Anxiety

“We can’t stop the waves but we can learn to surf” John Kabat-Zinn.

Anxiety is a state of being…an alarming physical/chemical response to the neglect of the emotional body. The physical body tells us, “Something is not right.”     For example, I am sad. I don’t want to be sad. I try all day to feel happy, and by the end of the day, I am anxious. However if I acknowledge anxiety and I might ask myself what emotion is hiding beneath the anxiety? Ah, sadness. My old friend. I acknowledge sadness, invite her in, maybe I cry for a while, and the anxiety lessens. To sit with uncomfortable emotions such as fear, sadness, resentment, insecurity, or any of their relatives as they surge in like a tide, we must acknowledge their arrival and spend time listening to where they came from. When you refuse to greet them, they transform into anxiety…impatiently waiting in a dark corner of the mind. It takes courage and self compassion to invite these feelings in but know that they will pass and the anxiety lessen. Also remember that you aren’t alone and although at times it can seem as though nobody understands, yourself included, there will be somebody or something that can help. Ultimately, though, only you can make the biggest difference by taking that first step towards accepting anxiety and what is hiding underneath.