“Simple” Solution When You Get Stressed Out

If you can’t see the wood for the trees, then listen to how my client got clarity and got to work on his plan of action.  

All of us feel stressed, overwhelmed or fearful at some point. Lots of my clients come to me because this stressed out state has become the norm and they want to change it. 

My job is to help you understand yourself better. That means you will know exactly what you have to do (and in what order) so you can get a better outcome for yourself.

With a client, I was discussing a significant part of behavioural neuroscience – Triune brain theory; but don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be complicated. Watch the 4 minute video below to grasp what I’m talking about it. This could be the first step to you getting the control you want in your life to give you more happiness. 

Below the video you’ll find an outline of what I say as a transcript. 

Hi there 

I’m Gordon McCrorie The Happiness Guy. This is a video for anybody who struggles with stress, or overwhelm or when you can’t see the wood for the trees or when you just feel stuck. 

It came about from seeing a client last week. Of course, I see clients experiencing these difficulties all of the time, but this story is quite interesting and hopefully very useful. 

My client is an architect and he has a wife and two kids. I would normally do sessions face to face with clients but Connor’s time was limited so we ended up doing most of our sessions over the phone. 

I’m quite technical (I’m a science geek) and I like to draw things to visually show certain things. So with me explaining, I took a bit of a chance. As Connor is an architect, used to drawing things, I got us both to try and draw the same thing. I took him through this visual presentation and in that presentation is something called “Tri Une Brain Theory”. And if you want some more information on that there is a video on it on You Tube here.

Tri-Une Brain Theory is really useful. I use it with so many clients, to help them uncover what’s really going on. So a short version for you:

I spent twenty minutes or so working through this particular theory. Getting Connor to draw it his end as I’m drawing it my end. This theory is based on brain evolution; there are parts of the brain that are really old that belong to the reptile, there are Neomammalian parts and there are much more recent human parts. In this video we are talking about this, there is a little jargon with it as well and chatting about what they all do.

The reason I’m mentioning all of this is because I’m going into significant depth because to me all of that stuff kind of really matters to help understand it. And I’m checking he is with me as we go. We get to the end and I’m feeling really quite good about it and I look for a little bit of feedback. So I say “Connor, how did you find that?”

And basically after twenty minutes of my presentation he says this: 

“So what you are saying is whenever I find myself in some kind of fear based situation or overwhelm or when I am uncertain … what I should do is list the problems, prioritise the problem and take action on the first thing on the list.”

So I agree “Yes that’s what you have to do” and he’s like “thanks for that”. 

But what I thought was really funny is that  of course I feel there is a need for all the detail. But after all of that it can be summed up really succinctly:

When you are stressed out, overwhelmed, or deep in fear. When you are uncertain of things or when things are going too fast or too slow you have to start off by listing it all. The overwhelm is that there is too much – so list it. Break it down. Then prioritise what is most important and then think “of that which is most important – what one thing can I do that I would want to do that will move this thing forward?” Then take action!

As soon as you are taking action, you are moving forward and things are going to start getting better. It really can be as simple as that.

I just wanted to share that story with you. That is Connor’s story; how I found I like the complexities of it; he liked the simplicity of it.”

It is called TriUne Brain Theory. That’s the story, I hope it was useful for you. Let me know your thoughts. And keep (or start) taking action.

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