When we experience Anxiety we often experience a physical reaction of energy in the body, like it's ready to respond to a situation to keep us safe. It is very like the physical experience of excitement. The difference is that with excitement we have the belief that the outcome will be good and bring us pleasure. Anxiety looks for the worst outcomes.
This is all to do with the mind's primary function which is to keep us safe.
I will be referring to Tony Robbins - 6 Human Needs a lot during these posts and I will give you a full sheet on it when the time is right. Meantime let me tell you that the first 2 aspects are Certainty and Uncertainty. We have a mixture of both in our lives which may or may not be similar to our needs.
Different people need different levels due to their circumstances and their personality/ character / upbringing. A great example is in the world of autism where people on the spectrum tend to (but not all) be happier when they have more certainty then uncertainty. Think routines.
At different times in our lives we need the balance to be different. As a teenager for example we generally need more uncertainty because taking risks helps us to grow. Those who plan to start a family generally would like more certainty.
Mid life crises can take place because the person has too much certainty in their life and not enough uncertainty and feels the need to grow will bring them more fulfilment. Hence 40 & 50 year olds getting into motorbikes, becoming gym bunnies etc. You know the type of things.
Funnily enough having an understanding of the need for uncertainty brings us more certainty which can help us stay in the Blue Zone and not get too anxious about our behaviour.
Our thinking controls our behaviour. Why is it that 2 people can see the same scenario and one be excited and one be anxious? There are lots of factors however one easy way to change to the other side is to tell yourself that you are anxious or excited.
At times of potential danger we probably should be less excited and more anxious - think mother's perception v their child's!
And in many more occasions we could easily tell ourselves that the feeling we have that we are calling anxiety could be excitement. Now I can hear you saying "hold on, it's not so easy!".
Like all good things it comes with practice. Try it now. Find a feeling of anxiety and say to yourself repeatedly over a period of time "this is actually a feeling of excitement".
What happens is that the feeling in the body is the same and the frown is turned upside down, to a smile.
Proof is in the pudding. Try it out and let me know.
We will do this on the live Zoom this week and I will show you how it's done.
Big smiles
Stuart