What Mental Health Counselors Don’t Want You To Know About Your Anxiety

Having gone through therapy for my anxiety during my professional tennis playing days, i’ve seen it all. I’ve been through the whole group therapy thing as well as the 1 on 1 anxiety and panic counselling for many years, and my conclusion is that there is a potential danger that exists with anxiety therapy for the sufferer.

It was recently brought to my attention from a long time friend of mine who’s also been a psychotherapist for over 9 years, that making a living for many (not all) anxiety therapists keeps them from telling you a very important truth, and that truth is that:

You Can Actually Learn The Secrets To Curing Your Anxiety In 10 – 15 Minutes

Change happens when you start thinking progress, over perfection.

Of course the ‘professionals’ would be losing a great deal of business and steady income if they told you this. Notice how I said learn though, and not end your anxiety in 10 – 15 minutes. You the one suffering from anxiety must take full responsibility for your condition, and stop the search for the ‘magic pill’ or technique once and for all.

I See Incredible Changes In People Daily Through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

These people are no different then you. But these people accepted the fact that there is no magic cure out there for anxiety, and began to take their issues into their own hands instead of looking for someone else to tell them what to do. Think about the time and money you would be saving from anti anxiety medications and constant therapy if only you built up the will power for a short amount of time, to learn how to turn your anxiety switch off through CBT.

Anxiety Can Be A Complex Issue For Many, But This Doesn’t Mean It Needs To Take Years To Calm Your Nerves And Desensitze You From Your Fears

Many times we become anxious over things that simply don’t exist, we tend to imprison ourselves unconsciously when in fact we ought to be free and enjoying life a hell of a lot more. Remember also, that to be in an anxious state and in desperate need for professional help doesn’t mean that you are ‘crazy.’ It’s certainly ok to have deep legitimate feelings of depression and anxiety sometimes, and asking for help temporarily could be a good thing. But you must remember that dwelling on your ‘melancholic moods’ won’t make things go away. You must step up and begin to do your part, aside from all the external help you may be getting right now for your panic and anxiety condition.

Begin To Accept And Let Go

So many times we deny and don’t accept our imperfections. We completely hate ourselves and how we may look, as well as put a huge emphasis on how others perceive us. Many people that come to me for help with stress and anxiety in their lives don’t even like their own voice! While others are down right embarrased because of their weight, or lack of weight even.

We Can’t Let The Illusion Of Beauty, Success And Wealth From The Media Be The Source Of Our Misery

Could this be the deep rooted source of your anxiety?

Begin comparing yourself to others less today. You may find that the root of much of your stress and anxiety lies right there, doesn’t it? Have you ever thought about where this anxiousness and hate is coming from? I know for a fact that I was in a deep trance for many years, living with an anxiety disorder and hating the universe for ‘making me this way.’ But deep down I knew that wasn’t true, I made myself this way consciously and unconsciously.

Don’t Let Anxiety Dominate Your Life.

Understand that anxiety is often an introspective activity, and it thrives on isolation. But you don’t have to be alone, you are not strange or inferior. The moment you learn to accept who and what you are is the moment you begin to understand that you are not set apart from everybody else. Learn to let go through CBT and begin to free yourself from anxiety.

What do you think? Do you think the first line of anxiety treatments today could be doing more harm then good? Share your comments and suggestions in the comment section below.

Monday’s Inspiration Against Anxiety

Successful progression is a necessary need for everyone.

If we don’t see progress in the main areas of our lives it starts to affect other areas of our lives which can lead to negative emotions, which can then fuel your anxiety even further and ultimately leads to depression. The best way to combat this negative cycle is to simply decide. Decide that you’ve gotten to the point of  ‘no return’ and you won’t accept the idea of just getting by. Decide to simply let go of the things that are only fueling your stress and anxiety further, and finally decide to leave your old self in the past and begin a new journey that will empower you and ultimately give you peace and calm in your life.

Have an inspired and excellent Monday everyone.

www.theanxietyguy.com

Imagination, Anxiety, And Panic Overload!

Ah Yes Our Imagination…

The very thing that sets us apart from other species, our wonderful and also self destructing brain. The very thing that manipulates ideas, images, and gives us that right amount of juice to solve even the most complex problems and come up with new ideas. Although there is no real straight forward answer when it comes to which part of the brain our imagination comes from (although a good case could be made for that area in the back of your head called the occiptal cortex), what we do know as past and present humans who deal with anxiety disorders on a daily basis is our imagination can run wild!

Most people who deal with panic and anxiety have an overactive imagination, and see things consistently going wrong

So a close friend Ryan calls me up and asks me to help him with this problem that he’s having. Basically he’s driving himself mad by going over what could go wrong in every situation he’s presented with, and experiences regular debilitating anxiety and panic attacks. I quickly realize that Ryan is completely stuck in the panic cycle, and within a few minutes talking with him can see that most of his focus is on himself even during the conversation we’re having. His awareness of the physical world around him is slim, his anxiety and nervousness through his actions as we speak are quite obvious, and he’s basically in need of a wake-up call to head in a new direction.

The key for Ryan is to get himself out of the cycle of me and what’s going on within me, and into a world where he is much more conscious of his surroundings

Dr Claire Weekes calls it ‘nervous illness’ and I think we have to careful that we don’t use the world illness in there. Reason being people with anxiety disorders are extremely sensitive, and highly sensitized creatures. So let’s start calling Ryan’s condition: imagination overload, shall we. Ryan’s innapropriate responses to non threatening stimulus has gone on for too long, and just by looking at him I can tell it is chronic and severe. So where does Ryan start to turn this panic and anxiety cycle around you may be wondering?

Ending this self destructing imagination and anxiety disorder all together starts with using a different part of the brain

No one said it would be easy to start thinking outside the box…

This is the reason I love Marie Gardiner’s Relaxation With Physical Anchor audio session. It takes the person with the anxiety condition out of the cycle of me me me, and re-conditions them to think more ‘outside the box.’ By re-training our mind to accept our anxiety in the present moment, and turn our focus fully to what may be going on in our outside world we begin to slowly turn our anxiety switch off.

I actually remember one of the most empowering and at the same time most frightful things I ever did during my 6 year battle with an anxiety disorder, and that was simply to watch my anxiety. Not run, not fight back, not go online to search for what this symptom of anxiety might mean, but to sit with it and simply become an observer in the present moment. 

Incredibly, I started to tip the scales in favor of a more positive imagination rather then negative

It took time to get completely comfortable with my physical symptoms of anxiety, and be able to move with them as I went about doing what I needed to do during my days. But as i’ve told Ryan, CONFIDENCE IS EVERYTHING (sorry for the caps, but you get the message). So if you’re in Ryan’s situation currently, I advise you to understand this valuable information fully, but  first put yourself in the right state by picturing the rewards you’ll gain from overcoming your own anxiety disorder and imagination overload naturally. It all starts there…

To begin your natural recovery from an anxiety disorder visit www.theanxietyguy.com to learn more about the proven End The Anxiety Program.

 

Using Your Emotions To Fuel Or Eliminate Your Anxiety Disorder Naturally

Emotions are multi-faceted.

They can connect you to the world in a positive way, but they can also disconnect you from the world around you when they are profoundly negative. People who suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Depression often become trapped in an endless cycle of worry, fear, helplessness, confusion, guilt, and sadness. These emotions influence your behavior and interactions with people on a daily basis. You don’t realize how much your perceptions of the world are influenced by these negative feelings. A small event like missing a bus or having to work late can escalate into a crisis because your emotions are built up inside of you and need to be released. You may feel a sudden rush of anger that causes you to say or do something that you regret, or a wave of sadness can come over for you seemingly for no reason causing you to feel incredible self-pity which leads to ongoing depression. Maybe you have that persistent, nagging anxiety in the back of your mind, the sense of impending doom that no amount of encouragement from people who care about you can fix. People are often not aware of what deep-rooted feelings or issues they may be having that cause them to be negative and unhappy. When you are hurt, you have a tendency to push the emotions down to avoid feeling upset at the time, unwittingly causing those emotions to be bottled up inside of you. Then they emerge when you are not expecting it, causing a lot of problems in your life.

Consistent negative emotions can drain even the strongest of people.

The main thing you need to understand is that when difficult or upsetting things happen, you need to learn how to deal with those emotions right away.

Don’t run away from facing whatever issue you have to deal with. Your emotions, as they happen, are a signal that you need to react to the situation. You need to read the emotion and react accordingly. If you are feeling sadness, for example, you need to look at the root cause of that emotion not the situation you might be in at that moment. All main emotions (like sadness) have secondary emotions (such as guilt) that are usually causing them. Try to understand what secondary emotions might be coming into play at any time you might be feeling upset or anxious.

You are never feeling an emotion for no reason!

There is usually a trigger that you experienced that set off a secondary emotion, which then builds up with all of the other feelings you have been suppressing, and this causes an emotional reaction that seems out of sync with what you are experiencing.

The key here is to be aware of those deep-seeded underlying secondary emotions that are causing whatever negative feelings you are having, and deal with those feelings first.

Once you pay attention to those feelings, you can turn them around and begin to improve your overall outlook. Knowing what causes your negative feelings can work a great deal towards ending the cycle of Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

 If you’re tired of searching for a natural solution for your anxiety disorder, learn more about the proven End The Anxiety Program today.

What Are You Going To Focus On This Weekend?

Anthony Robbins shared an experience of when he was in a race car with a professional race car driver next to him. The race car driver had a button next to him that would lift the tires in in a way that would direct the car into the side walls if it was pushed. This was one of the ways race car drivers practiced with a coach – in an emergency situation with your life in danger, what do you focus on, the wall or the track?

So, Robbins would drive in circles awaiting the push of that button at any moment, round and round he went at high speeds, and just when the driver next to him felt that Robbins lost his focus or relaxed just a little too much, WHAM! He would push that red button and head front first directly towards to the wall, and just before they hit the wall the coach would steer them back in the right direction. This happened a number of times until Robbins figured out the pattern that kept directing him straight into the wall direction each time. As that button was pushed and the car was headed into the wall, Robbins’ full focus was always on the wall instead of on the track. He would be looking at the wall and not the track, so of course the car would always head in that direction. As soon as his focus switched from the wall back onto the track, when that button was randomly pressed he noticed that the steering wheel was turned in that direction spontaneously as well.

An important lesson can be learned from Robbins experience on the race track.

If your focus is constantly on what you don’t want, then guess what you’re going to get more of? What you don’t want! Change your focus to what you do want, but not only when things are easy and your anxiety is at a reasonable level. It is more important to do this when you are feeling like you’re in a tough situation and there’s no way out. Those are times when you need to say to yourself, “Ok, I’m not feeling great and I feel like my anxiety is rising to an uncontrollable level. I have a choice: to focus on stopping it quickly (which doesn’t work) so I don’t have to go through this cycle again, or to focus on how these feelings have not killed me in the past and won’t kill me this time either.” This way the fear starts to fade and along with the fear, your negative thoughts and bodily sensations with it.

When Robbins speaks, it’s time to listen…

People with anxiety disorders aren’t the only people who need change, however. From what I can see in my daily life, many normal anxiety-level adults are scared to make much needed changes in different aspects of their lives that aren’t leaving them totally fulfilled.

For example your career―since you spend so much time in your workplace you might as well enjoy it, right? If you absolutely can’t change your career then how can you make your workplace a more enjoyable place to be? Do you need to build trust with co-workers? Maybe you need to make the first move in bringing your co-workers a cup of coffee in the mornings? Or just a simple good morning to a co-worker who you haven’t talked to in a while? These can all lead to a positive change in your working environment.

How about your own leisure time? Don’t you deserve a break once in a while? When was the last time you set a weekly day or a few days to spend just on yourself and what you enjoy doing?

What about your education? I loved history as a young kid, I would be so interested in history shows and books but as I got older I didn’t take much time continuing on educating myself on history. What can you educate yourself on that interests you?

Taking a deeper look into what aspects of your life need change, then applying a game plan to put the wheels in motion for that change to happen is such a fulfilling experience that takes you out of your tired little comfort zone, and leads you to facing what you fear most, change!

A coach without focus

My tennis coach would always insist on making me work on a plan B or a plan C in practice, which made me so very uncomfortable because #1 it wasn’t my natural game style to play which meant I wasn’t very good at it, and #2 It wasn’t plan A! I insisted that I should strengthen my main game style I had, but as I got older and a little wiser I realized he had a point; the reason he wanted me to work on a plan B and plan C game style in practice was because when it came to a real tournament match and things weren’t going the way I wanted it to go, I could always switch my game style and give my opponent a different look that might turn the match around in my favour.

Once I really understood why he wanted me to work on my different game styles in practice, and I saw how it all came together in a real match, I was able to change my regular and limiting beliefs and became a more open minded tennis player. The same thing applies to change in people’s everyday lives!

Change is something anxious minds don’t cope with well

Anything that might threaten that tight hold we have to maintain control over our minds and bodies in case of emergency, we won’t do it. In fact, it is absolutely necessary to make these unnatural feeling changes in our lives to completely be free of fear and anxiety in the end. Taking that first step is crucial in reaching the light at the end of the tunnel. Once a well thought out plan has been mapped out and is followed, then there is no stopping you. Will you run into difficulties? Yes. Will things get more difficult for you before they get better? Possibly. But will that stop you from following your well thought out plan to conquer anxiety? NO!

www.theanxietyguy.com