Wendy Suzuki, a neuroscientist, has investigated anxiety and its many roots and has designed six everyday activities to boost mental health and combat nervousness, in an article posted on CNBC.
“When I first began researching anxiety in my lab as a neuroscientist, I never thought of myself as an anxious person. That is, until I started noticing the words used by my subjects, colleagues, friends and even myself to describe how we were feeling — worried, on edge, stressed out, distracted, nervous, ready to give up,” says Wendy.
The most powerful technique to overcome anxiety is to work on building resilience and mental strength constantly. “Along the way, you’ll learn to appreciate or even welcome certain kinds of mistakes for all the new information they bring you,” Wendi added.
Below are the six simple exercises to develop resilience and mental strength:
1. Visualize positive outcomes: Every day, think through all those questionable circumstances happening in your life. Will I get an interview call? Will my kids ace their exams? Then, imagine the most successful outcome. If you don’t get the desired result, it won’t make you feel worse. Rather, it would increase your ability to predict a positive result and can even generate fresh ideas.
2. Turn anxiety into progress: Our brain allows us to resiliently assess events, recast our thoughts and make better decisions in stressful moments. Therefore, worry must not always be terrible. Consider:
- Anger either distracts you and impairs your capacity to perform, or it can drive you and reinforce the notion of what is important.
- Fear could either remind you of past mistakes and weaken your performance, or it can deepen your contemplation and offer possibilities for change.
- Sadness has the potential to demotivate you or drive you to improve your circumstances and behavior.
- Worry may delay and sabotage your objectives, or it can help you fine-tune your plans and become more practical and goal-oriented.
- Frustration could either hinder your development, or it can push you to accomplish better.
These comparisons might appear basic, but they lead to substantial results.
3. Try something new: Now, taking a class online or joining a virtual event is quite easy. “Not too long ago, I joined Wimbledon champ, Venus Williams in an Instagram Live workout, where she was using Prosecco bottles as her weights. I’d never done something like that before. It turned out to be a fantastic and memorable experience,” said Wendy. The objective is to unleash your brain and body to do something you never imagined.
4. Achieve: Capable of seeking help, of being linked with friends and family not only allows you to remain anxious but also shores the feeling that you are not alone. During a difficult situation, it is crucial to be aware that you are surrounded by people who care especially when you need to rely on yourself.
It is obvious to withdraw if we have faced any loss. Even animals mourn like that. However, you also have the power to take care of yourself in people’s loving embrace.
5. Self-tweeting practice: Lin-Manual Miranda published a book concerning Tweets containing short amusing messages. You will see a psychologically optimistic person if you watch his interviews. But how do you become resilient?
The answer is to boost yourself both at the beginning and end of the day.
6. Immerse yourself in nature: Time in nature will positively affect our mind. To immerse into nature, one doesn’t need to live by a forest. Instead, a nearby park or calm greenery would do the job.
These exercises will most definitely boost your mental strength by rebuilding a new sense of balance. Breathe and utilize all your senses to have a better understanding of the outer world.