How your nervous system responds to care

It can help to think of this as a relationship you are responsible for.

Imagine a child in your care.

Everything you feed that child matters. What they hear, what they experience, how they are spoken to.

If they are criticised, ignored or dismissed, they become more distressed.

If they are nurtured, guided and supported, they begin to settle.

They feel safe. They trust.

Your nervous system works in the same way.

When you take care of it, you begin to feel calm.

When you feel calm, your life becomes easier.

And when you change, your relationships and your world begin to change with you.

How your thoughts and beliefs shape anxiety

Now consider how your internal beliefs shape what you experience.

You decide.

It goes in the direction of back to front. Not the other way round.

Look at the image of a side profile of a head.

At the back of the head is the belief: I am safe and calm.

An arrow moves from the back of the head to the front of the face.

Your belief informs the lens you look through.

Then the world appears.

In this case the world is manageable, steady and calm. Your belief created that.

Now a second image.

The same side profile.

At the back of the head is the belief: I am scared, worried, not in control.

Again, moving from the back of the head, to the front of face.

The belief informs and the lens has changed. Now everything you see appears threatening, overwhelming or unsafe.

Your nervous system is informed by your mind, what you believe.

Your body responds to those beliefs

Your perception of the world is shaped by them.

You are not at the mercy of your system.

You are in relationship with it.

And that means you can begin to influence it, gently and consistently, in a way that brings you back to calm.