What is the main message of The Worry-Free Mind?

The main message of The Worry-Free Mind is how to overcome worry and anxiety using neuroscience-based techniques.

How long does it take to read The Worry-Free Mind?

The reading time for The Worry-Free Mind varies, but it generally takes a few hours. The Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.

Who is the author of The Worry-Free Mind?

The authors of The Worry-Free Mind are Carol Kershaw and Bill Wade.

Mindfulness & Happiness

The Worry-Free Mind Book Summary - The Worry-Free Mind Book explained in key points

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The Worry-Free Mind summary

Name: The Worry-Free Mind
Rating: 4.5 (216 reviews)
Author: Carol Kershaw and Bill Wade

Carol Kershaw Bill Wade

Train Your Brain, Calm the Stress Spin Cycle, and Discover a Happier, More Productive You

4.5 (216 ratings)

16 mins

Brief summary

"The Worry-Free Mind" by Carol Kershaw and Bill Wade offers tools and techniques for managing worry and anxiety. The book provides a four-step process for shifting negative thought patterns and achieving mental tranquility.

Topics

Stress Reduction

Table of Contents

The Worry-Free Mind
Summary of 7 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Leave your worries in the past.

Are you constantly battling bouts of anxiety and worry? Do you do things such as wonder incessantly whether you locked the front door? Maybe you break out in a cold sweat worrying about whether you really sent off the right documents to the new client – or whether you sent something totally inappropriate.

Such worrying is normal, but it’s also avoidable. The truth is, your brain has different gears, just like a bike – and each gear is well suited to certain activities and pretty unsuited for others. The trouble arises when you use the wrong gear on the wrong activity.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

about your brain’s different frequencies;
how to let go of the past for a sunny future; and
how peripheral vision can help you to rid your life of worries.

Modern humans are stuck with a surplus of negative thinking and stress chemicals.

You lay awake in bed, unable to sleep because your mind is racing with worry after worry after worry. Sound familiar? Then let’s look a bit deeper into stress and worrying.

First of all, much of your incessant worrying is due to an overabundance of stress-related chemicals in your body. It used to be that we humans had a need for these chemicals. Back in the days of saber-toothed tigers, we lived in a world full of life-threatening dangers and fight-or-flight situations. And, though such daily threats have all but disappeared in the modern world, these instincts are still with us. As a result, your mind has a negativity bias: it constantly seeks to recognize threats around you.

The biochemicals related to this state of worry and stress can only be alleviated by engaging in vigorous activity. But since we’re no longer being chased by wild animals, or chasing them down for meat, these stress chemicals stay built up in our bodies and keep us in a state of constant worry.

Most of us have grown used to it. It feels normal to be chronically stressed. And, disturbingly, the more stressed out your brain is on a regular basis, the more likely it becomes that this state will be the normal setting for your brain in the future.

This is due to your brain’s neural pathways, which are created by your everyday thinking habits. These neural pathways also affect how you see the world around you, and determine whether you see opportunities waiting around every corner, or dangers and difficulty.

So the more you base your thoughts on stress and worry, the more likely you’ll be to act defensively and distrustfully.

But hope is not lost. It’s in your power to reduce your worries and put yourself on a more positive track.

We have five different brainwave frequencies that correspond to different states of being.

If you’re familiar with cats, you know that they’re often volatile; they can be gently resting one second and bouncing off the walls the next. Well, our thoughts are rather catlike. The shift from peaceful to stressful can occur in the blink of an eye.

The brain is made up of billions of nerve cells called neurons that use electric pulses to communicate with each other. Depending on what you’re thinking, feeling or doing, these pulses create brainwaves of different frequencies.

To quickly calm your mind, engage your peripheral vision or take a walk.

The key to cultivating a worry-free mind is to redirect your focus away from the things that trigger worry and stress.

Once you learn how to deliberately shift your focus, and get into the habit of doing so, you’ll be changing your brain wave activity. Change that and you can change your feelings, thoughts and perspective. That’s why knowing how to shift your frequency from beta to alpha is the best way to burst your worry bubble once and for all.

Future thinking can improve your outlook on life by changing the way you question the future.

We often place people in one of two categories. There are the pessimists, who see a glass as being half empty, and the optimists, who see the same glass as being half full.

But a better personality test is to ask someone how they feel about the future. Are they excited and eager to see what happens in the next five years, or are they filled with dread?

Memories can have a negative impact on your present and future.

If you think about it, you can probably come up with at least one decision that you regret. But, for some, regretful choices and actions can be so overwhelming that they trigger a deep depression.

Unfortunately, past events often have far more power over us than we’d like. All of our memories have an emotion that goes with them – usually whatever emotion we were feeling at the time. But if we keep thinking about a certain memory, we can get stuck in that emotion, which is particularly bad if it was a traumatic or sad event.

By asking the right questions, we can identify the sources of our worries.

When life gets you stuck in a bad pattern, what you need is neuro-repatterning. This technique first makes you aware of what triggers your negative emotional responses, and then empowers you to regain control over your reactions.

In other words, it allows you to change your thoughts, feelings and behaviors when certain situations or memories present themselves.

With meditation you can synchronize your brain in alpha frequency and thereby sustain a clear, worry-free mind.

When you’re overcome with worry, you want to be ready with the steps you can take to start calming yourself down and feeling better.

The best way to do this is to synchronize at least part of your brain down to the alpha frequency. Ideally, with enough practice, you can reach a whole brain state. When this is achieved, a clear mind will be your new normal, and worries will be an infrequent and controllable part of life.

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What is The Worry-Free Mind about?

The Worry-Free Mind (2017) takes a close look at why we spend so much time worrying and what can be done to reduce these worries. Having a stressed-out mind may be part of being a human being, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take steps to better control your thoughts and emotions. Here are some tips and techniques to take control of your mind and live a happier life.

The Worry-Free Mind Review

The Worry-Free Mind (2016) explores effective strategies for overcoming worry and cultivating a sense of peace. Here's why you should give this book a read:

With its practical techniques and exercises, it provides readers with actionable tools to manage anxiety and achieve a calm state of mind.
Backed by research and expertise, the book offers a comprehensive understanding of worry and presents insightful ways to reframe negative thinking patterns.
The authors' compassionate tone and relatable anecdotes make the book relatable and enjoyable, ensuring that it never becomes dull or monotonous.

Who should read The Worry-Free Mind?

Individuals caught in a spiral of negative thinking
People feeling stuck in a state of worry
Students of meditation and spirituality

About the Author

Carol Kershaw is a clinical psychologist who specializes in clinical hypnosis. She heads the Milton Erickson Institute of Houston along with her husband, Bill Wade. It strives to provide psychotherapy to individuals, families and couples in the community. Kershaw is the author of The Couple’s Hypnotic Dance and the co-author of Brain Change Therapy: Clinical Interventions for Self Transformation.

Bill Wade is a professional counselor and therapist who specializes in couples and families while always looking for new approaches to better serve his patients. Along with his wife, Carol Kershaw, he heads the Milton Erickson Institute of Houston.

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