5 tips for Anxiety Management

When does anxiety strike?
Today I’m offering 5 tips on how to send the feelings of anxiety packing.
Try them and let me know if they help you to reduce your feelings and sensations of anxiety.

Welcome to Authentic Living with Linda
I’m Linda Codlin

Welcome, My Friends.

Emotional rollercoasters are so tiring.
Have you ever been on the emotional rollercoaster of buying or selling a property?
So many emotions, excitement, fear, contemplation, anxiety, doubt and possibly self-esteem opinions from the past or others.

For me this week has been about allowing all of these emotions and more to sit and be seen.
I’ve been coaching myself around my thoughts and beliefs.
I’m amazed at how quickly the unwanted thoughts are moved on, now that I have updated and upgraded my inner world view.

Today I want to talk about managing the diverse complexities of our inner world.
To begin with, we must be aware we have an ‘inner world’ and an ‘outer world’.
The inner world is our thoughts and beliefs, it’s what we feel within our bodies, it’s the emotions we have, whether we admit them or not.
When we are in situations in our outer world they can trigger responses from our inner world, and vice versa.

Understanding your inner world involves a journey of self-discovery, it’s about getting to know your authentic self, to know your personal emotional landscape, to know where the landmines live, where the quick sand swamps are. As you get to know and understand your personal inner and outer worlds you will be able to make adjustments to avoid and uproot the temptations and traps that you face often.

Today I want to address the road block of anxiety.
Firstly everyone feels anxious.
When I was first told this, I disagreed, I didn’t believe I felt anxious. What I know to be true now is, each one of us feels anxiety when we are faced with a life threatening scenerio, an unknown situation, uncertainty on how something will play out. We may not name it as anxiety, which was what I was doing.
We may call it fear, or apprehension, or uneasiness. Sometimes it shows up as frustration, impatience and shortness of temper.
At other times it might show itself as excitement, thrill seeking, adrenalin producing feelings of anticipation.

The feeling of anxiety is often accompanied by physical sensations of a pounding heart, your pulse rate is elevated, you may feel hot or cold, you may shiver even if you are not cold, trembling with fear or excitement. You may also experience sweating, restless legs, or jittery hands, you may find your breathing is fast and shallow.
Anxiety may make your body want to shut down by feeling weak or tired, it also may present as worry or difficulty concentrating and thinking clearly.

While feeling these sensations of anxiety occassionally is normal, and part of life when facing difficult situations, or times when you are heavily invested in the result turning out as you want it to.
Anxiety becomes concerning when it becomes chronic or overwhelming and it interferes with your daily activities and quality of your life.
If you are finding that you are in a constant state of panic, that you are afraid and overwhelmed by your day to day activities, and meeting new people, I would recommend you seek medical attention, talk to someone who is experienced in treating anxiety disorders.

For me, anxiety tends to strike when I am not on top of my game, if I leave an important project until the last moment to complete it, when I’m studying a particular subject and leave the assignment to the last minute or I fall behind on my study routine. Then the feelings of not enough time kick in and my stress levels rise.
At the moment, having my home, purchaser ready can be a stressor, especially if I don’t keep up with my morning and evening routines.

Anxiety attacks can be triggered by past experiences, that have a tendency to reoccur. At the moment we are in the process of working through events that happened 30 years ago, these events are continually popping into our every day living, this tells me it is time to deal with the cause, the event, and to forgive and release the emotional hold this event produced then, and triggers now.
The past can only affect today when we haven’t healed, or created healthier ways to process the emotions and sensations that the memory of the past event evokes.

There are also several medical, and physical health issues that can contribute to or make anxiety symptoms worse, if you suspect that this is happening for you, please seek medical attention.
It is essential to address both the physical and mental health aspects when managing anxiety, at they can create a behavioural psychological loop.

Here are a few of the strategies and techniques I use to manage anxiety and create calm in my life.

1. Deep breathing. I use the box method of breathing, I breath in for a count of five seconds, hold my breath in for five seconds, then I release my breath for five seconds, then I hold my empty breath for five seconds. As I do this exercise I visualise a white healing light from the divine above, coming in with my breath, and circulating through my body, collecting all the tension, all the pain, and anything that is out of place in my body, then I see it exit my body with my out breath, and while I’m holding the empty breath I imagine my body shifting to a more relaxed state, then I begin the process again.
   The best time for me to do this is when I first feel the sensations of agitation, (this is my indicator that I’m holding tension.)
   I love this as I can do it anywhere at any time. No-one would know I’m breathing light and life into my body and soul.
2. Identifying the triggers, events or situations that create the sensations or feelings of anxiety. As I mentioned above about the situation from 30 years ago, watching and studying myself, also being open to admit that the emotions are actually present and are having an effect. We tend to live in denial, if we don’t admit the emotions or feelings to ourselves, we believe we can continue to pretend it isn’t happening, even though our body is telling us other wise. Checking in with your authentic self by asking the question, “What am I feeling right now?” Then label the emotion or feeling.
   Once we can identify our triggers, we can work on coping strategies, deal with the cause, or avoid the triggers completely.
3. Journaling. This is one of my favourite ways of removing the thought loops that create anxiety. I will free write all the thoughts that are circling in my mind. Thoughts belong on paper so I can look at them objectively. This is where you find your authentic self, hidden under the beliefs and thoughts.
   Once all my thoughts are on paper I can make an unemotional decision on what I need to have happen next.
   Some times I notice I have a lot of pent up emotions around certain people, in this case I will go through my 4 step forgiveness process to release them.
   Sometimes I notice there is a particular event, or series of events that keep happening, and I can side step the entire thing by adding or subtracting something into or from my routine.
   Some times I don’t need to do anything other than to burn the page, and let the tension go up with the smoke.
   Writing in a journal unclutters the mind, brings clarity, and helps to bring your thoughts into the ‘real’ world, it breaks the thought loops of being stuck in your mind. Try it, write down five things you have been worrying about.
4. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Everything in our environment has an impact. The types of food we eat, the amount we eat and how we feel about that food influences our body and it’s ability to use the nutrients. Moving our body changes the way we think and feel. It doesn’t have to be extensive to be of benefit. Set your timer for 15 minutes, walk till it goes off then walk back again. Use this time to listen to an uplifting podcast.
   Getting enough sleep is vital for your body to reset and heal itself. Begin to put away digital devices ten minutes before bedtime, (this implies you have a set bedtime, if you don’t begin by choosing at set time to be in bed by.)
   Limit the use of alcohol, drugs and even caffeine, give yourself a fighting chance to overcome the feelings of anxiety.
   Moving objects out of your home space that make you feel unwanted emotions, begin to tidy your personal space, it has an effect on how you feel.
   If you only have the head space to do one of these healthy lifestyle shifts, my pick would be a regular sleep routine.
5. Friends and family. Suround yourself with supportive friends and family. Engage in activities with them that bring you joy and relaxation. It is important for you to know you are not alone, you have people who are willing to be there with you through difficult times.
   Invite friends and family to join you when walking in nature, or watching a movie, or beginning a new hobby.

Remember that managing anxiety is a process, it is essential to be kind and patient with yourself as you learn to cope with them.

Until next time, Pick one of these five strategies and give it a go, make it an experiment, when you notice a certain sensation in your body, or a particular thought loop, try breathing the box and light method, then notice if it makes a difference to how you are feeling. Do this every time you have this certain sensation or thought loop and it will shift, it will also become easier to move through the feeling of anxiety in time.

oxoxo Linda

As a certified Life Coach, I help you to help yourself, so you can create a well lived life your way. 

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