Daily Gratitude: Boy, is this such an important concept. Our conscious memories are limited but our brains receive, process and interpret everything that happens to us. It’s the strongest computer in the world. One great big database. Your brain has taken in all that happens, decides if it is a potential danger or safety and catalogs every experience in that database. This is why we have anxiety attacks but can’t figure out why. It’s most likely because something has entered your environment that has happened at some point in the past no matter how long ago. You probably don’t recognize it as a repeat but you can bet your brain does. And if it’s reacting like that, it has at some point considered those circumstances as a danger. You may not need to know what it’s all about at the time. You just have to learn techniques to soothe your nervous system (which we have talked about many times). If nothing else, you can softly talk to your brain and say “there’s no danger”, “we’re safe” and practice your breathing. This applies to chronic pain as well.

Daily Gratitude: This is a great quote that goes along with Brian Cain’s 200 feet headlights metaphor. He states that if you know the start and the destination, you can stay on the proper road even in the dark – simply by seeing 200 feet in front of you. When you cover that 200 feet, your headlights will shine on the next 200 feet and so on. This will help keep you from being overwhelmed- just concentrate on the next 200 feet. Eventually it will be daylight.

Daily Gratitude: It took me a long time but i’m so much better at this in the last couple of years. Better late than never I guess. However, i can definitely attest to the truth of this statement. As I’ve become more at ease entering new situations and meeting new people, my anxiety level has dramatically decreased and i go into these situations looking foward to what’s going to happen instead of dreading it as i did for decades. Once again, i have to credit Internal Family Systems (IFS) for my success at that. I don’t have to be defensive any more because i know that if i make a mistake at something, that just relects that one thing at that particular moment. it does NOT reflect anything about me. If i can’t so something, i now know to follow it with the understanding that i can’t do it yet and know that it’s because i haven’t learned and practiced enough. Again it doesn’t mean I am a bad person. I can’t tell you what a difference in my life this has made. I find loving myself makes it easier to love everyone else and that’s a big goal. I have received so much in my life that it’s time to give back. I encourage you to look at everything you do in “chunks” so that you can analyze them as individual items, not as a part of your entire self. It’s so much more calming and relaxing.