A Blueprint for Working with Anxiety
Emotions serve important evolutionary purposes, even difficult ones like anxiety. The key is learning to work with them skillfully rather than suppressing or ignoring them.
Anxiety is a distortion of fear, an evolutionary emotion meant to motivate immediate action—like running from a snake. Anxiety takes fear and projects it into the future or the past, leading us to overestimate risks and underestimate our ability to cope.
Blueprint for Working with Anxiety:
Observe the anxiety: Notice where it begins—in your head or body—and what thoughts are triggering it. Become more aware of the anxiety process.
Determine if it's a solvable problem or an uncontrollable worry:
- If it's solvable, use the anxiety to motivate action and problem-solving.
- If it's uncontrollable, focus on accepting and processing the emotion.
Check your self-talk: Are you being harsh with yourself? Try to talk to yourself with the same compassion you would offer a good friend.
Reflect: Is the anxiety tied to old stories or past worries? Explore if there are deeper roots that need attention.
Connect to your body: Don’t stay stuck in your head. Tune into the physical sensations of anxiety in your body. This can help discharge the emotion.
The key is not to push anxiety away but to listen to it and work with it skillfully.
More Strategies for Anxiety:
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