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If you’ve ever had anxiety, you know it can be a very disorienting and unsettling experience. But there’s something that makes it worse: worrying that it might happen again in the future—worrying about what other people think, or worrying about how things will turn out. When this worry starts to take over your mind and affect your day -to= day life, it’s called an anxiety disorder. Fortunately for those suffering from this condition (and others), there are ways to deal with it! One way is by practicing mindfulness so that you can focus on the present moment instead of dwelling on worries about yesterday or tomorrow.
The practice of mindfulness is all about being present. When you are in the[present moment, your mind is not running through a million thoughts and worries about what’s going on at home or work. You are actually focusing on things that matter to you—like the smell of coffee brewing, or how much fun your dog is having while you play soccer with him or having a meal with some cherished friends. You enjoy what you are doing, who you are with, or even what you are eating as you are not worrying about anything else. Being mindful and in the present also keeps you from worrying about things that may or may not transpire in the future. This is helpful because it keeps us from catastrophizing, another major cause of anxiety. Practicing mindfulness helps us because it also keeps us from going back over things that happened in the past again and again and rethinking how we might have done things differently. This is good because we all know, intellectually, that we can not control what has already happened, nor what will happen in the future.
Living in the moment also helps us feel more connected with other people around us because we’re not thinking about other things that might be happening in their lives at that moment (which may cause them stress). That doesn’t matter as much when I’m focused on my own thoughts instead! Being able to connect deeply with others is part of why working towards mindfulness has been shown time after time by studies like this one done by researchers at Harvard University in 2015: “Mindfulness training improves attentional control during social interactions.”
An awareness of your thoughts
Mindfulness is about being aware of your thoughts, not trying to control them. For example, you may think “I should be able to do this faster” and then get frustrated when you can’t do it faster. This kind of thinking might lead you into an anxious state if you keep it up. Mindfulness teaches us that we’re not in control over how fast things happen and instead accept them as they come at us without judgment or expectation of how they should be done.
Acceptance of your thoughts
When you accept your thoughts, you are accepting the fact that they are just that: thoughts. They don’t have to be true or accurate—they just exist in your mind. You can choose not to act on them (or at least not immediately), and this will help reduce anxiety levels by giving yourself space from a potentially harmful thought pattern. Being able to accept your thoughts will help you develop a foundation for dealing with them more effectively.
Acceptance is also not approval: If someone expresses concern about something, but you respond with an angry response instead of taking time for yourself and reflecting on what they said, that is not acceptance. Acceptance does not mean agreement; it means being able to look at the issue objectively without getting upset or angry with it over something another person said or did.
This leads us back to our first point: mindfulness helps anxiety because it teaches us how best to handle difficult situations while keeping ourselves balanced emotionally so we don’t get overwhelmed by negative emotions like anger or sadness (or any combination thereof).
Experiencing emotions without judgment
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Accepting your emotions is the first step to experiencing them without judgment. If you’re feeling anxious, angry or sad, don’t push those feelings away—accept that they are there and allow yourself time to process them.
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Recognizing that emotions are normal but not permanent can help you feel more free of stress when they arise in your life. Emotions come and go all the time—they’re part of being human. They are part of what makes us human.
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Focussing on the moment, decreases the time you spend worrying about what happened or what might happen next.
When you focus on the present, you don’t have time to worry about what happened yesterday or what might happen tomorrow. It puts an end to all the excessive ruminating. It allows you stop worrying about what other people think of you and how they’ll react if they find out how much anxiety you’ve been experiencing lately.
I’m not saying it’s easy being mindful all day every day; in fact, it is difficult to stay in a mindful state constantly. That is why it is best to move in and out of mindful states throughout the day. Practicing mindfulness can help reduce some of our most common sources of stress: anxiety and depression (which often go hand in hand).
If you find yourself struggling with anxiety, it’s important to remember that there are many different ways to deal with the symptoms. With these tools in mind, you can find the best one for your specific needs!
At Woman Super Powers, we offer a ten-week course on anxiety reduction strategies which are founded on the practice of mindfulness. These strategies allow our clients to create a Teflon coating that will shield them from external criticism one of the biggest drivers of anxiety events.
At Woman Super Powers, we offer a ten-week course on anxiety reduction strategies which is founded on the scientifically practice of mindfulness. Our modality and anxiety reduction strategies allow our clients to create a Teflon coating that will shield them from external criticism , one of the biggest drivers of anxiety events.Contact us today to get started.
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