STAYING IN THE FUTURE

Did you know that your brain does not know the difference between something you can imagine and something you experience?  Pause and think about that statement and it’s implications, and the affect it could have on your life.

Anxiety is a vivid example. Occasional bouts of anxiety are normal and an example of being—and staying—alive. Psychology Today describes anxiety as both a mental and physical state of negative expectation.

Simply put, we try to think our way out of things. We become stuck in our heads, and our thinking brains are not nearly as strong as our feeling bodies of our neuropathways that have been built to guide us in our own particular way. The more we think, the more stuck we get.

The truth is that there is no actual stress or anxiety in the world; it's your thoughts that create these false beliefs. You can't package stress, touch it, or see it. There are only people engaged in stressful thinking. Wayne Dyer

Anxiety turns the prefrontal cortex off; its drivers are generally your habits and triggers. Become curious about what anxiety feels like. Realize that anxiety is your specific reaction to stress (generally from the external) though its origin stems from an internal bias or belief. Unlike stress, anxiety persists even after a concern has passed. 

High functioning anxiety also can involve gastro symptoms, headaches, panic attacks, racing thoughts and so on. It is essentially a way of coping that pushes you harder and faster which often leads to perfectionism, people-pleasing, and burnout.

In the gym, the weight doesn’t get easier to lift. You get stronger. In life, events don’t get easier to handle. You become better equipped to handle them.

Persistent, pervasive, or outsized anxiety can disrupt daily life, whether at work or with friends—the mark of an anxiety disorder. Nearly one-third of adults in the U.S. will grapple with out-of-control anxiety at some point in their life.

Some tips to address anxiety:

·      Pay attention to what you do. Ask yourself is it more rewarding than what you desire?

  • Make the anxiety an ally. Ask yourself probing questions.

  • Replace self-judgment with self-kindness.

  • Acknowledge the absurdity of self-talk - statements like “Why do I always…?

  • Try guided meditation.

  • Reframe negative thoughts/words or add ‘yet’ to the end of your statement.

·       Become mindful: awareness and curiosity in a nonjudgmental way.

·       Create a way to be curious.

If you are experiencing anxiety, let’s talk. Don’t allow it to become a disorder.

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