Hey, guys, welcome to not another anxiety show. I'm your host, Kelly Walker, and I will be leading you through another quick and easy neuroplasticity exercise today.

And if that word neuroplasticity is throwing you off a bit, then go ahead and listen to episode 27 after this.

In the meantime, think of this as an exercise that strengthens your brain, particularly your higher brain,

the part of your brain that regulates emotion, is able to see things clearly and

think more logically. Next time you notice yourself in an emotional funk, whether it's fear,

doubt, insecurity, frustration, or just a bleh, mood, go ahead and ask yourself, what's the story here?

Our emotions are feedback for however we're interpreting the world around us,

so it's a great opportunity to see what stories we innocently fuse with

and then innocently add to.

If you'd like, you can take it a step further by asking not only what's the

story here, but also what urges come up with this story, with these thoughts, and where do I feel

this in my body? Even if you can't find an answer, it's the act of taking a step back,

asking the question, and looking at things from a

different angle that strengthens our higher brain. So I'll share an example of what this might look

like. The other day, I just happened to notice my mood shifting. This doesn't always happen.

Sometimes I'm completely unaware of, you know, being stuck in the

middle of emotional muck. But this day I was gifted with some awareness and noticed that my mood was

shifting towards feeling a bit tense, grumpy, and defeated. So I asked myself, what's the story

here? And realized the story that kept playing over and over was,

I am trapped by our new house. Of course, that day we were working on a house project, as we do

most weekends now. And too often these house projects take about twice as long and cost twice as much money to complete.

And that day, it just left me feeling like, ugh, this house is never going to be what I imagined.

...