In modern reality, a person’s mental organization is often tested. Sometimes there is so much stress in life that we barely have time to adapt to constantly changing circumstances. Some events actually change your understanding of the world and make you endlessly doubt yourself and your existing capabilities. The negative impact of surrounding factors can be so strong that it knocks you out of your usual rut, deprives you of peace, sleep, and confidence in the future. In this regard, a reasonable question arises: is it possible to restore the psyche and how to do it correctly? Actually it is possible. This is a completely feasible task, which is almost always possible to cope with on your own. You will need to put in some effort and not expect too quick results.
Sports activities
Surprisingly, movement helps in many ways to cope with the destructive effects of stress. That is why it is recommended that when you are experiencing strong feelings, do not sit in one place, but try to move as much as possible. You can immediately start exercising, running, or cleaning the house. The main thing is that you can feel better. Movement promotes the production of positive hormones. This is how new strength appears to move on with life and make responsible decisions. Playing sports is an ideal solution for those who are used to taking full responsibility for what is happening.
Meditation
The usefulness of this activity is truly difficult to overestimate. Meditation aims to bring balance to thoughts and feelings. Anyone who regularly practices Merkabah or Yoga Nidra certainly feels happy. Such a person has every chance of helping himself return to his former state of internal balance. It’s just important not to be lazy and follow your inner voice. When thinking about how to restore your psyche after stress, you should not neglect this opportunity. Meditation actually has a lot to offer, but only if it is practiced regularly.
They know how to accept defeat...
Mentally tough people know how to lose because they know that the path to success is paved with mistakes. No one has ever achieved true success without learning to accept failure gracefully. Mistakes let you know that you are on the wrong path and thus help pave the way to success. The biggest breakthroughs tend to happen when you feel like you can't do anything. It is this disappointment that prompts you to start thinking differently, looking for a solution outside of the usual framework, and finally see what you have been missing.
Taking responsibility
You don't have to wait for someone to help you. It is much more important to feel the presence of internal forces. Each of us has internal resources that it is not a sin to use at some point. Accepting responsibility involves letting go of blame. You also need to forgive yourself for past mistakes and omissions. We feel the presence of internal forces only when we ourselves desire it. Learn to express your feelings openly, without hiding. There is no need to be afraid of appearing weak, unable to cope with basic tasks. Be responsible for your choices. Remember that everything in life can be changed if there is such a desire. The main thing is not to dwell on failures and find the strength to look forward. Any critical situation can be overcome. All problems are actually solvable.
How to calm your nerves using breathing practices
When choosing appropriate exercises to calm the nervous system, you need to act within the framework of the rules already established empirically. If you ignore them, the result at best will be zero, and at worst it may worsen. There are just a few simple recommendations:
- For any breathing exercise, you need to completely straighten your back. This must be strictly observed, regardless of the position in which the exercises are performed - you can lie down or stand.
- When practicing conscious breathing, it is better to close your eyes; it is not forbidden to meditate and imagine yourself against the backdrop of pleasant landscapes.
- The focus, especially at the beginning, should be the practice of inhalation and exhalation.
- To complete cleansing of the mind from negativity, it is necessary to add absolute relaxation of all muscles. It should start from the tips of your toes and move upward. You will have to work hard so that the muscles located in the neck, face, and shoulders also get rid of tension.
- It is necessary to perform exercises to calm the nervous system from 5 to 10 times. You can move on to the next level and master a new technique only after a certain time - the body must have time to adapt.
As you exhale, it is better to imagine that the whole body is filled not only with oxygen, which is extremely important for life, but also as if pure, bright energy appears. To push out tension from within, be sure to use a strong exhalation.
Sometimes it’s a good idea to combine activities with positive messages spoken mentally. For example, an excellent statement would be “I am calm.” You need to “forget” the use of the particle “not” and not strive for the future tense. You need to feel and act directly in the moment that is happening.
Exercise 1
This type of exercise is well and truly aimed at combating tension. During the exercise, posture is not critical.
The main thing is that the person is comfortable. Everything depends on his choice. He can stand up, or he can sit on a chair, it doesn’t matter fundamentally. First, you should inhale as deeply as possible, then hold your breath for a while. Imagine a small circle in your mind, and after a while exhale it as slowly as possible. Having done similar manipulations with the circle 3 more times , you need to focus on the square and get rid of it in exactly the same way.
Exercise 2
To perform it, you need to lie down so that your back is straight. After this, adjust your breathing to a calm rhythm. During entry, it is necessary to imagine that from the incoming oxygen the lungs become the focus of vital force, which they share with the rest of the organs of the human body as they exhale.
Exercise 3
This technique takes advantage of yawning. According to many experts, during a yawn, oxygen fills the blood, and at the same time it is freed from excess carbon dioxide. Due to additional tension on the face, neck, and oral cavity, blood flow in the vessels of the brain accelerates.
When a person yawns, the lungs are better supplied with blood, and it is pushed out of the liver, the tone of the body becomes increased, and impulses are created that delight with bright, positive emotions.
A yawn then becomes healthy when performed technically correctly. You need to completely close your eyes and open your mouth wide. After you have managed to achieve strong tension in the oral cavity, you need to say and sing in a low tone and drawl: “U-oo-oo-oo.”
At the same time, you should imagine that a cavity has appeared in your mouth, which needs to slowly move down.
To a yawn, you need to add stretching with your whole body. The exercise you perform will become even more effective if you perform it while smiling. A smile will give you an additional chance of creating positive emotions, and at the same time will help relax the muscles in the face.
Exercise 4
If you anticipate a psychologically stressful situation that cannot be avoided, the following technique will help you maintain composure. It is necessary to imagine that the body has acquired a powerful press located at chest level. Then begin to take short and energetic breaths, without losing the feeling that there is still a strong and heavy press in the chest.
Next you should move on to slow, long exhalations. At this time, you need to imagine that the heaviness descends lower, grabbing and displacing sensations of emotional tension and tangles of unpleasant thoughts from the body. The exercise ends with the mental “shooting” of all negative emotions into the ground. This is how the press worked.
Medications
It is recommended to contact them only as a last resort. You should not train your body to rely solely on chemical components. It is better to look for strength within yourself in order to cope with an unsatisfactory situation. But there are cases of really strong emotional shock. If such a need arises, it is better to start with the weakest drugs. Serious and highly addictive medications should be avoided. They can only do harm. The human nervous system has a unique ability to heal itself. There is no need to suppress it with potent drugs if the problem is not so global. Always leave yourself a backup option that you can use in a pinch.
Relieve nervous tension without drugs
You can control your condition using a special technique. The only thing that should be obligatory is your own desire. It is necessary to control:
- breath;
- muscle tension;
- presenting positive mental images.
Breathing control is a necessary basis for maintaining a normal emotional state. It is necessary to learn to control the depth of breathing, monitor the frequency with which inhalations and exhalations occur, and for how long a person is able to consciously hold his breath.
By listening to your breathing, it is not difficult to determine whether your physiological needs are met. Against the backdrop of physical and emotional overload, the body experiences severe oxygen starvation, and accordingly, breathing becomes more frequent. If a person is focused, feels calm, relaxed, inhalations and exhalations become less frequent.
Breathing to Clear the Mind
There are also secrets here. First. Pursing your lips tightly, you need to inhale very deeply through your mouth. Exhalation must also be done through the mouth, without opening your lips. Exhalations should resemble short jerks; they should seem to push the air out. You need to suck in your stomach and inhale as deeply as possible.
You should exhale through your mouth in short bursts, in small portions. The lips should be pursed. You need to exhale until you feel like your lungs are completely empty. After a few seconds, everything should be repeated. Such breathing exercises for the nervous system help to cope with stress and general tension in the body.
Journaling
A powerful method to help get rid of negative impressions. Many people do not know how to restore their psyche and nervous system. The solution is obvious: you need to get into the habit of writing down your feelings. Emotions have to spill out somewhere. Otherwise, negative impressions quickly accumulate and affect the course of everyday life. For this purpose, you can use an ordinary general notebook. Regular journaling helps to free yourself from accumulated worries. As a result, the individual gains peace of mind. Learning to look at what is happening from the outside is very important. This is the only way to identify ways out of a personal crisis and determine where to move next. After some time, it is recommended to review and reread your notes. As a rule, you can find something useful in them. It is imperative to draw the necessary conclusions so as not to repeat previous mistakes.
Proper diet
Nutritionists have developed a special diet for those who want to stop being nervous and start enjoying life. If the body lacks potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and iron, then the nervous system and the entire body will suffer. It is especially important to ensure that the body receives the required amount of magnesium.
- You need to eat buckwheat, oat and wheat porridge more often.
- Phosphorus relieves muscle tension and stabilizes the functioning of the nervous system. The trace element is present in milk, cereals and beans.
- Calcium – regulates the functioning of muscles and nerves. Contained in milk, nuts and cabbage.
- Iron – contributes to the normal functioning of the thyroid gland, ensures normal metabolic processes. Present in seafood, river fish, fruits, green vegetables, baked goods.
- Potassium – normalizes the smooth functioning of nerves and muscles, prevents stress and nervous breakdowns. The lack of microelements can be compensated for by vegetables, fruits, lean meat and fish, and dried fruits.
Biking
This point should be considered separately, since it differs from other sports activities. Cycling helps you achieve a state of thoughtful meditation. It is very valuable and helps to unlock inner potential. What does it mean? During such a useful activity, an individual has time to think through many thoughts and make a hundred constructive decisions. This uses the necessary muscles to help maintain physical fitness. Cycling can be limited only by the desire of the person himself or by weather conditions. It has been noted that regular exercise helps release huge amounts of positive energy. Later it can be used for any pressing matters. Making creative decisions is also not without inspiration.
What is mental toughness
Disasters, accidents, illnesses, financial failures, late-night conversations with the wife and other stressors may or may not pull the rug from under us. Our reaction to experience (which, as we know, is the son of difficult mistakes) serves as an indicator of this very stability. Psychologists draw an analogy with the physical properties of materials. Let’s imagine that our psyche has elasticity, that is, it quickly returns to its original state after deformation, and no traces or wounds remain on it. Hop - and the jelly again took the shape of a flower. Let's take strength. In physics (hello, strength of materials!) this is the ability to resist destruction and disintegration under the influence of external loads. We put a whole truck on the jack - but the device was fine, it worked. Or plasticity, when the physical body changes shape, but does not tear or break. Plasticine is now not a ball, but a cake, but it has not lost its green viscous essence.
All these metals, plasticines and jellies are just metaphors illustrating the behavior of our psyche. Stability is good: a person resists stress, retains his qualities and sometimes his appetite - or changes, but in such a way as not to suffer too much and then be able to get into shape again.
The American Psychological Association believes that we are all jacks of some kind, elastic jelly or plasticine. The ability to calmly recover from losses, stress and shocks is our usual quality, and not at all an exceptional phenomenon.
Numerous examples of mass upheavals such as 9/11, armed conflicts and revolutions prove that the majority of those who have experienced severe stress or tragedy still return to normal life. But this does not mean that people with a healthy psyche do not suffer or endure disasters meekly, with the stone face of action heroes. Emotional experiences, pain, sadness - the path to recovery is thorny in any case.
The Psychological Association does not forget to add that resilience is not a single character trait, like frivolity, but a whole complex of innate qualities, our internal attitudes, behavioral characteristics and habits. So you can always improve some sources.
Setting goals
Until we know what we want to do, it can be difficult to figure out how to restore our psyche after severe stress. A person should be as clear as possible about his desires and capabilities. Without this understanding, it is impossible to move forward, remain satisfied with yourself and the accompanying achievements. Defining specific goals will help you stay on track and find the strength to radically change an unsatisfactory situation. The more clearly a person imagines the changes taking place, the easier it becomes to live.
They have a habit of getting enough sleep
It is difficult to overestimate the impact of sleep on mental stability. When we sleep, the brain neutralizes toxic proteins, byproducts of nervous activity. Unfortunately, it can only do this effectively while you sleep, so if you don't get enough sleep, toxic proteins remain in your brain cells, wreaking havoc and impairing your ability to think. And no amount of coffee will help here.
Mentally resilient people know that if they don't sleep enough—or sleep improperly—their self-control, attention, and memory decline; therefore, sleep quality becomes a priority.
Change of environment
In order to get rid of accumulated stress, it is not recommended to sit at home. In an apartment we always move little, and we are also prone to the habit of driving ourselves into big worries. Travel helps a lot. A change of environment helps to get rid of various conditions, including fears and depression. It is best to go somewhere outside the city, into nature. In this case, the individual will have significant peace of mind and will be able to let in new positive energy. It is recommended to meet new interesting people. Exciting communication will help cope with anxiety and despair.
Working with a psychologist
This is the best scenario imaginable. A high-level specialist knows how to minimize the destructive effects of stress and avoid negative consequences. Today there is no point in trying to fight your problems alone. It is much more valuable to be able to entrust your disturbing thoughts to a stranger and want to correct the situation.
Thus, stress must be dealt with. There is no need to hush up problems and burden the psyche even more. A person must, first of all, take responsibility for what is happening. No one will do this for him. If the problem is so strong that it prevents you from living happily, it is highly recommended to contact the community of psychologists and rehabilitation specialists Irakli Pozharisky. Your problems will not go unnoticed.
