In the past month alone I had more than 20 clients and students approaching me regarding their anxiety issues…
The DSM (Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) lists more than 30 different disorders under anxiety… Yet, if you dig at the core of it, no one really knows what anxiety is and where it comes from…
Anxiety is very individualized condition. It comes in various shapes and forms, different severity and intensity. It carries different pains and signs and poses varying challenges for its sufferers.
New studies link anxiety to autoimmune disease, Hashimoto Thyroiditis being a common one I see in my practice… Yet, is it a cause or an effect of the autoimmune disease… No one knows for sure. What we know is that anxiety increases inflammatory markers in the body and the inflammatory markers in their turn increase anxiety- creating a viscous cycle. Turning on the furnace in our cells turns it on in our brain… Does this contribute to the onset of autoimmune disease? I believe so.
I have my own theory about anxiety, though. (I have my own theory about pretty much everything in my life I guess). I see the tendency to be anxious as a special personality trait… it is part of our character… in our genes… it is part of who we are…
People who are prone to anxiety are usually the over-achievers. Those who care and carry on with life on a full drive mode… They are the creative type, with a mind loaded with ideas, thoughts, plans and lists… a mind like a super World Wide Web firing in all directions ALL THE TIME!
I know… because this is how my mind feels like… And, this is totally fine… This is who I am and it is perfectly ‘normal’… my ‘normal’…
Who defines ‘normal’ anyway?
Who decides what ‘normal’ is or isn’t?
We’re all different and this is part of our charm. We complete and complement each other…
Anxiety-prone people are idea generators. We’re experts at connecting the dots, at seeing patterns in the randomness of chaos… We’re there to charge, drive and achieve… We’re here to move stagnated waters and shake sluggish sloth…
But, we can overdo it at times… We can burn the candle at both ends… We can scorch ourselves alive… we can keep running and running till we run out of breath… we can keep spinning on the hamster wheel till the wheel is ablaze…
So, our body sends us a signal… a Whisper to remind us that we need to slow down … This Whisper is our anxiety…
I see anxiety as a gentle (or may be not so gentle at times) warning sign sent our way to tell us that we’re over doing it… over thinking, over acting, over working… We need to slow down… slow down the pace of our life and the pace of our thoughts… we need to close those pop-up windows that keep surfacing out of no where and jamming our mental screen.
We need to slow down this crazy chatter and endless clutter of to-dos, ideas, information, worry and fears…
The DSM (Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) lists more than 30 different disorders under anxiety… Yet, if you dig at the core of it, no one really knows what anxiety is and where it comes from…
Anxiety is very individualized condition. It comes in various shapes and forms, different severity and intensity. It carries different pains and signs and poses varying challenges for its sufferers.
New studies link anxiety to autoimmune disease, Hashimoto Thyroiditis being a common one I see in my practice… Yet, is it a cause or an effect of the autoimmune disease… No one knows for sure. What we know is that anxiety increases inflammatory markers in the body and the inflammatory markers in their turn increase anxiety- creating a viscous cycle. Turning on the furnace in our cells turns it on in our brain… Does this contribute to the onset of autoimmune disease? I believe so.
I have my own theory about anxiety, though. (I have my own theory about pretty much everything in my life I guess). I see the tendency to be anxious as a special personality trait… it is part of our character… in our genes… it is part of who we are…
People who are prone to anxiety are usually the over-achievers. Those who care and carry on with life on a full drive mode… They are the creative type, with a mind loaded with ideas, thoughts, plans and lists… a mind like a super World Wide Web firing in all directions ALL THE TIME!
I know… because this is how my mind feels like… And, this is totally fine… This is who I am and it is perfectly ‘normal’… my ‘normal’…
Who defines ‘normal’ anyway?
Who decides what ‘normal’ is or isn’t?
We’re all different and this is part of our charm. We complete and complement each other…
Anxiety-prone people are idea generators. We’re experts at connecting the dots, at seeing patterns in the randomness of chaos… We’re there to charge, drive and achieve… We’re here to move stagnated waters and shake sluggish sloth…
But, we can overdo it at times… We can burn the candle at both ends… We can scorch ourselves alive… we can keep running and running till we run out of breath… we can keep spinning on the hamster wheel till the wheel is ablaze…
So, our body sends us a signal… a Whisper to remind us that we need to slow down … This Whisper is our anxiety…
I see anxiety as a gentle (or may be not so gentle at times) warning sign sent our way to tell us that we’re over doing it… over thinking, over acting, over working… We need to slow down… slow down the pace of our life and the pace of our thoughts… we need to close those pop-up windows that keep surfacing out of no where and jamming our mental screen.
We need to slow down this crazy chatter and endless clutter of to-dos, ideas, information, worry and fears…
The best way of slowing down is meditation. I won’t list here the science behind it and the endless proofs of the positive effects of meditation on your health… The main thing is that it works. It has been proven time and time again that it does work. And, this is what matters.
There is no right or wrong way of meditating… The main idea is to sit in this silent space… And, with every exhalation, gently push away any surfacing pop-ups … let them float away like fluffy clouds…
Some people find it easier to focus on their breath; others choose a word or a phrase to focus on, be it an affirmation or a religious reminder of the Divine Names and Attributes… a name or attribute that you need to embody now in your life. Others choose a simple word that they need to live by like peace, love or let go… Again, it doesn’t really matter… What matters is carving the time in our busy hectic schedule to actually meditate EVERYDAY…
It is okay if you find yourself unable to calm down the chatter or turn off the pop-ups… it is totally fine… just sit with it and keep breathing… You’ll get there.
There is no right or wrong way of meditating… The main idea is to sit in this silent space… And, with every exhalation, gently push away any surfacing pop-ups … let them float away like fluffy clouds…
Some people find it easier to focus on their breath; others choose a word or a phrase to focus on, be it an affirmation or a religious reminder of the Divine Names and Attributes… a name or attribute that you need to embody now in your life. Others choose a simple word that they need to live by like peace, love or let go… Again, it doesn’t really matter… What matters is carving the time in our busy hectic schedule to actually meditate EVERYDAY…
It is okay if you find yourself unable to calm down the chatter or turn off the pop-ups… it is totally fine… just sit with it and keep breathing… You’ll get there.
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