Flight Mode
I lived in flight mode for the majority of my 30s.
(No, I’m not talking about the setting on my phone).
Our flight response evolved to help us run away from danger but your brain doesn’t know the difference between real and perceived danger.
It simply responds to the mind.
That’s why you can get yourself into an anxious and nervous state by imagining the presentation you have to give next week or by wondering whether it’s really true that we swallow 8 spiders a year whilst sleeping*.
When our mind becomes preoccupied with anxious and worrisome thoughts, our bodies cannot help but respond.
Signs of day-to-day flight mode include:
Feelings of restlessness, anxiety and panic
Experience of one activity after the other in quick succession
Tunnel vision and hyper focus
Wanting to escape our current circumstances
If this sounds like you, it’s simply a sign that your mind is not at peace.
Ask yourself:
What am I running away from?
What do I not believe I can handle?
What is it about my current situation that I want to distance myself from?
What am I avoiding?
This will help to clarify what your mind is wrestling with. You can talk this through with someone you trust, journal, draw - whatever way feels natural to you.
Fight mode usually makes us feel pumped and ready for action (which is why caffeine can often make these states even more extreme), as well as:
Feelings of anger and aggression
Tightened jaw and grinding teeth
Tense, knotted stomach
If this feels familiar, you can ask yourself:
What am I resisting?
Where in my life do I have competing priorities?
What is happening which I am not accepting?
What do I wish was different?
The symptoms of a freeze state include feeling stuck and numb. We will often hold our breath or breathe from our chest rather than our stomach.
Other signs include:
A sense of dread
Focus on the problem without taking any action.
(Like lying in bed worrying about all the things that could go wrong the next day)
Here, you can ask yourself:
What am I blocking out in the hope it will go away?
What am I focusing on that is preventing me from taking action?
Where am I stuck?
What am I holding my breath about to see what happens?
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Becoming aware of what is happening in our body can point us back to what’s going in our minds. Our mind is always the source of our experience. Everything else is a reflection of our mind.
If you’d like to know how the mind creates your experience, and what to do when you don’t like how it feels, DM me for a free 60 minute workshop.
*it’s not true. It’s WAAAAY more than that.
(Joke).
