Anxiety and dealing with those damn feelings robs us of today’s pleasure for something that may happen tomorrow. Freud said that anxiety was something that was felt. He described it as an emotional state that included apprehension, tension, nervousness and worry. All of this is in relation to the emotional state of a person called physiological. When you have a chronic illness, anxiety is your passenger and companion and it seems we are in a constant state of panic and anxiety. Why are we always thinking the worst is going to happen? We are never certain that we are doing the right things at the right times. It is because our brain tells us stories that are untrue
Anxiety plays trick on our minds, telling us horror stories of what could happen if we are not careful. Learning to manage the anxiety that haunts us is the first step to taking back our lives and living the rest of our time in perfection. Some people suffer anxiety in everyday situations and some people like to be in a state of anxiety at all times. Having chronic illness with anxiety is like the moth flying into a flame. It can’t be controlled and it can’t be stopped, Or can it?
Mindfulness is Perfection in Eliminating Feelings of Anxiety
We have been told many times that mindfulness is the key to being in a state of perfection. Mindfulness is basically becoming grounded while all your concentration is on your breathing. Being mindful in everyday living is living in this moment, forgetting about yesterday and not worrying about tomorrow. Only today matters and the joy that this day brings.
Practising mindfulness in all aspects of your life and in all things we do. It is not an easy concept to adapt to in our elder years. It is something that has be practised and becomes over years. Although the concept is great, you don’t just get it the first time you learn about it. It can take years of practise to learn the concept of Mindfulness.
Meditation When You Feel Anxiety
Meditation is useful and a great way to eliminate anxiety. I use an free version of an app on my phone called HEADSPACE. It reminds me every night that I have a commitment to meditate. Using everyday as a excuse to meditate reduces anxiety and improves my focus. I seem to sleep better and feel happier as I let the strains of the day drift away. Meditation helps me to better understand my environment and helps me build better resilience.
Exposure Therapy To Avoid the Feelings of Anxiety
Exposure therapy is about changing the sensory images that go through our mind. These pictures, sounds and smells that are anxiety provoking and seem daunting can in reality give you greater control over the very situation that causes this anxiety, helping us to eliminate it. By confronting our anxiety head on we take control and eliminate the scary part. So, instead of avoiding the things that cause us anxiety, we can use exposure therapy to confront it. We do this by talking about what is causing our anxiety and letting the cat out of the proverbial bag. Once the secret is out and we give it to the universe, we can than begin to deal with it. Confronting your anxiety, a little at a time, can be the catalyst to finding solutions the things that threaten our mental health.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Anxiety
CBT teaches us another way to challenge those irrational automatic thoughts that enter our mind. We learn coping mechanisms for threatening thoughts by changing the way we react to anxiety provoking situations. Negative thoughts can be turned around to positive thoughts. Practising CBT can help us to change negative thoughts turning them into positive energies. We can teach our brain to rationalize the difference between black and white and right and wrong. Its a learning curve but it can be done.
Have a look at these interactive guides, video, and articles to help you deal with
Mindfulness,Meditation, Exposure Therapy and CBT
Remember to follow me on
Facebook Live every Tuesday for Tea Time at 3 pm EST
and on don’t forget to like me on….
Mindfulness can be so beneficial, as you say with ‘grounding’ ourselves and I think it helps with calming down and taking a step back from judgements of our thoughts and feelings and just ‘being’. The Headspace app you mentioned is good, there are also free meditations in the likes of the Calm app (be careful as some things you have to pay to unlock) so it’s brilliant technology can help in this area as it’s often a source of stress & anxiety! Great post, Barbara xx
Thank you so much Barbara..You are really appreciated for all you do ..I find your catch your breath 60 and your blogs so helpful in helping me deal with my Copd and other issues..Thanks again Marion .Take care x