“When I grip the wheel too tight, I find I lose control.” -Steve Rapson

Any thought or action you have either runs down one of two autonomic nervous system pathways: the sympathetic (fight or flight) or the parasympathetic (rest and digest) path. 🫁

We feel guilty for resting, for letting go, and “being” without doing, because we live in a society obsessed with productivity. Often we go down the sympathetic pathway in ways we don’t even realize. Things that trigger the sympathetic nervous system are resentments, worry, toxic relationships, trauma, anger/ frustrations, and going too long without eating. Each of these trigger you the same way that a tiger chasing you down in the wild would. Our brains haven’t yet evolved to be able to distinguish all the non-life threatening stressors we face in modern life from the real threats of our ancestors. 🏃🏼‍♀️🐅

If we keep operating predominantly out of “fight or flight”, we throw our HPA Axis off balance, which can result in conditions like chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and thyroid dysfunction. Healing, repair, and digestion ONLY occur in the parasympathetic - this is why it’s important to rewire the neural pathways and train yourself away from your sympathetic nervous system dominance.

Try this right now: get a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. On one side write “Rest & Digest” and “Fight or Flight” on the other. Write down all the thoughts and actions you encounter in your daily life which allow you to relax without numbing, that fills your cup, and gives you the feeling of just being happily content and authentically you. On the other side, write down all of the things that trigger you big or small, the things and situations that make you angry, and cause your body stress.

This exercise helps you identify what you can let go of, so you can find more ways to flow in parasympathetic “rest and digest” mode.  It helps you assess where you can “loosen the grip” in your life, and from a place of awareness, you can consciously choose which path you take. 🛣