Matt Lewis > Quotes

“The amygdala responds to imaginary information in the same way it responds to a real situation, so anxiety brought about by thoughts and images created in the cortex is just as strong as the anxiety you will experience from a real and live situation or threat.”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“If we can see anxiety-inducing situations as opportunities to improve, grow, and become better at challenges, we are less likely to avoid or distract ourselves from them.   A”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“Our brain craves continual stimulation, is drawn to novelty, and likes to be instantly gratified.”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“In his book, The Happiness Trap, leading ACT practitioner Dr Russ Harris, explains that negative thoughts are only considered problematic if we get caught up in them, give them all of our attention, treat them as the absolute truth, allow them to control us, or get in a fight with them.”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“Indeed, long-term elevated cortisol levels can lower immune function and bone density; elevate blood pressure, cholesterol and body weight; increase the risk of heart disease, depression and mental illness; and interfere with learning and memory.”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“As an analogy, imagine you’re driving a bus, while all the passengers (thoughts) are noisily chattering, being critical, or shouting out directions. You can allow them to shout, but choose not to engage with them, keeping your attention focused on the road ahead.”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“So our ancestors remembered every bad thing that happened and spent much of their lives anticipating more trouble, and this is the mind we inherited from them.”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“So the study appeared to indicate that our expectations, and beliefs about our behaviour — our mindset — can influence outcomes, or put another way, ‘the effect you expect is the effect you get.’   MINDSET”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“Trying to change, avoid, or get rid of that story is often ineffective, time consuming, and focuses our attention on the unhelpful story. Instead, simply name a story for what it is – a story.”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“The Confidence Cycle is also a reminder of how important a growth mindset is. We become good at something, and confident at doing it, by practising it, and not because we were born with a special gift or disposition. Our abilities and skills aren’t fixed – we become experts in, or competent at, the things we practise.”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“anxiety can be produced from two different areas of the brain; the cortex, which produces anxiety based on what we think about, and the amygdala, which reacts to what is happening in our environment.”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“Say (silently to yourself), ‘Thanks mind!’, ‘Thanks for sharing!’, ‘Is that right?’, ‘That’s amazing!’, ‘That’s so informative!’ Don’t do this sarcastically or aggressively, but do it with warmth, humour, and genuine appreciation for the incredible storytelling ability of your mind. This simple act of noticing and acknowledging the thoughts or stories will start to reduce their power.”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“The main purpose of defusion is to be present and to be able to take effective action. Defusion isn’t about battling with, blocking, distracting from, or getting rid of thoughts, but accepting thoughts and defusing from them.”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“When we defuse from our thoughts like this, we start to realise thoughts are nothing more or less than words or pictures and we can let them chatter away without obeying them. Negative thoughts are normal, so don’t fight them, defuse from them.”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“Harvard psychologist Amy Cuddy has demonstrated that standing for two minutes in a ‘power pose’ – a stance in which we expand our body and take up space – has the benefit of increasing testosterone (a hormone that makes us feel powerful) and decreasing cortisol (a hormone released during the fight, flight, or freeze response that makes us feel anxious).”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“Research indicates that sufficient sleep has a large positive effect on a whole host of physical and mental aspects of our health, including: emotion regulation, cognitive thinking, decision making, attention, memory, and it also plays a large role in protecting the immune system.36”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“but they saw each failure as a necessary part of the process to getting things right. They embraced the failures because they told them what they needed to do differently. Failing was a necessary part of the process.  So they solved the problem not by developing a beautiful theoretical master plan, but by interaction with the real world – their approach mirrored how change happens in nature.   I”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“Scientists used to think the brain reached maturity around the age of 25 years and then deteriorated. Now we know it’s much more like a muscle, and while it ultimately weakens over our lifespan, when we use specific neural pathways in our brain, they become stronger, and if we don’t, they become weaker.”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“Pat Buchanan explained in 2000, “because to them”
― Matt Lewis, Filthy Rich Politicians: The Swamp Creatures, Latte Liberals, and Ruling-Class Elites Cashing in on America

“Due to neuroplasticity, whatever you devote a lot of time to thinking about in great detail is more likely to be strengthened, creating a vicious circle.”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks

“Engagement is the ability to be present instead of caught up in our thoughts. It is about being fully in the moment; being open to, curious about, and actively involved in our here and now experience.”
― Matt Lewis, Overcome Anxiety: A Self Help Toolkit for Anxiety Relief and Panic Attacks