You might realise that you are having anxiety when worries and negative thoughts keep on popping up. You foresee something disastrous is going to happen if you cannot keep things in control. You might you have a hard time winding down at night. Your body is tense, palms and feet are sweaty and they might be trembling or shaking. At times, you might even experience difficulty breathing. If so, what can you do to deal with the anxiety you are experiencing? Here’s 4 ways to help yourself:
Tune in to the anxiety to understand what it is trying to get you to do. Your feet might be getting ready to run away. Your hands might be desperately trying to hold onto something. The umpteen thoughts in your head is trying to get you to prevent a “disaster” from happening. Create the space for the anxiety to be acknowledge and heard.
Beneath the anxiety, usually lies the deeper beliefs and negative earlier experiences that made anxiety necessary to keep your world still intact and functioning at that point in time. For example, experiencing events that made you believed that you are not safe keeps you on high alert to look out for potential dangers that might harm you. Criticism and shaming from adults might make you believed that you are not good enough which necessitates anxiety to be present to make you work harder to prove that you are good enough to deserve a place in the world. Trace back to the origin of such beliefs and the experiences that contributed to them. Re-evaluate whether the beliefs are still true in the present and you need to hold onto them. Release these beliefs that are no longer serving you in the present to any of the five elements like air, water, earth, light or fire.
Recognise what you need beneath the anxiety. Linked to the deeper beliefs, it might be a sense of safety or the unconditional love that is there no matter how good you do. Learn how to give yourself what you need or to surround yourself with people who makes you feel that.
Ground yourself to the present. Notice 5 things you can see in the surroundings, 4 sounds you can hear, 3 things you can feel the texture of e.g. the texture of the clothes you are wearing, 2 things you can smell and 1 thing you can taste. There might be endless uncertainties ahead but owning this moment and living moment to moment would help make everything more manageable.
Hopefully, these 4 ways can be helpful to you or to people around you who might need it. Feel free to leave a comment as to how it goes after trying out.
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