Cortisol and Monday Morning

I recently noticed I’ve gotten into a Monday Morning habit. It looks like this:

· Alarm goes off

· GROAN

· SNOOZE

· Repeat

Then I tell myself, “I hate Mondays.” But why? Why am I talking to myself this way? And how is this self-talk contributing to my stress? I’ll tell you: this self-talk is creating stress before I even get out of bed.

Stress, anxiety, overwhelm…these emotions arise from a variety of thoughts triggered by a variety of circumstances. New job, new boss, bad weather, screaming kids, sick dog…I could go on. And here’s the thing, negative thoughts create stress and lead to negative results.

One of my favorite neuroscientists, Dr. Carolyn Leaf (what, you don’t have a favorite neuroscientist? But WHY???) puts it this way. A thought is like a tree branch. The more we think a thought, the more it grows. So, if I’m constantly telling myself, “I hate Monday.” I’m cultivating this tree of ill will against Mondays. Eventually, my brain will just take it as fact, “Mondays are terrible.” This negative thinking promotes the secretion of cortisol, which compounds STRESS. What’s a girl to do on Monday morning after snooze #1?

1. OBSERVE – We all have comfortable, habitual thoughts kicking around in our brains. These thoughts are familiar. “Hey, I know you. You MUST be right.”  But what if they aren’t right? What if they are just plain wrong? Is there a logical reason to just hate Mondays? I think not.

2. DECIDE – What would you like to do with that thought? It’s like poker. Keep the card, throw the card away, replace the card. You are always allowed to keep a thought. BUT, if you think it might be contributing to your negative results (in my case, getting up WAY late), then you can decide: Throw it away and never look at it again. Or re-frame it and replace it. Totally up to you.

WHY? Why would I do this? It sounds hard. And it’s just a thought, how harmful is that? Negative thoughts lead to cortisol secretion, stress, and negative results. If you want to feel good, you need serotonin. Serotonin is the hormone we secrete when we feel sufficient. Not necessarily “happy” – that’s not the goal, to be happy all the time – but secure, sufficient, capable. That’s serotonin. We need positive thoughts. Thoughts that drive us forward, toward our goals and desires. Toward positive action.

I used this today: “I’m so grateful that when I wake up, my house is warm, I have a roof over my head AND I have plenty of coffee downstairs.” 

The facts are piling up in neuroscience implicating the power of thoughts to change brain chemistry. You have more control over your thoughts than you might imagine.

Life coaching is about thought work. So, if you are interested in looking at the habitual thoughts that create cortisol, I offer 1:1 coaching in the form of a 3-month package. We examine your thoughts and decide together: Keep it, throw it away, or replace it.