NEROCYCLING

Caroline Leaf (2021).Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple, 

                                   Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety, 

                                   Stress, and Toxic Thinking.

Leaf is a neuroscientist with a clinical practice and has 38 years of research behind her method of coping with stresses of all kinds, including acute trauma, called neurocycling. She presents research of a clinical trial that shows, compared to the control, that neurocycling is good for our cells, brain activity, mental health and various blood markers--she goes into considerable detail on these later points for those interested. Suffice it to say that neurocycling is good for one's brain and health (physical and psychological).

In brief, the method of neurocycling consists of 5 steps, each step requiring 1-5 minutes, to be performed daily for 63 days (she shows how 21 days to make a habit is incorrect, that it takes 63 days). Only one issue is considered at a time (e.g., one negative thought) in the process of neurocycling for 63 days, then one proceeds to the next issue. The 5 steps are:

1) Gather--observe what one is thinking and feeling

2) Reflect--ask and answer questions out loud to get at the root causes

3) Write in a journal--get it all out, then organize it

4) Recheck--edit, evaluate

5)Active Reach--develop a plan of action, something small, that one can do every day to address the issue

I found that i naturally engage in neurocycling when things upset me--i turn to my journal, and the Holy Spirit helps me work through whatever issue i have, first catharting without judgment, getting it all out, then making sense of it which often involves rewriting parts, then creating a plan for what to do different next time, however, i don't do this every day, i reserve this intense kind of journaling for times when big things are bothering me. Her suggestion is we should do something like this every day for our well being as a kind of self-care maintenance--a real challenge.