may be overwhelmed with concerns about uncertainty of the next paycheck, increased bills and increase in social isolation.
Considering now, that when we experience a sleep interruption and change in appetite, we find ourselves more irritable or sensitive. When it comes to anxiety, the most recurrent manifestations of anxiety are shortness in breathing, palpitations, headache, back pain, catastrophic thoughts and other symptoms, and managing them is not always easy.
If this is the case, the important thing to keep in mind is to observe these changes and address them promptly by seeking professional support, so that it does not adverse impacts on yourself or your family.
Now, we all have different stress tolerance levels. These variables differs depending on situations and circumstances. In many cases, when tolerance levels are exceeded, so is anxiety. When we exceed these limits, it is then that we realize that using a single technique to control it, may be insufficient.
However, when we feel that we have fallen victim to these conditions, it is important to understand that we are not defeated, we have two options: to feel that we have failed or accept it, move one and get stronger: to be resilient.
But what is resilience? According to the definition of the Royal Spanish Academy of Language is the human ability to flexibly assume limit situations and overcome them, but in psychology we add more to the concept of resilience: meaning, not only are we able to face the crises or potentially traumatic situations, but we can also grow, become stronger and empowered.
Resilience is not innate, it develops, it is a matter of raising awareness and practicing different attitudes and techniques to develop and strengthen it.
For a resilient person life is not hard, there are only difficult moments.
It seems very complex to build resilience, but it’s a matter of attitude, trying to contemplate life from a different point of view, learning and practicing various strategies consistently over time.
Next, I will outline some of them, some of the most effective ones, the ones that I personally practice and professionally recommend.
Daily Routine to Strengthen Resilience and Master Anxiety
In the mornings when you wake up:
- Practice gratitude, which consists in realizing what we possess: health, family, home, food, work, etc. and thanking a higher power such as God, life, the universe for it
- Emotional liberation techniques, Tapping, it is very convenient to find out the basics of this technique online
- (I will be writing more in future blogs)
- Compassion Meditation (10 minutes)
- (I will be writing more in future blogs)
- Brain Gym* exercises, (refer to footnote for more information)
During the day:
- Mental diet commitment: abstaining/reframing from negative thoughts, avoid stressful news, eliminate so-called infodemia, which is over information
- Tapping
- Brain Gym exercises
In the afternoon
- Exercise, preferably as a family
- Brain Gym exercises
Before bed:
- Brain Gym exercises
- Compassion Meditation (10 minutes)
- Gratitude meditation
If we practice this our resilience will be strengthened and we will be able to face life more strongly and when this situation finally ends, we will be much better prepared to continue our lives.
If you have any questions, please know that I’m here and feel free to contact me by calling our office at (915) 209-1234.
*Brain Gym is a registered technique, created by Paul Dennison and based on the scientific allocation of movements, with the intention of influencing different human spheres, such as anxiety, different emotions, learning abilities, memory and many more. I have received Brain Gym training and have years of experience providing this service through the sister organization “Brain Development Center, LLC”, we have obtained excellent results via the before mentioned movements. We can gladly help you use them. We have found that supplementing them with hypnosis can have very effective results.
Sincerely,
Guillermo Castañeda, Professional Hipnotist
In the U.S., he has have worked as a Professional Hypnotist since 1988.
He has experience helping individuals, via hypnosis, break the never ending cycles they feel "stuck" in.
If you'd like more information, please call our office.
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