What To Do When Your Brain Gets Foggy?
Have you ever felt that your brain is not functioning properly? You hardly concentrate, remember things, or put thoughts together. Then, you might have brain fog.
Brain fog is not a medical condition; it is a common term to describe mental fuzziness or lack of clarity. But, it may come with several other issues, e.g., anxiety, stress, or depression.
When things are out of control, we become anxious. When there is constant danger, we are in distress. In consequence, it paralyzed our ability to think decently. Neuroscientists explained that our frontal lobe, which is in charge of logical and critical thinking, shuts down when we panic. On the other side, our limbic system gets activated in survival mode, between fight, flight, or freeze responses.
However, of course, we don’t want our inability to think to hijack our life. So, how could we clear up the brain fog and deal with our constant anxious thoughts?
Let’s learn from King David when he was in a time of crisis (Psalm 56). I will summarize it into three practical steps:
Cry to the Right Person
In the middle of desperation, he prayed to God. “Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up.” Instead of finding comfort in temporary things, he turned to the source of hope. In any situation, we can pray to God.
Acknowledge the emotion
Many researchers proved that labeling our emotions reduces tension and helps to turn on our thinking brain again. That is what King David did; he acknowledged his fear. He said, “whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God I have put my trust; I will not fear.” We should embrace our emotions too.
Tell what happened in detail
King David poured out his concern to God in detail: “all day they twist my words; all their thoughts are against me for evil.” It not only declares that we trust in the Lord wholeheartedly, but it also analyzes what happened. We can write it down in a journal or record it in a voice note.
Therefore, as Spurgeon said, although he (King David) feared, that fear did not fill the whole area of his brain, for he trusted the Lord. We can do the same: shifting from a worrier into a warrior of faith.
