What Is Anxiety?

A vibration or sensations in our body caused by a feeling. Generally it is a feeling of worry, fear, apprehension on nervousness.

Often it is really a cover emotion for some other difficult feeling and thrives on being vague and unspecific.

Anxiety Used To Be Helpful

Anxiety served us well back in caveman times, when we needed to always be alert and ready to react quickly. So it helped our ancestors survive!

Now living in our suburb neighborhoods, it’s not something that we necessarily need, but our bodies are still having the same response.

However, that does not mean it’s not natural or normal to be experiencing it. That in and of itself can be a huge relief – it is part of being human!

Anxiety Is Harmless

The feelings and sensations related to anxiety are harmless – it is our reaction and our resistance to it that causes the problems.

This could be a game changer!

What if I injected some anxiety into you and you were able to just feel it. I think what you would notice is that it’s uncomfortable.

Anxiety is not meant to a joy ride. It is there to wake us up, get us going, fight or flight. It is not supposed to be something that lulls us into a sense of security – that’s not the purpose of that emotion.

Are You In Danger?

Anxiety used to mean we were in danger, but now it doesn’t.

Now we feel high levels of survival anxiety over pleasing our boss or clients, our kids’ grades or gaining a few pounds.

We are having this response to things that hardly mean life or death or even danger.

Yet, when we feel anxiety, we’re still having that same danger reaction; tensing ourselves up, getting ready to fight or resist.

In truth, the exact opposite reaction is required now.

Stop Resisting

Anxiety is just an uncomfortable emotion and what is the best way to deal with the feelings of being uncomfortable?

Calm down, relax into it by breathing and connecting to yourself, not fighting or flighting.

What most of us are doing when we feel anxiety is increasing our tension, by resisting and reacting to it. This only perpetuates it.

That is huge, because when we start worrying about the fact that we’re feeling anxiety it’s like putting gas on a fire. We’re adding worry to all the other difficult emotions we are experiencing.

We need to go in the complete other direction and name it.

This in and of itself is very powerful, because anxiety thrives on vagueness and increasing tension.

Pick Your Option

Option #1: Resist the feeling, by trying to push it away or fight against it and then we get mad at ourselves for having it. When we get really tense, what, of course this does, is increases it.

If you see your anxiety as something coming at you and you want to react to it, you’re going to be in a battle with yourself.

Option #2 React to it and act it out by rushing around or getting upset at other people.

Option #3 Avoiding it by pretending it’s not there. People do this by eating, drinking or playing on the Internet.

What happens is it becomes like this big sense of danger all the time.

If you ever let that avoiding guard down it is almost like it attacks you.

You have this vague sense that something is really wrong, always under the surface, but you aren’t sure exactly what is wrong, because you aren’t paying any attention to it.

Then you blame the anxiety on being overweight, drinking too much, feeling disconnected, etc.

Option #4 Actively accept it. Many people believe acceptance as giving up.

Actually the exact opposite is true. When you accept something and own something, that’s when you have all the power to change it.

It’s not something that you just do passively. It requires you to be willing to quietly witness the feelings of anxiety and observe yourself.

There are studies that show how just the act of observing something changes it. By observing our own anxiety it will give you a moment of relief and perspective.

Think of it this way, if you allow something, it immediately gives you authority over it. Think about when, you were a little kid and your parents allowed you to do something.

It doesn’t make the anxiety go away, but you have a sense of authority, control and even sometimes a sense of mastery over it.

Let It Be

So the next time you are feeling anxious, can you allow it, instead of resisting, reacting or avoiding it?

Can you just say to yourself stay and let it be?

It’s quite harmless – it buzzes around. When you stay with it and you let it be, that’s all it is, it’s just a vibration.

It pretends to be necessary.

It pretends that there’s danger.

It pretends that we need to fight it or flight or freeze.

In reality, we can just stay and let it be okay.

Are You Ready To Finally Let Go Of Anxiety

Let me help!  I have a proven process using hypnotherapy and other includes specific tools and strategies you can use when you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed or even experiencing a panic attack. 

Give me a call and set up a FREE mini session to figure out where the anxiety is coming from and some quick methods you can use to stop the feelings.