Hello and welcome to Sunday Mind.
This series is designed to help you slow down,
Check in with yourself,
And meet the week ahead with more awareness and ease.
Are you noticing that Sunday feels different in your body?
Your thoughts become more persistent.
You start running through the week ahead.
You feel restless,
Have trouble settling.
And you might wonder.
Why am I anxious?
Nothing is happening right now.
Here's the interesting part.
Anxiety doesn't always begin with something happening in the present.
Your nervous system is also designed to prepare you for what might happen next.
When the future contains uncertainty or the possibility of something difficult.
Your brain can begin anticipating it before you're actually there.
And that anticipation can put your whole system on high alert,
Like it needs to be ready for something.
Preparing for what will or what we believe might happen.
Sunday is a particularly interesting threshold because Monday is a known transition point.
The week ahead contains demands,
Social commitments,
Decisions,
Deadlines,
Uncertainty,
And things that may feel outside of your control.
There can also be a lot to hold at different stages or transition points in your life.
Your relationship with work and priorities might be changing.
You may even be asking bigger questions about what's working in your life and what could come next.
So if Sunday evening is that moment for you when it all gets loud.
Your system is shifting from resting in what is to preparing for what comes next.
You may not consciously decide to start worrying.
Your system may simply begin scanning for potential threats.
Or anticipating what's ahead.
And the more uncertain or ambiguous something feels.
The harder it can be for the brain to determine that it's safe to stand down.
What do we do with that?
Your initial instinct might be to tell yourself to stop worrying.
Think positively,
Relax.
But if your body is already responding to what your mind believes to be true,
Or the potential of something going sideways,
Telling yourself not to worry isn't necessarily going to make the feeling disappear.
So I'd like to offer something different today.
Rather than asking yourself to feel differently.
Begin by noticing what is true for you today,
Not because we want to stay in the worry.
But because your experience is information.
When something feels threatening or uncertain,
Your nervous system doesn't necessarily need to tell you that everything is fine.
It needs accurate information.
Acknowledging your experience is part of giving your brain that information.
I'm anxious about tomorrow.
I'm disappointed the week is ending.
I'm worried I won't be able to handle what's coming.
I'm tired just thinking about it.
Naming what's actually happening doesn't mean we're agreeing with every thought that comes with it.
And it doesn't mean staying stuck in the feeling.
It means we're no longer asking ourselves to fight the fact that we're having the experience.
And from there,
We have somewhere to begin.
Another part of this that matters.
You have evidence about yourself that exists outside of whatever your mind is predicting tonight.
You've lived through difficult weeks.
You've handled things you didn't expect.
You've adapted.
You've figured things out.
Your lived experience is information too.
This isn't about replacing a difficult feeling with a positive one.
It's about making room for the whole picture.
What am I feeling?
What is actually happening.
What do I know to be true?
And what do I know about myself?
Let's pause to check in with some of these questions.
Either in your mind or on a blank page if you have a journal with you.
Answer the question.
What am I actually worried about?
Try to get as specific as you can.
What is it about tomorrow?
What is the thought that keeps returning?
What are you afraid might happen?
As you gently hold that acknowledgement.
Repeat to yourself,
This worry that I feel.
These thoughts,
Fears that keep returning.
They are my present experience.
I acknowledge them.
And I meet them without judgment.
I don't need to understand them completely.
I don't need to change them.
And I know that there is more truth to my story than just these thoughts.
Let's make a little more room for that.
Ask yourself,
What else is true?
What do you know about yourself that exists beyond this particular moment?
Your capacity,
Your experience.
The things you've learned,
The things you've overcome.
The things you've figured out along the way.
Allow yourself to remember one.
And gently holding that in your mind's eye.
Say out loud or in your mind,
This too is part of my story.
Notice what happens in your body as you hold both things at once.
The uncertainty can be here.
And so can your capacity to see.
The whole picture.
