Find Your Happy Place: Using Our Brains To Fight Stress
“Think of a magical thought, any merry little thought”. Disney was onto something when they came up with this idea in Peter Pan. Our brains are capable of incredible things, including being able to control our emotions with mental imagery or visualization.
When we are under stress our body reacts. This is totally normal. Basically our brain kicks our body into gear to help us fight our way out of trouble or run away as fast as you can (the fight or flight response). But, our brain’s stress response was designed to get us out of serious, imminent danger, like if we are being chased by a giant tiger. If we meet a big animal in the woods we need to be able to run away fast or fight back. So our muscles tense, our breathing becomes more shallow, our heart starts racing to get more blood to our legs to run, even our pupils dilate so we can react faster. These body changes all help us run or fight.
Here’s the catch, we don’t usually need to run away from a tiger in our day to day life, but our brain responds to every-day stressors the same way.
Co-worker makes a negative comment about your work = brain says danger, run!
Running a few minutes late and stuck in traffic = brain says danger, panic!
This means our brain is constantly giving us danger signals when this signals aren’t really needed, which is hard on the body. If we are under constant stress or pressure, our body is always geared up to run or fight. How tiring is that?! No wonder we are all so tired every day.
The good news is we can fight back against our brain’s normal stress reaction. One way to do this is through visualization (taking us back to finding our happy place).
Here’s the short version of how this works. When you find yourself stressed (or notice your body is starting to get tense);
Stop. Sit down where you are comfortable. And close your eyes.
Picture in your mind someplace that you feel calm and your happiest. When I do this I picture myself in the ocean scuba diving. Pick some place you know well. That makes it easier to picture in your mind. You want this mental picture to be as detailed as it can be.
What do you see? In my happy place I see the blue water moving around me, the bright colors of the coral as I swim by, the tropical fish darting in and out of the surf.
What do you feel? I feel myself rising up and down in the water, the warmth of the water across my body.
What do you smell/taste? I taste the salt water around my regulator
What do you hear? I hear my breath under water, the relaxing hum of the surf above me
Then stay with that picture. Keep it in your mind. Feel what it feels like to be in your happy place. That will signal your brain to start a relaxation response rather than a stress response. Your muscles will relax. Your heart rate will slow. And your thoughts will become calm
This takes practice. Like any skill, visualization is hard a first. If you are having trouble thinking of your own happy place just Google “visualization for relaxation” and you can listen to someone walk you through an example. If you’re new to this skill it’s often easier to have someone talk you through it the first few times.
Visualization is my favorite go-to for stress management for myself. Give it a try and see what you think. It will feel weird at first, that’s normal, you’re training your brain to do something you’re not used to. But professional athletes use visualization all the time to increase their chances of success. If they think it’s worth it, why not give it a try?
If you want more tips on managing stress, I put together a short worksheet with my 3 tips to reduce stress. Snag a copy here.