The Worries: Sohal Finds a Friend

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Postponing worrying is effective because it breaks the habit of dwelling on worries when you’ve got other things to do, yet there’s no struggle to suppress the thought or judge it. You simply save it for later. And as you develop the ability to postpone your anxious thoughts, you’ll start to realize that you have more control than you think. Tip 2: Challenge anxious thoughts Build a strong support system. Human beings are social creatures. We’re not meant to live in isolation. But a strong support system doesn’t necessarily mean a vast network of friends. Don’t underestimate the benefit of a few people you can trust and count on to be there for you. And if you don’t feel that you have anyone to confide in, it’s never too late to build new friendships. If you’re worried about something that you can’t do anything about right now, then this is what’s called a hypothetical or ‘what if’ worry. So, what can you do if you’re in this situation? Nothing relieves stress better than a meaningful connection to another person. Working with pets and other animals has also been shown to improve mood and reduce stress and anxiety. Tip 6: Practice mindfulness If there is something you can do, this is a practical worry. It’s a worry that you can do something about right now. What can you do about your worries?

Imagine Sohal's surprise when he wakes up the next morning, and finds a set of funny furry friends at the end of his bed! His worries have come to life, and it's not long before Hurt, Fail, Anger, Big and Alone have turned his world upside down. Now it's up to Sohal to work out how to keep his worries under control - and have some serious fun while he's at it . . . About This Edition ISBN: Positive beliefs about worry (the beliefs are negatively reinforced because the imagined feared event doesn't happen and we therefore don't discover that our beliefs are not true):Shara’s mum is going away for a couple of days with her netball team, and so Shara and her little brother Keita are going to stay with her grandfather Baba while she’s away. The mental filter. Focusing on the negatives while filtering out the positives. Noticing the one thing that went wrong, rather than all the things that went right. “I got the last question on the test wrong. I'm an idiot.” Problem solving involves evaluating a situation, coming up with concrete steps for dealing with it, and then putting the plan into action. Worrying, on the other hand, rarely leads to solutions. No matter how much time you spend dwelling on worst-case scenarios, you're no more prepared to deal with them should they actually happen. Is your worry something you can control? Meditate. Meditation works by switching your focus from worrying about the future or dwelling on the past to what’s happening right now. By being fully engaged in the present moment, you can interrupt the endless loop of negative thoughts and worries. Overgeneralization. Generalizing from a single negative experience, expecting it to hold true forever. “I didn't get hired for the job. I'll never get any job.”

You don’t need to sit cross-legged, light candles or incense, or chant. Simply find a quiet, comfortable place and choose one of our free audio meditations that can guide you through the meditation process. s share price chart shows a steady upward sweep over the years. My table below shows just how consistent it’s been. It’s an unbroken sea of blue. By using HelpGuide’s free Emotional Intelligence Toolkit, you can tune into your emotions and start to accept your feelings, even those that are uncomfortable or don't make sense. Tip 4: Interrupt the cycle of worry and stress Get up and get moving. Exercise is a natural and effective anti-anxiety treatment because it releases endorphins which relieve tension and stress, boost energy, and enhance your sense of well-being. Even more importantly, by really focusing on how your body feels as you move, you can interrupt the constant flow of worries running through your head.Emotional reasoning. Believing that the way you feel reflects reality. “I feel like such a fool. Everyone must be laughing at me.” Practice progressive muscle relaxation. This can help you break the endless loop of worrying by focusing your mind on your body instead of your thoughts. By alternately tensing and then releasing different muscle groups in your body, you release muscle tension in your body. And as your body relaxes, your mind will follow. Recently I spoke to child psychologist Julia Newbery who works on the paediatric ICU unit in St George’s hospital in London. She certainly knows a fair thing or two about anxiety, especially at the moment with Covid having a big impact on the anxiety of families in hospital. She taught me that the science behind Sohal’s drawing of his worries: the very act of naming our worry reduces the activity of the amygdala – the «fight or flight« part of our brain, «the downstairs brain», or in parenting terms, the «mad mega meltdown» part of the brain (potentially triggered by ‘peas for dinner’, ‘someone sitting in the seat you secretly chose’ or ‘not peeling a banana correctly’. Familiar anyone?) Furthermore, this naming of a worry increases the activity of «the upstairs brain» i.e. the pre-frontal cortex, where our emotions are processed and considered. It sounds obvious, but talking, writing or drawing our feelings has an immediate benefit on our brains. It’s easy to think about feelings in loose or abstract terms but when you think about it in scientific terms, you realise that this kind of activity, combined with the neuroplasticity of the brain, means we can actually rewire our neurons to better deal with stressful situations.