Techniques to Regain Focus and Overcome Anxiety
If you have anxiety that is keeping you from doing your best, there are techniques
to help you regain your focus.
Today I will provide you with a short explanation on what your body is doing to create the anxiety
and a technique that will help you counter it, so you can take back control.
And if you stay to the end, the bonus law fact looks at whether, from a legal perspective,
blondes really do have more fun.
- Understanding Anxiety: Causes and Effects
What is anxiety
Hello lawlings, this is Professor Beau Baez.
An uncomfortable feeling called anxiety is brought on by memories or anticipation of future occurrences.
of past events, or ruminations about the self.
Anxiety-afflicted people are paralysed by worry and terror.
Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology.
First, let me say that I am not a physician, psychologist, or counselor.
While most people watching this video will find what I am about to share helpful, you
may need to seek professional help if you are suffering from intense or clinical anxiety.
Emotions are generally outside of our direct control, and we feel them based on our life experiences.
If someone has ever told you to stop feeling a certain way, you know how ridiculous that is.
What we can do is to decide how we will react to our emotions.
Now, for a very quick science lesson so you can understand anxiety a bit better, and then
use a technique to keep it under control.
- The 5-4-3-2-1 Method: Grounding Your Senses to Reduce Anxiety
Science lesson
Our emotions are connected to the nervous system, which is comprised of two parts.
First, we have the sympathetic system which activates our body through the fight-or-flight response.
Second is the parasympathetic system, which helps our bodies to calm down.
To be healthy, you need to have the calming system outweigh the activating system.
The technique I want to teach you today, is sometimes called the 5-4-3-2-1 method, which will help ground
The technique
your senses to the present, which should make you less anxious about the past or future.
After all, what good is it going to do you to worry about an exam that you took yesterday,
or one that's coming up tomorrow?
All that anxiety can do is to create stress and keep you from focusing on what you can do right now.
To ground yourself in the present, you will use all five senses, one at a time.
Sight.
Look at five things around you, one at a time.
Look at 5 things
Spend time looking at each thing, focusing on details like shape, color, texture, or
how the light reflects off the object.
If you are by yourself, say it aloud.
On this painting I see a symbol, penetrating eyes, tiles, vertical white line, the light isn’t
too bright, no frame…
You get the idea.
And don’t forget, do this for five separate things.
Also, if you can, try to find something that you’ve never really looked at before.
It can literally be anything, including a spot on the carpet.
Touch.
Touch 4 things
Now, touch four things one at a time.
This could be something as simple as feeling your shirt on your arms.
How does it make you feel?
Does it feel soft, tight, cool, or warm.
In other words, don’t rush.
If you are working on a computer, stop.
Think about how your fingers feel when you are typing, rub your thumbs along the space bar, see how that feels.
Maybe rub your big toe inside your shoe.
One of my students told me she touches a bit of soft fur on the sleeve of her winter
coat, because it's very soft.
Do this exercise on four different things.
Sound
Now, stop and listen for three different sounds.
As I was preparing this talk, I began listening to by fingers typing on the keyboard.
Next, I heard a slight hum in the distance, which I think was from my neighbor’s outside heating unit.
For my third sound, I began to hear my breathing coming up my esophagus and out my nose.
Spend a few seconds on each sound.
Smell.
Smell
Try to smell two things.
For me, I had an empty cup of hot chocolate, which I enjoyed earlier in the day,
the cup was still on my desk, I hadn't taken it to the sink yet.
But I could still smell a slight hint of chocolate in the air.
Next, I raised my arm next to my nose.
I could smell the slight scent from the soap I used earlier in the morning when taking a shower.
Taste.
Taste
What one thing can you taste.
If you carry some candy, place a piece in your mouth, maybe some gum.
Or if you are having a snack, take a bite and truly taste what you are eating.
If you don’t have anything handy, what do you taste in your mouth?
I can still taste a little bit of almond milk that I had enjoyed an hour and a half ago.
By going through this exercise, you will ground yourself in the now,
causing your calming nervous system to take over from your activating system.
Bonus Law Fact
Now, for today’s bonus law fact.
It was 2005 when Charlotte purchased blonde dye color to enhance her natural blonde hair.
To her shock and horror, the dye turned her hair brown.
Though she tried to restore her hair color, she claims she is now permanently brunette.
As an aside, if she can sell this magic dye to people with gray hair, she's going to become filthy rich.
She sued the beauty company arguing, in effect, that blondes have more fun than brunettes.
"I can never go back to my natural blonde hair," she stated.
I feel fake about that.
Additionally, blondes are noticed more than brunettes.
Of course, emotionally, I miss that.”
She testified that her social interactions became more limited, saying “I stay at home
I wear hats the majority of the time now more than ever before.
Her new status as a brunette has resulted in clinical depression and the use of antidepressants.
The beauty company countered that she likely purchased brown dye by accident, but even
if she did purchase the blonde color, the instructions say to test it on one strand of hair.
Like anybody really does that, anyway.
Legal Question
The judge was left with an important legal question of first impression in the United States:
do blondes really have more fun?
Ruling against her, the judge explained that she “submitted no facts, no opinions and standards.”
Interestingly, there are a few scientific studies that have examined this question,
and one study found that blondes are seen as more attractive, healthier, and younger
than brunettes, and that blondes earn more money than brunettes.
However, other studies have found that brunettes are more attractive.
So at this point, the jury is still out on whether blondes have more fun.
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