Are anxiety levels overwhelming you?
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
It’s easy to think it's spring when the days begin to get sunny and a warm breeze wafts over your skin.
Not as easy when hailstones are bopping off your hat and coat. But that has been the extremes of weather this past week in Donegal.
This time last year we were basking in unseasonal warm temperatures and decked out in t-shirts and light cardigans. This year I’ve not left the house without a coat!
They’re both April- just different years.
Not so long ago I was out walking. As the rain had just stopped, I was swinging on my umbrella re-enacting something similar to Fred Astaire’s Singing in the Rain. The next thing I heard a crack! My umbrella had broken. My lightweight umbrella was definitely not designed for swinging on.
Our minds have their limits as well
There is a myth that we only use 10% of our brain, but actually, our brain is always working even when we’re asleep.
As we sleep our minds process events that have happened during the day. They allow memories to be embedded, and often provide solutions. Sometimes it seems as if our minds never switch off.
Our minds seem to race and create a rut so deep that there seems to be no way out. This can happen from either ruminating on something that has happened that day, or worrying over some problem to be fixed, or just lacking clarity and understanding about something that may have happened.
It’s like a car spinning in mud, the more the wheels turn, the deeper the car goes into the mud.
So what can we do to stop the wheels spinning?
Think or do something else
Distract your mind by thinking of something else. Some of the things I have noticed recently were my magnolia starting to flower, and a line of geese honking as they fly overhead travelling north. That same morning the starlings in the trees seemed to be having a sing-off between two groups. Even though my presence scared off one flock, they only moved to a different tree and started up again. I also recently learned that the Tesla electric car company was named after a Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla.
Learning something new is another great way to distract your mind.
If your mind is ruminating and picking at the same threads of a problem, analysing over and over what was said and done, engage it by picking up the threads of something else.
Literally you might take up knitting, or sewing or something creative, painting even just one wall in your house. And if you don’t fancy following the nation into baking sour bread that’s fine too.
Or give the mind a few hours off…a hot soak, your choice of music, a good book…that’s good too. Too much of the same thing, even a good thing becomes boring, so change the routine from time to time.
A helping hand
However, there are times when it can just get too much- like a car spinning in mud and getting nowhere -we need outside help.
Whether it’s a heave-ho, or placing boards underneath the tires, it means others have to help. Talking to a friend, your GP or support groups can help lift you out of the mud, and put you on more solid ground until your car wheels can get moving again.
God is bigger than we are..
There’s more to us than just our physical or emotional/mental states. We also have a spiritual dimension, something which isn’t mentioned or acknowledged in many news reports. Of course with the churches unable to meet in person it’s been difficult. God is not unaware that our minds are limited and our understanding is finite. God is bigger than we are. His understanding and knowledge is limitless extending to infinity and beyond.
In these verses from Scripture Proverbs 3 verses 5-6, God addresses our human limits, exhorting readers not to lean on their own understanding. Instead to replace their own lack of understanding with trust in the Lord.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.
Acknowledging that God has a say in our lives, not just as our Creator, but as Lord and Saviour will enable us to be directed by Him.
When leaning on your own understanding fails, then go to the One whose understanding and grace will guide and comfort you.
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