All of us have experienced some kind of panic or anxiety in our lives. Anxiousness is inevitable. For some of us, especially those that suffer from PTSD, (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), panic and anxiety can be a real live nightmare. What if panic and anxiety are the culprits only because they have taken all of our power away? What if we have given panic and anxiety some kind of permission? Stop, wait, think about it.
When you feel strong emotions of fear, stress, worry, sadness, or anger that totally engage your thoughts and actions and affect your quality of life, ask yourself what percentage of these emotions are personally your own. Less than twenty-five percent are most likely personally yours. What has occurred is that you as a sensitive have connected to the vibrations that are being offered by others as well as the collective consciousness.
Rather than suppress these strong misqualified emotions that you feel, rather than judge these emotions and others, simply claim your ability as an alchemist to transform them. Use your tools, use sound to express and release any emotions you are feeling, your own emotions, as well as any to which you might be connected.
The most empirically-supported treatment for panic disorder is cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT. It is possible to arrive at a place where you can experience panic and anxiety as nothing more than a brain blip. You can get to a place where you are able to observe rather than get lost in your panic. These are not flippant words but heartfelt and sincere sentiments.
Top CBT for panic tips:
1. Panic is a false alarm going off in your brain.
2. Just because you feel like you are in danger does not mean you are truly in danger.
3. Struggling with panic does not make you weak or broken; it just makes you a run-of-the-mill flawed human (like the rest of us).
4. The way past panic is to face it head on. You can teach your brain that you are not actually in danger by staying put and riding out the panic wave.
5. You can handle panic! It is not dangerous, it is just super-duper uncomfortable.
There are several ways to address the need for assistance in moving past panic. You can contact a mental health professional trained in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) or pharmacotherapies, or both. You could search for a therapist in your area on the ADAA website to help you with this challenging, but very important work. Or you could also consider taking a look at the self-help materials on the ADAA website including “Facing Panic: Self-Help for People with Panic Attacks.”
I would also like to make/include one last suggestion. TAKE IT BACK! Panic and Anxiety have absolutely no clue as to what to do with themselves. They are both like children in a playground running around with your emotions saying, “Yippie, this is fun! Have you ever had this much fun in your life?!” While we sit around feeling mortified and worse off for how they are effecting our demeanor and behavior.
When you start to feel panic coming on, tell it “NO!, I am in charge here NOT YOU,” and mean it! This is your body, your mind and your soul, it belongs to you, not to the fears and stressful moments of our lives. Don’t be too hard on yourself. That in and of itself is counter productive. This practice will take time. There are many options out there for us. A good start is loving yourself and owning up to your feelings. After all they belong to you.
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References | Debra Kissen | Huffington Post | Peggy Black | Humanity’s Team | Artwork | Dave Smallen
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