As a full-time energy optimizer, I am always on the lookout for ways to expend my energy—and help my clients expend theirs–in the best way possible.
In the realm of mental energy expenditure, the antithesis to this is of course the dreaded Anxiety and its evil twin, Worry. Having them every once in awhile or situationally is normal, but if left to be chronic, they are the destructors of your positive mindset and can erode your business and relationship success, too. I’ve spent a good amount of time with these energy suckers and, trust me, it’s no place to hang.
Much of my anxiety and worry stems from the sheer amount of input and decisions we all must make on a daily basis. My mind short circuits and the anxiety/worry path is its default negative mode.
I am reminded almost daily that any journey towards wellness, optimal mental and physical energy, and health is not a one-stop-shopping/take-a-pill easy fix. It requires both foundation points combined with boosts when needed.
Below are some tools I use to neutralize anxiety and worry and maintain a positive mindset and good mental energy:
My number one foundation point, other than good diet and sleep, for neutralizing anxiety and worry is a consistent meditation practice.
I use the Headspace app (headspace.com). Its founder is a Brit called Andy who trained as a Tibetan monk and even has the shaved head to prove it. He provides narration for the guided meditations and an intro for the unguided ones.
Headspace—with its library of both individual and series meditations–helped me relaunch my practice and really stick with it. It offers levels and allows you to track your progress. It also has SOS meditations for the really bad moments, meditations for sleep, and a kid’s section to get the little ones started early.
Meditation does not make the thoughts that cause anxiety and worry go away, but it does give you some perspective between who you are and the thoughts you have. It (optimally) also gets you into your body by shifting your focus to your breath and encouraging deep breathing, which is a great antidote to both anxiety and worry.
I also just started using HeartMath’s Inner Balance, a Heart Rate Variability monitor and app. The science goes that the more stressed you are, the less variability there is between your heartbeats. People with greater variability have less stress and greater health. The physiological state is known as coherence.
One end of the monitor plugs into your phone; the other hooks onto your ear and tracks your heart rate. You breathe deeply, focusing on the heart area (think the training mentions “breathing through the heart”). The app shows you your levels of coherence and their corresponding colors–red for low, blue for medium, green for high. The app also provides stats on your session and allows you to customize features such as session time, music, and images.
Testimonials on their site claim that it can help you achieve meditation-practice results in less time. I’ve just started so I can’t comment on that. What I can say is that it’s fascinating to watch how a negative thought pattern can lower coherence and how breathing deeply can raise it. The results of high coherence are more clarity, peace and better sleep.
For a mindset boost, here is the song that this site claims lowers anxiety by 65%. I have listened to it and it was helpful (don’t know if it was 65% helpful…). Calm, instrumental music (I chose the non-vocal spa station on Slacker.) in general really helps soothe my mind and boosts my productivity and mindset.
What’s your checklist for optimizing your mental energy and mindset? Comment below.
Ready to make positive changes in your business, relationships, and mindset? Click here to work with me.
