5 Questions to Ask When Feeling Anxious
Whether you’ve experienced it in big or little ways, a heightened sense of stress and thinking is not enjoyable. Here are five questions to ask next time you find yourself in that state.
Am I “doing math” right now? To me, this means: calculating, ruminating, looping a thought or outcome over and over again
Is this thought coming from fear or love? If you approached it through the lens of love, would it feel the same?
If I zoom out, is the anxiety about this thing or is it just an anxious feeling that is manifesting through this thing? Sometimes we are simply holding an anxious feeling and our mind chooses something to blame it on. What if you just held yourself in the feeling instead?
Have I been here before? Our minds tend to revisit things that have helped us extend an anxious feeling, even if we don’t want to.
What are three ways I can get into my BODY right now? Whether your anxious feelings manifest in your mind or body, MOVING the energy and landing back into the body is huge.
Anxiety loves to feast on the unknown and the uncertain. This is why, personally, I think it’s great to practice BEING in the unknown. Embracing the unknown. Much easier said than done. Anxiety loves to make us think we have to “do” something or “figure something out” or take action.
We often do not. Sometimes the feelings simply need to pass!
5 Ways to Get Out of the Mind and Into the Body
GET COLD dunking my body into cold water and staying there for at least two minutes helps quiet my brain like NO OTHER.
DANCE/MOVE/SHAKE any type of movement will feel good. May I suggest some intuitive movement? Light bouncing? It doesn’t need to be challenging or lengthy. Shake it out- your nervous system will thank you.
SHOWER/BATH notice the sensations, the smells of soap and shampoo, the sound of the water. Let yourself be held.
SING singing and humming activate the vagus nerve. Belt it the fuck out- notice how calm you feel afterwards.
BREATHWORK my favorite is the “physiological sigh”. So easy, you can do it virtually anywhere and the effects are immediate!
