Hey friends,

The past few weeks have been characterized by anxiety, both societally and personally. Given this dynamic, I wanted to re-share a huge post on anxiety that took me hundreds of hours to research, outline, and create. When I think back on all the More To That posts I’ve worked on, this one probably helped me most on a personal level, and it has also helped (tens of) thousands of others as well.

Anxiety is a complicated thing that afflicts so many people, and when I decided to write about it, I had just one goal: to publish the most accessible guide on understanding how it works. Because by doing so, you’ll realize that anxiety is a biological phenomenon that has no bearing on who you are. And by having that one realization, everything can change.

When you’re ready, let’s dive right in:

​How to Calm the Anxious Brain​

A Book I’ve Been Enjoying

​Don’t Believe Everything You Think by Joseph Nguyen — While my multi-part series on anxiety explores into its biological roots, I also discuss the importance of psychologically reframing it. There’s no shortage of ways to do this, but one helpful reframe can be found in this wonderful book.

Joseph argues that the foundation of suffering is found in the thinking mind. While thoughts are initial appearances that are value-neutral, the act of thinking is what converts those thoughts into sources of stress and anxiety. For example, if you lose your job, the thought is simply, “I lost my job.” But the subsequent thinking is what leads to spirals such as “I’ll never be financially free” or “I’m going to be homeless.” It’s not the thought itself that causes suffering, but the thinking that does.

The book explores the nuances of the argument, and is a great resource for those that have been feeling the clutches of anxiety in recent days.

An Illustrated Insight

Of all the illustrations I’ve drawn, this one took me the longest:

When I read about the complexities of the brain, I immediately wanted to simplify it into something more… enjoyable. So I came up with this, which was adapted from Paul MacLean’s triune brain model (many neuroscientists now say this model is dated, which I make a note of in the series).

To summarize, the Land of the Automatic is known as the “reptilian” part of the brain, which mediates many of the automatic functions (breathing, chewing, swallowing, etc.).

The Land of the Emotional is the limbic system, which is responsible for processing emotion and assigning context to them.

And the Land of the Wise is referred to as the cortex, which is the part I dive deeply into when it comes to calming the anxious brain.

A Thought I’ve Been Pondering

I often think of anxiety as a store of energy that hasn’t found a release. We are always absorbing information and emotions from the external world, and if we don’t know how to empty it, then it hardens and weighs down our inner being. So the key is to release that energy back out so you can then be open to receiving whatever else the world has to offer.

Exercise is a reliable way to do this for the body, and creativity is a beautiful way to do it for the mind. In my case, writing feels like a release of the thoughts and ideas that have been circulating within me, which lightens my mind as I share them. For those with active minds (like you and me), writing is a godsend because it allows you to fully express what you may have previously been harboring.

That’s why I don’t position my writing course, The Examined Writer, as a way of 10x’ing your audience or gaining clout. Rather, I want writing to be an avenue of self-exploration, which leads to clarity of mind that can eventually help others. If the haze of anxiety is quite thick for you, I encourage you to give writing a focused try. And if you need some guidance on where to begin, the course can act as a north star in that regard.

A Brief Parting Question

Winter is almost here, and that’s when I like to stock up my reading list and cozy up with some books.

What’s the best book you’ve read this year, and why was it so great?

I love getting reading recs from y’all, so feel free to send them in =).

As always, hit reply to share any thoughts, to respond to the parting question, or to simply say hello. I love hearing from you.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to share this email with anyone who might enjoy it. Have a great rest of your week!

-Lawrence

P.S. Thanks to all the wonderful people that support the blog on Patreon! It means so much. If you’d like to support More To That and get access to book recommendations, exclusive AMAs, offline posts, and other reflections, join as a patron today.

P.P.S. If you want to learn how to write thought-provoking reflections, check out The Examined Writer. It’s 3 hours of self-paced material, all designed to elevate your writing practice.