Loving Your Anxiety

Written by: Seada

I woke up Monday morning feeling emotionally and physically depleted. I felt my energy dive into the pits of self-doubt. I began to utter words of negativity, awakening my inner critic. I usually counteract these words with tools I’ve learned over the years, but they felt distant and unavailable. I was well aware of what I was doing to my mind and my body, but in that instant, I did not hesitate to give in to negativity. Negative energy is powerful. It can overpower you in moments and leave you feeling high levels of anxiety and guilt.
That morning, I remembered Gabby Berstein posted a video on anxiety. Although I wanted to revel in my anxiety, a little bit of hope sparked my interest, so I ingested her guidance and trusted the process.
Gabby shared three helpful techniques to feel calm, confident, and relaxed. These three techniques are:

1. Honoring you anxiety

2. Practicing EFT: Emotion Freedom Technique, which involves tapping certain body and facial points to reduce stress and anxiety while inserting words of hope and strength.

3. Committing to deep breathing

Often, we are told to practice controlling our anxiety, but seeking control can be counterproductive and create more stress. On the other hand, honoring anxiety allows you to acknowledge what you are feeling at the moment. As a result, stress converts into calmness. I decided to trust Gabby’s guidance and performed the 3 activities with her. Initially, I measured the weight of my anxiety and found it to be a high 7.5/10 (moderate to high anxiety), but 33 minutes later, after practicing the strategies Gabby suggested, my anxiety dropped to a 2!
The power of trusting guidance to lead us towards healing is miraculous. Anxiety reduction has little to do with controlling the unknown or uncertain; instead, we should welcome what seems unknown or uncertain to honor ourselves.

If you are still with me at this time, I want to thank you for trusting the words you read above. I want to invite you to practice a guidance prayer with me. At any time, you are welcome to close your eyes, or keep them open–however you feel comfortable.

I am feeling worried, anxious, or afraid.
I feel emotionally and physically defeated.
It seems that my efforts are unnoticed.
It makes me feel anxious.
…
But, I know this feeling.
It is familiar.
I have been here before
Only to come through stronger and calmer than before
I can find a way out.
I trust myself to guide my inner power, my active voice
I remind myself I need to breathe
I need to take a moment
I need to repeat this guidance to move to a place of peace

Repeat these words as often as you need to feel calm.

The next recommendation to invite calmness is to breathe deeply. Allow your breath to move to places in your body that ache. Take as many breaths as you need to center your thoughts and feelings:

Take in a deep breath for 4 counts
Hold the breath for 4 counts
And release the breath for 4 counts.

Whenever life offers you challenges, I would encourage you to use guidance to bring you to a state of peace. I hope you are feeling a little calmer and bit more at ease. Please take care of your emotional well-being.

With love,

Seada