In this fast-paced age of the Internet we hear that every minute counts and speed and efficiency are critical. Day after day, week after week, year after year, all this pressure to succeed, achieve, meet goals, make a contribution begins to build up inside of us until one day we are locked in the throes of overwhelm, numb to its debilitating effects on our bodies and quality of life. Information overload – from the media, our jobs, Madison Avenue, junk mail, e-mail, the telephone, political campaigns, charity campaigns, religious campaigns and so much more – often jumbles our thoughts, makes us forgetful and frays our nerves. Overcare, the sense that you have to take care of everyone because no one else will or can, ambition that leads many to burn the candle at both ends, and performance anxiety stemming from the fear that not doing more will cost you your job, are but a few of the byproducts of overwhelm.
Many people experience relentless overwhelm every day and fret over how they can get though everything they have to do. They trudge on because they believe they must and that things will never change. Chronic overwhelm is one of the major causes of anxiety and anxiety disorders. When you’re overwhelmed, your mind overloads with all that’s going on. It takes a toll on your nervous, immune and hormonal systems, and left unattended likely will produce cycles of anxiety, fatigue and temporary despair. People on this kind of overload are more susceptible to disease and they age faster. (See our Recommendations).
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."
—Henry David Thoreau
A chief contributor to overwhelm is "project identity," when you invest a great deal of mental energy into a project and often, without realizing it, a lot of emotional energy too. All that energy can create tunnel vision, leaving you unable to see or appreciate other important things in your life. When someone or something interferes with that focus, the result frequently is irritation, anxiousness and frustration, especially when deadlines must be met. You push people away, neglect other areas of your life, but still press on until eventually you lapse into overwhelm, a kind of emotional chaos. In the end, overwhelm can seriously damage not only your relationships and quality of life, but even the project in which you buried yourself to the exclusion of all else.
Another hallmark of overwhelm in today’s world, particularly in affluent nations such as the United States, is "stimulation overload." You see this in adults and children who constantly move from one form of stimulation to another: coffee, soda, food, shopping, the Internet, movies, TV, computer games and more. It’s true that Madison Avenue knows the precise buttons to push to keep you hooked, but your intelligent heart knows when enough stimulation is enough and you need to chill out and re-energize. Unfortunately, your mind can easily override these warning signals until you spiral down into overwhelm.
Whether you’re on the treadmill of stimulation overload, working at a job where the pace is unbearable and you can’t see a way out or you simply want to rein in your emotions before overwhelm can take hold, you can rest assured knowing help is within reach. The Institute of HeartMath has been devoted for 19 years to helping people around the world manage their stress and emotions and live healthier, happier lives with easy-to-learn tools practiced minutes a day.
Recognizing Overwhelm
Always rushed, too much to do, not enough time.
Mentally scattered, not feeling in control.
Tunnel vision: irritation at anyone or anything that breaks your focus.
Internal pressure: raw or gnawing feeling in your gut, knot in your stomach.
Impatience: lack of compassion for self and others, judgmental thinking.
Feeling a constant slow burn inside.
Low-grade shock and strain.
Zombielike numbness: no feelings – positive or negative; mental or emotional paralysis.
Feeling disconnected from life.
Decreased enjoyment of projects, relationships or life in general.
Feeling all-consuming alarm and dread.
The Pressures of Time
Who hasn’t reached some milestone such as a birthday or anniversary, graduation or retirement or the passing of a loved one and paused to reflect on the relentless passage of time. There’s no stopping it, and the more time that passes, the more complex our existence seems to become, and, wouldn’t you know it, all that complexity demands even more of our time. A common lament in the business world, at school and around the house is: "If only I had more time." We’re afraid to step back, even for a moment, out of fear of falling further behind. It can safely be argued that collectively we are overwhelmed by the pressures of time now more than at any other point in history. The sense that there’s never enough time is a major energy drain and can leave us feeling inadequate, nervous and hopeless, adversely affecting our health and well-being. Will the wheels of time simply roll on until we are so far behind we can never catch up?
What if you could somehow shift time in your favor, gather up a few moments here, an hour there and use it any way you like? Would you be willing? Of course you would. And you can. Why, it would almost be like stealing time, and yet not really, for it is time that is already yours, there for the gaining, or more precisely, there for not losing.
"Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday."
—Author unknown
Time-shifting is not some concept borne of science fiction or tales of the future. It is a simple process in which time is saved and gained as you change your perceptions of it. Recall any situation that elicited a negative response from you and consider how much time you spent entwined in that response: a minute, five minutes, an hour, or was there one in which you threw up your hands and said, "That’s it. I’m outta here!" and the rest of that day was spent wallowing in your response. What if you had stepped back immediately and told yourself, "OK, it happened, but I won’t dwell on it"? How much time would you have saved then? How much would you have saved in the past year?
"Time shifting is survival in the Internet age. It describes an internal state so coherent that your perception of time – and your ability to shape it – changes dramatically. Every time you catch yourself before falling into a negative reaction, you have time shifted. Every time you stop long enough to find an intuitive solution instead of rushing ahead impulsively, you have time shifted. Every time you allow your intuitive intelligence to propel you out of inertia or confusion, you have time-shifted. If you arrive at a solution to a difficult personal or organizational issue in five minutes instead of five hours, you have time shifted. You have jumped out of the self-limiting mental frequency that says, "Certain things just take time," into a new dimension. Time shifting means moving past standard linear time flows."
Recommended
A HeartMath TIP: When you start feeling overwhelm or time pressure, take a few minutes to try these simple steps adapted from the HeartMath Attitude Breathing® tool.
Focus on your heart as you breathe in. Focus on your solar plexus as you breathe out.
Concentrate on a positive feeling or attitude as you breathe.
Lock in this feeling.
As you become adept at this technique select new feelings and attitudes.
emWave® Personal Stress Reliever: Regular use of this entertaining and scientifically validated, hand-held stress-relief technology has proven to be a vital tool in recognizing and reducing overwhelm, anxiety, stress and anger. The emWave® PSR is easy to use and noninvasive. It will help you achieve heart coherence – synchronization between the heart and brain – and to reach your optimal physical and mental potential
– the zone. The tools that come with the emWav PSR, including Quick Coherence®, will teach you to regulate your emotions and prepare for events that can trigger time-consuming stress responses, as well as help you recover from stressful episodes. Carry your emWave PSR anywhere and revitalize your mind, body and spirit anytime.
emWave® PC / emWave® Mac Stress Relief System:†
The emWave PC/Mac turns your computer into a self-contained heart-rhythm-coherence monitor and manager. It let’s you see how emotions affect your heart rhythms – negative ones pulling you down and draining your energy, positive ones lifting you up and revitalizing your spirit.
Discover how easily you can reduce overwhelm and stress levels and replace negative emotions with positive ones that, with a little sincere practice, can give you instant energy boosts and gradually help build a more invigorated you. Relying on 19 years of scientific research, the emWave PC/Mac, in tandem with key HeartMath techniques you’ll receive and easily learn, will help you increase your energy, use your time more efficiently and start living life more fully.
† Formerly known as Freeze-Framer®.
Transforming Anxiety: The HeartMath Solution for Overcoming Fear and Worry and Creating Serenity, by Doc Childre and Deborah Rozman. Here is your sourcebook for managing and overcoming your anxieties. The chapter Managing Overwhelm takes a close look at how you can recognize overwhelm. This chapter also includes, among other sections, the following: Project Identity, Overwhelm and Your Nervous System and Common Causes of Overwhelm.
This informative book will tell you why anxiety disorders plague so many in today’s fast-paced world, and it gives in-depth instructions on how you can use the HeartMath System to overcome your fears and worries and create more serenity in your life. You’ll also get complete details on the powerful Cut-Thru® technique to guide you through the process of clearing and releasing your old perceptions, thoughts and feelings from the cells in your body and replacing them with new, positive attitudes.
Learn more…
A Harris Poll found that 84% of Americans suffer from emotional chaos. Find out what men and women ranked as the leading causes of their emotional chaos and learn more about the Institute of HeartMath’s cutting-edge research and the HeartMath System’s life-changing tools and technology.
Gloria felt she was always drowning in too much to do. The children, job and chores around the house all battled for her time and there was no money to hire help. She was overwhelmed, but instead of reacting in the same, old stressful ways she shifted to her business heart. Read Gloria’s Story in the summer 2007 newsletter and learn what it means to "mean business."
