Emotions elevate anxiety

Jill Bolte Taylor, neuroscientist and brain expert who experienced a stroke explains in My Stroke of Insight that the natural life span of an emotion—the average time it takes for it to move through the Nervous System and body—is only a minute and a half. After that we need thoughts to keep the emotion rolling. So, if we wonder why we lock into painful emotional states like anxiety, depression, or rage, we need look no further than our own endless stream of inner dialogue.

Calm excessive thoughts

Sometimes the nerves create excitation and happiness, and the desire to drift off into planning and fantasy and just plain happiness. I ask myself why I would want to make myself completely complacent (total calm) and do away with this wonderful part of me? I don't. It's my personality that I like. Kept in check, I keep who I am in balance.

Any activity that calms my emotions, which has a tendency to cause me to drift off into a story, calms my Nervous System and allows me to focus on the true essence of who I am. Emotions and stories are truly what get in the way and activate my Nervous System. When I am doing yoga, I am focused after about 10 minutes into it, and it keeps clarifying more and more.