How has your soul been this past week? How is your soul today?

With all that is currently happening in our world, I could imagine, for many of us, our souls are worn down with fear, anxiety, uncertainty, disappointments, and worry of the unknowns. For some, fear is always right there under the surface, ready to come out and grip our soul. For others, living with constant anxiety and fear is unfamiliar and new territory. Regardless, these triggers can wear us down emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

Anxiety, fear, and trauma triggers are fueled by adrenaline. Basically, what happens is our brain triggers by telling us we are in danger in a given situation, and adrenaline is released filling us with the energy we need to either fight or flee whatever we are facing. Adrenaline is the fuel for the fire of fear and anxiety, and we want to shut it down in its tracks. If we continue to think, ruminate, or overthink about whatever situation has triggered us, we will continue to produce adrenaline. This means we will continue to have fear-led, anxiety-driven, and trauma memories consuming our minds.

So Kristin, how do we stop this?

Great question! We stop this by putting our minds on something else other than what our consuming thoughts are telling us. I explain it this way to those I work within my private practice:

Have you ever seen a water dam? There are gates in the water dam that can either be opened or closed. When opened, water continues to rush out of it. This is what adrenaline is like in our brain, and we need to shut the water (adrenaline) gates, so no more adrenaline is released in our minds. We have to purposely put our thoughts on other things, not telling ourselves to not think about what has us fearful because we all know how well that works. Instead, we need to give ourselves permission on what we can think about. Often I will teach individuals to count backward from 100 and to visualize the numbers in their mind as they are counting. Another one is to breathe in slowly, imagining breathing in the peace of God as it is filling every part of them and fear leaving them when they breathe out.

In week three of our Soul Care Series: Grounding in Christ, our focus is on being intentional about what and where are thoughts go. Giving ourselves permission on what to think about as we continue with our 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 activity.

This series is meant to be a building block upon the week before, which means we continue to use the skills we previously learned, and each week we add an additional one. In week one, we began with grounding ourselves in God’s Word, specifically in the Psalms. The book of Psalms is filled with hope in times of trouble, life when we need to be encouraged, and direction for difficult times in our lives. As we focused on the Psalms, we looked specifically at five Psalms to use as our focal point in our reading each day and as a direction in our prayers. Week two, we focused on four things we can physically see with our eyes that we are thankful for each day and to give thanks to God for them every day. This helps us by transitioning off of fear and anxiety triggers and instead focusing on the good we see in our lives.

(links below to download image)

Here’s the plan: 3 Worship songs = 15 Minutes. Each day we spend fifteen minutes in worship listening to three worship songs. As we pause and take the time to worship our Lord and Savior daily, there is a shift that takes place deep within each of us. Focus on the words of the songs, make them your prayer, and invite the Holy Spirit to fill you with God’s peace and presence in a greater measure. As we do this, we magnify God, and He becomes our focal point, not our fear.

On our infographic, I have listed a few of my favorite songs. I will also be posting videos of additional worship songs you can use for your three worship songs a day on my Facebook page, so be sure to visit me there each day (link below).

I am so grateful for this opportunity to continue on this journey with you. Would you join me as we take our focus off of our triggers and on to our God? I am praying for you and with you, my friend. 

I would love to hear from you, my friend, so be sure to comment below your favorite worship songs or how this has impacted you this week.

Blessings,

P.S. If you have a friend who you believe needs to hear this message, please be sure to share it with them.