Relax, Don't Be Anxious About Your Anxiety

Relax, Don’t Be Anxious About Your Anxiety

Anxiety may be caused by a number of factors. It may be due to a situation specific stimulus or it may present as a characteristic trait that endures over time. This is an important distinction in terms of tailoring treatment approaches that will most effectively alleviate the condition. Generalized Anxiety symptoms can often be managed through Self-Management techniques with something as simple as practicing Mindfulness Meditation.

The Nature of Anxiety

Life’s unpredictability requires that we cultivate both courage and a willingness to get beyond such anxiety, stress and overwhelm. It’s important to keep in mind that to successfully uproot the causes of anxiety, we need to understand how it oftentimes overlaps with fear, stress, frustration, dependency, hostility, and if further repressed, can turn into anger and depression. This is why the affective disorders that include depression and anxiety are so widespread these days because they are compounded by multiple factors. For example, fear and anger are oftentimes defense mechanisms that come from a past insult. Oftentimes these feelings have little or nothing to do with the present moment. When we refer to depression and anxiety, usually these aforementioned feelings have been buried and becoming burdensome to us. In order to get beyond the tip of the iceberg, it requires patience, commitment and truthful self- inquiry. We don’t always see what truly underlies the anxiety unless we become brave and still enough to hear the voice within.

Tracing Back Early Anxiety

I- The Mother-Child Dyad

The maternal connection with child is the beginning formation of the quality of relationship development. Child psychologists know that the formative years are impressionable years. This is the time when Cognitive affective states originate from early developmental imprints that create mental schema which filters mental processing a particular way. Mindfulness Meditation is a self-adjusting method that promotes positive self-regulation along with healthier interpretations during challenging situations. It helps you to work on where you are in the moment regardless of your early primary relationships. We all have different set points and tolerance levels for managing our own cognitive affective comfort zone.

II- Early Anxiety

Take a moment and think back to when you were a youngster to see if you can recall something as typical as school-age test anxiety. I know I can recall this feeling all too well. This is probably one of the most commonly defined anxieties amongst school age children. If this doesn’t quite speak to you, then perhaps there is another type that you may identify either from childhood or as an adult; some of these may include Social Anxiety, Public Speaking, Fear of heights, bugs and or other phobias, At one time or another, we’ve all had to face anxiety- provoking situations and cope and conquer them to the best of our ability. Mindfulness Meditation is a tool that can raise your awareness, improve your ability to remain calm and centered, increase your confidence and guide you to respond and not react.

Anticipatory versus Reflexive Anxiety

It is helpful to make the distinction between Anticipatory Anxiety and Reflexive Anxiety, in that the former refers to a future event while the later to a current situation. Interestingly, both types bring about similar response patterns with similar manifestation of symptoms, some of which may include rapid heart -beat, sweaty palms, stomach or chest pain and feelings of nervousness through the central nervous system. These symptoms impact the whole system, mind, body, and spirit. In effect, this physiological response renders the individual less than able to respond to the very best of their ability.

Should you decide to focus on breaking the behavioral chain of Reflexive Anxiety, you would in effect help moderate Anticipatory Anxiety as well. If you can intercept and reduce its effect on you in the present, than you begin to re-condition yourself by learning self-management skills. Mindfulness Meditation helps to do just that. It brings you fully into the present moment in a relaxed state of being. It improves emotional well- being, resiliency and integrates neural pathways for clearer thinking.

The amazing field of neuroscience continually provides empirical evidence to show how our thoughts and feelings are intricately related. We cannot help to affect one as we decide to change the other. Spiritual literature shows how this body of knowledge lends itself in the psychotherapy and self-improvement community on many levels. With this said, we know that integrating Mindfulness Meditation in daily life expands consciousness. This allows us to develop better self-regulation practices. So take a moment and just 'Relax, Don’t Be Anxious About Your Anxiety'.