Stop Stress in 22 Minutes

Stop Stress in 22 minutes

Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhDInner Mammal Institute

Stress is natural

It’s a spurt ofthe hormone “cortisol”

Cortisol helped our ancestors respond to threats

Cortisol = pain and the expectation of pain

Expectations are connections between neurons built from

past pain

Your brain is very good at anticipating threats because yourpast pain built neural pathways

Cortisol works by making youfeel bad, which motivates you to

act fast to relieve it

Your body eliminates cortisol in 20 minutes

Unless you do something to trigger more during that time

Usually we do trigger more because cortisol tells your higher intelligence to look for evidence of threat

And your brain is skilled at finding threat signalswhen it looks

You can end up ina bad loop

1 minute of self-acceptance

20 minutes of distraction

1 minute of action planning

To free yourself from that awful cortisol feeling, do this when it comes:

- Accept the reality of your feelings (don’t deny your stress)

- Accept that you perceive a threat (don’t fault yourself for seeing it)

- Accept your urge to “do something” to relieve it (don’t act yet but accept your feelings of urgency)

#1 Accept

- Don’t look for evidence of threat while your cortisol is flowing

- Find a pleasant or neutral distraction (something without harmful long-term consequences)

- Don’t do anything that might frustrate you and trigger more cortisol

#2 Distract

- Action relieves cortisol

- A plan of action relieves cortisol if you believe in your plan

- Spend one minute believing in your ability to act in a way that makes you safe

#3 Act

What if it’s a real emergency?

It always feels like a real emergency because cortisol evolved to work that way

Your brain confuses pain with the expectation of pain

The electricity in your brain flows like water in a storm, finding the paths of least resistance

Cortisol is like paving that turnsa neural trail into a superhighway

Anything that turned on your cortisol in the past built a real physical pathway, which wires you to turn on thebad feeling again whenever you see anything similar.

You will keep repeating your old stress response until you build a new pathway

Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute

You can learn to accept your

cortisol surges instead

of believing they are real emergencies


All animals have cortisol, even fish


You may think this lizardis happily enjoying the sun,

but it is surging with cortisol


It’s on high alert because a predator can eat it alive as long as it’s out in the open

It would ratherhide under a rock, but it would dieof cold if it did


So it spends its whole life running between the threat of being out in the

open and the threat of being under a rock


And it’s brain is perfectly designed for the job!


Running from pain is the job your brain was designed for.


A big human brainhas extra power to findand anticipate threats


We create abstract mental images of potential future threatsinstead of justwaiting untila threat isright there


We successfully prevent threats by anticipating them


SOCIAL THREATScomplicate things

Mammals rely onsocial support for protection from threat

So a threat to yoursocial support is a survival

threat to your mammal brain

Potential threats to your social support are everywhere

When a bighuman cortex isconnected to a mammal brain,you can end up with a lot of cortisol


But the cortisol is metabolized and gone in20 minutesunless youtrigger more

Distraction diverts electricity from yourold threat circuits so you can

take a fresh look at things

What distractioncan you use?

- It’s hard to find something that feels good but doesn’t have bad side effects- And won’t lead to frustration- Something boring works if it absorbs your attention.- Be prepared with a variety of tools.

Then make your

one-minute action plan

Collect info about a perceived threat

Express your concerns in new ways

Plan steps toward a solution

Possible actions:

Inaction feels awful when your mammal brain says “do something fast.”

But rushing into the old familiar action hurts you in the long run.

You can figure out a next step that’s just right when you’ve freed yourself from cortisol.

You can’t solve everything in one minute but you can choose a next

step and build confidence in it.


You will build a new pathway for the electricity in your brain to flow

You will teach your brainto EXPECT to feel safe


You’ll be glad

you did

Habits of a Happy BrainRetrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin

Beyond CynicalTranscend Your Mammalian Negativity

I, MammalWhy Your Brain Links Status and Happiness

learn more

learn more

InnerMammalInstitute.org

dopamine serotonin oxytocin endorphin

more…

Accepting stress as a natural learning tool will improve your life significantly

Cortisol gives youthe freedom to explore and

still be safe

In the hours after a stressful experience, your brain builds new

wiring so you can avoid similar threats in the future

Stanford Professor Kelly McGonigal researchesthe benefits of embracing stress instead of

running from it. Here are 3 simple ways to enjoythe benefits of your stress:

1. View stress as evidence that you have a meaningful life, not as evidence that you have a flawed life.


2. View stress as energy you can use,not as a debilitating affliction.

3. View stress as a freehigh-performance training program thatstrengthens yourather than weakens you.


If you believe you need to escape stress,you are more likely to engage in behaviors

that increase stress in the long run.

If you believe you can manage stress, you will avoid self-destructive behaviors

Your brain will build a new habit

Stress is as naturalas pleasure


one more thing


Don’t compare yourself to others













Stop Stress in 22 Minutes

Self Improvement