233.Stop Overthinking with Tacos & Unicorns

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Links for today’s episode:
Blog Post: https://www.kathieowen.com/blog/stop-overthinking-anxiety-word-trick-brain-hack
Kathie’s Links: https://www.kathieowen.com/links
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Book a quick call with us: https://tidycal.com/kathie-owen/top-workplace-15minutes

In today’s video, we discuss:
How Unicorns and Tacos Help Me Stop Overthinking: A Simple Anxiety Hack

In this episode of Kathie's Coaching Podcast, Kathie Owen shares a unique and effective strategy to combat overthinking and anxiety. By using random, silly words like 'giraffe,' 'unicorn,' and 'tacos,' you can interrupt your anxiety loops and find immediate relief.

Learn how this fun and unexpected technique can help you break free from anxiety and gain clarity. Kathie dives into the neuroscience behind this method and provides step-by-step instructions on how to use the 'random word reset' to shift your state of mind.

If you're struggling with overthinking or morning anxiety, this episode offers a simple and fast tool to help you find peace and presence. Don't forget to share your favorite random words in the comments and subscribe for more mindset tools.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction: Overthinking and Anxiety
00:53 Personal Story: Panic Attacks and Morning Anxiety
02:27 The Random Word Technique: A Surprising Solution
04:24 How It Works: The Science Behind the Technique
06:26 Practical Steps: Using the Random Word Reset
10:48 Conclusion: Embracing Peace and Presence

Transcript

0:01

How unicorns and tacos help me stop overthinking for real. Hi friend. Welcome back. It's Kathie Owen here and you're listening to Kathie's Coaching Podcast, and today we're talking about. Overthinking, you know, that anxiety spiral, that hamster wheel of thoughts. You know, the one where your brain just won't shut up. Yeah, that one. And I'm not just talking about anxiety today. I'm sharing a very real, very simple and very unexpected tool that helped me break free from anxiety. The best part, it's fun, it's weird, and it works instantly. Let's get into it. So picture this, I was deep in it. I had a panic attack. I had several panic attacks. In fact, like I couldn't think straight. My heart was racing. I couldn't make a decision kind of anxiety. It was about something in my past, something I could not control, but my brain did not care, and even though I knew logically that worrying about it wouldn't help. My thoughts kept looping day after day until I had a few full-blown panic attacks. And I'm talking panic attacks, especially in the morning. Did you know that morning anxiety is a real thing? And actually what happens is around three to 4:00 AM your body starts producing more cortisol, which is the stress hormone. And my body had gotten really. Sensitive to it and I could feel it, it would wake me up. Next thing I know, I'm trying to solve my problems. All of my problems with this brain that was on fire and I was stressed majorly. And really when I look back on it now, it was things that. No. First of all, I couldn't fix that at four o'clock in the morning, and second of all, it wasn't as bad as my mind was making it out to be. Yeah, that's anxiety for you. But one morning I finally reached out to one of my friends from the mastermind, Katherine, and she's the kind of person who gives you truth. With love and she's walked through her own healing journey too. And I messaged her because she was in California at the time, and I'm like, I know it's like two o'clock in the morning there, but I'm can't stop thinking about this. And I know it's irrational, but it's taking over everything. And I explained what was going on. And she replied with something that sounded totally random when she called me back. She said what she did in the past and this helped her was she just said, say these random words out loud if you can. Giraffe cu candy, octopus, elephant, hippo, screwdriver, tacos, porcupine, unicorn. I'm like, okay. She said at first she had just maybe 10 words that she would say, but she said, keep thinking of all these kinds of words. And I was like, ah. I kind of understood what she did because I tried it and what happened next shocked me. Within seconds, my brain slowed down. It was like someone had hit the pause button on the thought loop. I kept going, giraffe, cotton, candy, octopus, elephant, banjo. Then again and again, and somehow the anxious thoughts, they just disappeared. It felt silly. Yes. But I also felt relieved and I also kind of understood what was going on because I had studied neurology in psychology and I kind of understood, so, so let's talk about that. So why did this weird list of words actually help? It was something that was happening inside my brain, and it can happen in yours too, if you ever try this. When we're stuck in a thought loop, especially one fueled by fear, our brain keeps firing the same neural pathways over and over. It's like your mind is stuck on one trail, one muddy path, and every time you think about that situation, it digs the path deeper. But here's the good news. Novelty interrupts the pattern. When you say random words like screwdriver and unicorn, your brain goes, wait, wait, what? Where are we going with this? It disrupts the loop. It activates your prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain responsible for logic, calm, and decision making, and it helps turn off the amygdala, that little almond shaped thing that loves to yell. Danger even when you're safe in your own kitchen.. And actually the amygdala. Is something that starts to look for things. So if you say Purple elephant, it's gonna start looking for purple things and actually start thinking about that. It's a pattern interruption or a cognitive redirection. And once that anxious loop is interrupted, you shift into a better state of mind, and that's what happened to me. You're no longer reacting from fear or panic. You are responding from clarity. You can finally ask yourself, what do I actually wanna do right now? What's true in this moment, what is in my control? And from that place, you make better choices. You breathe deeper. You stop future tripping or past obsessing. Okay? Now I wanna teach you how to use this tool. This is what I call the random word reset. You can use it anywhere in the car, at your desk, or even in bed like I did at 3:00 AM. Step one, you notice the loop. Just say, okay, I'm spiraling. This is a loop. Awareness is everything. Take a deep breath and relax. Say 10 random words out loud if possible, and don't overthink it. Just go random, random word. Here's some of my favorites. Giraffe, unicorn, tacos, screwdriver, elephant, porcupine, cotton, candy, octopus, banjo, cactus. Actually, the sillier the better. If you can start laughing at some of these words and realize how funny this is, you actually interrupt the thought pattern. That's just a pendulum and you know, a pendulum. In reality, trans surfing is something that. We just try to keep our minds away from, and when we can laugh at it, it helps us break the pendulum trying to get our energy. And then in step three, I want you to feel the shift. Notice what changes. If the loop tries to come back, do it again. You are literally rewiring your brain here in real time. Try it. I just ask you to try it. Try it next time and see what happens. It's amazing and it's just the way our brain works. So when we are in anxiety, our brain is. Thinking it's trying to keep us safe. Oh my God, how do I figure this out? What happened with this story? What happened with that? But when you interrupt it with these random words and even find something funny, like a silly word that you think up and you're like, okay, now I'm kind of giggling. And then you've interrupted the pattern. I share this with you today, not because it's cute. But because it actually saved me, and actually what it did was it helped me float and floating is a tool for anxiety. What you wanna do is you want to just relax into the moment and float and get that edge off. This is what it does, but my brain. Being the intellect that I've been raised to be, wants to like go back to the problem and try to solve it. And I needed a distraction for my brain to at least change the neuro pathways, and this is why it saved me. This is why it helped me because I actually started floating. I was able to take that edge off. And sometimes when you're in an anxiety spiral, the last thing you need is another complicated process or a long meditation, or even myself, I was intellectually trying to float. And you can't do that when you're intellectually in anxiety. There's no floating. Trust me. I know. So when I started doing this, it became my rope. This was my rope out of anxiety. And you need something easy, fast, and effective that actually distracts your brain from whatever you're trying to solve. That guess what you're not gonna solve at three or four o'clock in the morning. It's just not gonna happen. But when your cortisol is waking up, it's going okay, it's time for stress. It's time to get ready for this time to get ready for the day and get facing the day. But you want to lay there and meditate and relax. And set good intentions for the day that is healthier. That's a healthier way to face the day. So in order to distract myself, I'd come up with these crazy words, and next thing I know, I'm floating through the anxiety, taking the edge off and going into a meditative state, maybe listening to something on YouTube and just getting through that cycle. So if you're feeling stuck in your thoughts, overwhelmed by what ifs, or trying to make a decision in anxiety and you can't control it, try this. Say 10, 15, 20, silly, wild, unexpected words. Interrupt that loop and watch your whole state change because you deserve peace and you deserve presence, and your brain is way more flexible than you think. All right. If this helped, please share it with a friend. Or if you know somebody who can benefit from it, share it with them. I trust that you found it helpful, and leave a comment below with your favorite random word. Maybe you'll give somebody else an inspiration to use that word too. And if you want more simple mindset tools, subscribe, follow, or come join in my free community, we're building healthy, happy teams, one heart at a time. Links to all of that will be in the show notes and description below. And don't forget, giraffes and tacos are always on your side. Alright, until next time, I'll see you next time. Peace out and namaste.