Anxiety Series #2 - My smoke alarm is going off — where’s the button?

Smoke alarms are one of life's sometimes irritating necessities, although very essential for keeping us safe from incidents like the photo to the right (No-one was harmed in this particular fire). During a recent visit to Victoria one of many funny moments involved a renegade smoke alarm - the type that is ultra sensitive, and doesn't have a reset button. In the very low temperatures that are typical of a winter's day, it was not uncommon for the smoke alarm in the dining room, to respond to any minor change in temperature, even as slight as the heat from the toaster wafting its way. At the sound of the alarm our two delightful grandchildren would race for the dining room at full speed, giggling and laughing, with pillows in tow. Their intended task, to wave the pillows below the smoke alarm in an attempt to cool the sensors, and stop the alarm sounding. Of course their attempts, as amusing and enthusiastic as they were, were futile. Their mum with her added height and strength, would make quick work of successfully resetting the alarm by waving similar pillows in a more efficient way, through virtue of her height advantage, and closer proximity to the alarm.

Funnily enough, our nervous system can sometimes be similar to that smoke alarm. And we ourselves, can be just as ineffective in our efforts to manage it, as our grandchildren were with their exuberant attempts. But, give my grandchildren a little bit of time and some growth and they will be all over it. Management of our nervous system alarm, also benefits from maturity or growth - not just the age type, but the practiced art of noticing what is going on in our nervous system, and the pro-active and effective use of our natural reset button.

Allow me to ask some questions.

Have you ever felt like your anxiety (alarm system) needs a reset?

Are you someone who has been struggling with managing your anxiety, day-to-day? If you are, let me reassure you, you are not alone. In fact every human on earth has the same area of growth to work through, at some time or other.

So, how do we switch off the alarm of our nervous system? As, just like the smoke alarm I spoke about above, there seems to be no obvious on/off button. What then is our natural reset button?

The answer is found by considering what our body does naturally.

Picture this: You are walking down the hallway and your children/grandchildren, being the delights that they are, have planned a surprise attack on you. They wait with bated breath around a corner, as you continue to walk nonchalantly towards them, pretending that you don't hear their giggles and whispers. As you near the corner that they are hiding behind, you, being the fun parent/grandparent that you are, suddenly jump towards them, roaring loudly that the tickle monster will get them. The hunters are now the hunted. They suck in their breath with shock, and scream and giggle as they scatter like mice around the room trying to avoid the tickle monster. The game is on, and their adrenaline is pumping. They are super quick and able to avoid you of course, but you play up the scary roars and continue to pretend to try and catch them.

The neighbours minding their own business, but hearing the cries and screams, are immediately on high alert to the possibility that there is something untoward going on, and the hairs on the back of their necks stand up. Two minutes later as they hold their breath and listen, the laughter and squeals emanating from the home reassure them that there is not any issue and they sigh with relief.

What does this demonstrate about our natural reset button?

Firstly - when we are threatened our body's natural reaction is to suck in air - the "Huh" of shock - which starts the whole preparation of our body for a fight/flight response. (There's a lot that happens in our body to affect that, but we won't go into that at this point).

Secondly - when the danger passes our body's first response is to breathe a "sigh of relief".

In other words our breath is both the ignition, and the reset button (brake), of our nervous system alarm.

Our breath is the language that we need to talk to the alarm part of our brain, to let it know that it can move out of high alert mode.

Just like the air from the pillows, passing over and cooling the smoke alarm switches the sensors off, our breath lets our alarm system know that the danger has passed and we are safe. In doing so our alarm system switches off, and our body goes back to a state of being calm.

• If you have enjoyed this first in my series. Stay tuned for the next one #3 But, I huff and I puff and it still won't turn off. What am I missing?