What is Anxiety: - is a state of uneasiness and apprehension, as about future uncertainties.
Anxiety affects our whole being. It affects how we feel, how we behave and has very real physical symptoms.
It feels a bit like fear but whereas we know what we are frightened of, we often don't know what we are anxious about.
What causes anxiety?
Anxiety is often triggered by stress in our lives. Some of us are more vulnerable to anxiety than others, but even those who become anxious easily can learn to manage it well. We can also make ourselves anxious with "negative self-talk" - a habit of always telling ourselves the worst will happen.
If there is nothing that you can do to resolve the issue that is causing your anxiety - the situation is completely out of your control - realize one thing. The only thing that you have absolute control over is yourself. If there is nothing that you can do about a situation, simply stop worrying about it. Acknowledge the situation, acknowledge the stress and anxiety that it is causing you, and finally, acknowledge the fact that it is out of your control, and whatever the result of the situation is, that is the result that you will have to live with. Since the only thing that you truly control is yourself, determine how you want to live your life, and how you want to feel, and then make it happen.
Earle Nightingale compares our minds to the world’s most powerful computer. Most scientists agree that we only use a fraction of our mind’s potential. Nightingale says that when we ask ourselves a disempowering question, our mind searches for a corresponding disempowering answer.
So if you ask yourself why you can’t achieve this or that, your mind may just come up with an answer like this: “Well, what do you expect? You never put in your best.” If you ask why you can’t stick to exercising more time for the success, your mind may answer: “Don’t worry about it— “is not everyone that will be successful”
If there is no apparent cause, and you have Generalized Anxiety Disorder, is there anything in the world today that you have the control to do anything about? Only think about today - right now. Don't allow your mind to wander to tomorrow and all of the 'what if's.' Concentrate on living more in the moment and less in the future - and simply deal with the things that you are able to deal with today, right now.
How can you stop creating what you don't want and get your mind and subconscious mind to actually work for you?
You probably don't regularly choose your thoughts, or instruct your subconscious mind. Instead, your mind and subconscious mind are probably working on autopilot - just doing what they want when they want with no clear instructions.
You're probably not even aware of the thoughts you have every day, and you probably didn't choose the beliefs you hold. As a result your mind is constantly sending the wrong messages or wrong instructions to your subconscious mind. And that's how you end up failing or not getting what you want.
If you want to succeed at something you have to believe that you can succeed. So how do you create beliefs that correspond with what you want to accomplish?
First think about what you want to achieve. Then ask yourself if you really believe that you can accomplish this particular goal. If you don't believe you can there's work to do and you're going to have to change your belief system so that it allows you to succeed. To change your belief system you have to analyze your thoughts and list all the thoughts and beliefs that you have about achieving that goal.
If you are an 'anxiety lifer' you may have to ask yourself these questions every single day, and possibly more than once a day to keep yourself on track and to keep the anxiety at bay, but taking the time to do this is always well worth the effort. The mind is very powerful, and just as your mind can cause you to see everything in a negative light, you can make a concentrated effort to see the more positive side of life as well, for the purpose of combating anxiety.
Quotes on Anxiety
“Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.”
Somers Roche
“Anxiety is the rust of life, destroying its brightness and weakening its power. A childlike and abiding trust in Providence is its best preventive and remedy.”
“Anxiety about the future never profits; we feel no evil until it comes, and when we feel it, no counsel helps; wisdom is either too early or too late.”
Somers Roche
“We walk in circles, so limited by our own anxieties that we can no longer distinguish between true and false, between the gangster's whim and the purest ideal”
Ingrid Bergman
“The source of anxiety lies in the future. If you can keep the future out of mind, you can forget your worries.”
Milan Kundera