We’ve been talking about realisations that are going to help you take charge of anxiety. One key realisation is that most of us take our thoughts far too seriously. It’s important to realise that the brain’s number 1 job is to keep you safe, so it’s naturally going to lean towards showing you the threats in any situation you find yourself in.

Andrew D Huberman PhD, is a Stanford neurobiology professor who runs a lab studying fear. He puts it like this:

“The more we learn about the brain, the more we learn it’s not something that’s supposed to make you happy all the time. It’s mostly a stress-reactive machine. Its primary job is to keep us alive, which is why it’s so easy to flip people into fear all the time.”

It’s primary job is to keep us alive. So the brain will naturally lean toward showing us a threat.

And what we deem a threat has been programmed into our subconscious mind by our BELIEFS about ourselves and the world. And these beliefs have been programmed into our subconscious mind by our upbringing or environment, and also from the way we’ve interpreted the events of our life as it’s unfolded – the MEANING we’ve put on those things that have happened in our life.

Andrew Huberman again:

“The long term solution really comes from realising that their brain is not a perfect device. Every thought you have is not necessarily correct. Your emotion system will take those thoughts and run them like a boat down a stream.”

We need to find out why your body is programmed to respond to everyday situations as if they were a threat, and then we need to change that programming – stop your emotion system from taking that thought and running with it in a downward spiral to anxiety or panic.

You can learn more about this in our 7 part course to take charge of anxiety, and your can get that for free at our Home Page.