In today’s blog post, which is part one of a three-part series, we’re going to look at why it’s important to keep a clear mind during stressful times. Let’s begin with a question:
Are you a little bit stressed right now?
Most of us are to some degree because these are unprecedented times. Globally, we have never seen anything so significant as COVID-19 that has created this type of impact. For those that believe that everything won’t go back to normal after everything is said and done, you might want to rethink that a little bit, and it’s not something to really get all that worried about because this could be a global shift and change that we all have needed. There’s probably a lot going on right now, not just from a business standpoint, but also as an entrepreneur, because as an entrepreneur, your life and your business are intertwined.
One reason we want to understand why it’s important to keep a clear mind is that it preps the mind. If you have an intention to maintain a clear mind during stressful times, a very important thing is to frame in your own mind WHY IS THIS SO IMPORTANT? In other words, give yourself that motivation as to why you want to make sure your mind is clear because if we don’t know why we need to keep our mind clear, then the propensity for us to take action to clear the mind is not that great. In fact, we might forget it being caught up with the day-to-day.
Now let’s go back to why. “You have to keep your mind clear. You have to stay calm.” Well, calm is actually a by-product of having a clear mind. Keeping a clear mind during stressful times is that it actually reduces stress. If you think of your mind as a container and if you have an unclear mind full of thoughts, then your mind is cluttered and the ability for you to reduce your stress or be calm goes down because you’re too busy maintaining and managing. We want to actually consider having proactive protocols in place to manage the clear mind.
One of these protocols is what we call stress flow reversal. What I mean by stress flow is that when we start to stress out about things, there is a flow of thoughts that happen. When we feel stress, there is a sequence of thoughts that lead up to the point where we suddenly decide, “OK, I am in a state of stress.” That flow will continue into our mind because we need to be constantly validating. In other words, your mind on an unconscious level will seek out circumstances or evidence to confirm and validate the need to stay in the state of stress. The state of stress is built into our DNA and it’s essentially a fight or flight mechanism that was meant to help keep us alive. Over the years, our need to be in that fight or flight mode from a mortality standpoint wasn’t that great. During stressful times, we activate this mode and then the longer we stay in this state, the longer our cortisol levels remain elevated, which is unhealthy for us and probably explains why stress is the number one killer in the United States. So we want to reverse that flow by clearing the mind. You essentially interrupt the flow and you reverse the stress.
Another reason why it’s important to clear the mind during stressful times is that you’ll be able to navigate those stressful times better. When you’re taking care of stressful thoughts, it actually makes it easier to address new stressful thoughts. When you are in a stressful state or a stressful circumstance, there are no shortage of problematic thoughts that are being bombarded at you from other people, from the news, from the world, or even from ourselves, but by having protocols in place to clear the mind, you actually make it easier to address new thoughts that come in.
We’re in a stressful time right now, but that doesn’t mean that we as individuals need to be stressed. Having a clear mind during stressful times helps us make better decisions. Think about the last time you were stressed, angry, or sad about something and having to make a decision during a stressful time. I know for me personally, I start making decisions out of guilt and then I’ll look back and think, “Why did I make that decision? Why?” Because my mind wasn’t clear at the time. Every single one of us has had a similar experience and the reason is usually that our mind is cluttered with thoughts and emotions.
What happens when you’re clearing out your mind on a regular basis? Well, it’s akin to taking out the trash. Our mind is like our home, so if you think of your mind during stressful times as being quarantined to stay at home as you are right now, then what that means is that your trash bin at home, just as in your mind, starts to pile up more and more. It doesn’t change the fact that the times can be stressful, but it changes your state, so you can make the best decisions during those stressful times.
Another important thing to do is to identify what kind of “trash” is in the mind. Once you’re able to identify what’s going on, then it becomes clearer how to organize the trash. Think about when you’re doing some spring cleaning and you have all these different bags that you want to throw out or donate. As you’re organizing these piles, you start to see the light in terms of what everything’s going to look like after things are cleared out.
Here are a couple of questions I want to leave you with on today’s training:
What specifically are you stressed out about?
I highly recommend journaling because just the act of writing is very powerful in itself. If you find that you’re stressed about more than one thing, write down all those things. If there are specifics of what you are stressed about, make a list or maybe tell a story. Once you get that all out of your mind, you get some clarity on what specifically are stressed out about. This is going to give you clues on how to unlock and release and take out that particular trash. Is it stuff you need to recycle, donate, or just completely eliminate?
What is my intention for clearing out my mind?
Everybody’s intention is different because a stay-at-home mom will have a different reason for clearing their mind compared to a mom who maybe works full-time. The biggest takeaway from this is to be honest and truthful during this process because it’ll make for more powerful training for you and you’ll get better at managing a clear mind during stressful times.
Watch the first video in this series below:
Of course, if you want to dive deeper on this concept, we do have communities that are free that you can join. If you’re on Facebook, then join me here. We have a group called the Money Lab, which is also free. I’d love to hear your feedback and thoughts in the comments below.
