“The quality of a man’s life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor.”
-Vince Lombardi
How do the words above resonate with you?
Pause here for a moment and free yourself from distractions:
Take a deep breath in... exhale slowly... deep breath in... exhale slowly... deep breath in... exhale slowly... calm your mind and be present...
Life happens and it’s often stressful.
How do you typically respond to stress or perceived danger? Think about that for a moment...
Reading Gay Hendricks book, A year of Living Consciously: 365 Daily Inspirations for Creating a Life of Passion and Purpose, inspired this examination of fight or flight.
fight or flight
the instinctive physiological response to a threatening situation, which readies one either to resist forcibly or to run away. (Oxford Languages)
The term "fight-or-flight" represents the choices that our ancient ancestors had when faced with danger in their environment. They could either fight or flee. In either case, the physiological and psychological response to stress prepares the body to react to the danger. (verywellmind.com)
Times have changed and we all continue to evolve. In the modern world, this same fight or flight response can actually do more harm than good. Understanding the way a fight-or-flight response affects our mind and body can help us counteract many of the negative effects.
How can you prepare yourself to better respond to stress of perceived danger? Spend some time with this question...
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
-Aristotle
Let’s create new habits! This article from Psychology Today is a great place to begin.
6 Ways to Calm Your Fight-or-Flight Response:
by Tchiki Davis, Ph.D., psychologytoday.com
1. Try deep breathing: Methods for counteracting the fight-or-flight response generally involve actively doing the opposite of what your sympathetic nervous system automatically triggers. Researchers have found that we can actively counteract the fight-or-flight response by taking slow, deep abdominal breaths.
2. Notice your patterns: Pay attention to when your fight-or-flight response is more active. For example, maybe you notice that you are more likely to be on edge and jittery if you have consumed too much coffee. Noticing this pattern can help you change your behaviors in ways that calm your fight-or-flight response.
3. Practice acceptance: Worrying about your fight-or-flight response while it is happening might send more signals to the brain that you are in danger, with the result of increasing or prolonging the response. Counterintuitively, acceptance of the sensations of the fight-or-flight response as normal can go a long way towards reducing them.
4. Exercise: Researchers have found links between exercise and reduced anxiety. One idea is that the mild stress of exercise improves resilience to stress more generally. Other theories focus on the ability of exercise to decrease sympathetic nervous system hyperactivity.
5. Take cognitive-behavioral approaches: Recognizing when your fight-or-flight response kicks in and reflecting on whether or not it is helpful could help reduce this reaction in instances where it is not helpful. For example, if you feel yourself getting extremely anxious before a date and are considering canceling, notice this fight-or-flight response—are you trying to “escape” a perceived “threat”? In reality, you are not in physical danger, even though this is what your body is preparing you for. Reframing how you see the situation and your bodily responses can help calm the sympathetic nervous system.
6. Speak with a professional: In addition to potential mental health issues that a professional might be able to help you with, medical issues could also be playing a role in an overactive fight-or-flight response. For example, a heart arrhythmia can create a sense of panic. Additionally, beta-agonist medication, often prescribed for asthma, can activate the HPA axis and incite a sense of panic.
*Our fight-or-flight response is a natural reaction that has evolved to keep us safe from potential danger. Understanding why you have this response and how to manage it, can move you towards greater mental and physical well-being.
“When all you know is fight or flight, red flags and butterflies all feel the same.”
-Cindy Cherie
Today’s Challenge: What’s your poison; fight or flight?
from Gay Hendricks’, A Year of Living Consciously
1: Pause: Think about your typical response to stress or perceived danger (especially of the emotional kind).
2. Questions to consider:
How does your response work for you?
How does it work against you?
Is there a better way I can choose to handle these flight of flight responses in the future?
3. Give some thought today to developing new ways of responding to stress.
“The harvest I reap is measured by the attitudes I cultivate.”
-Iyanla Vanzant
What are you willing to do?
Don’t miss your opportunity! Be intentional, encourage others to do the same and watch what happens.
You got this!
Coach Tavia
#accountability, #responsibility,#truth, #youmatter, #honoryourself, #live, #bepositive, #behappy, #ownyourpower, #ittakescourage, #commitment, #thinkforyourself, #believe, #trustyourself, #learnandgrow, #beconsistent, #selfawareness, #selfdiscovery, #maximizeyourpotential, #shareyourgifts, #seizeopportunity, #becreative, #reflect, #reach, #stretch, #bepresent, #faith, #confidence, #dothework, #leadbyexample, #justdoit, #lifecoach, #leadershipcoach, #leadershipdevelopment
References:
Hendricks, Gay; A year of Living Consciously: 365 Daily Inspirations for Creating a Life of Passion and Purpose. Harper One, New York, NY 1998.
6 Ways to Calm Your Fight-or-Flight Response
Vanzant, Iyanla; Acts of Faith: Daily Meditations for People of Color. Atria, New York, NY 2020.
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