Where is your brain?

Have you ever been way overly worried or emotional about something and then suddenly snapped out of it just to realize how crazy you have been making yourself? When you say a child is crying for no reason... do you ever take a step back and think something similar about yourself?

Emotional and irrational vs. logical and realistic. Consider the 2 completely different parts of your brain that control those two modes of thinking. Emotions are stored in the Limbic System (the blue part in the brain below). Logical, rational thinking happens in the Prefrontal Cortex (the bright green part). They feel different because they come from 2 different places.

It's amazing when we have one of those "snap out of it" moments how much our perception of reality changes. All of a sudden, a to-do list that seems 50 miles long becomes doable in bite-size pieces. A child who is crying constantly becomes a living opportunity for you to find a new solution, or try one you already know.

Once our perception of a situation changes, so do the emotions that made it seem so tough. Once we see a problem for what it is, we are able to calmly find a solution.

Functioning out of our logical brain, our Prefrontal Cortex, doesn't mean we ignore the emotions we very well may be feeling. It just means recognizing that the emotions we feel may be making a problem seem much bigger than it is.

When you feel overwhelmed, take a step back. Ask yourself whether what you are perceiving is the real problem or if the true issue is solely being magnified by your feelings. Once you start to look at a problem differently (thinking with a different part of your brain), it may not seem so difficult.

Try Becky Bailey's mantra:  I'm safe. I'm calm. I can handle this.

Once you calm yourself and let your problem solving mind take over, there is no telling what kind of solutions you can come up with.

As Dr. Seuss would say...