A brief thread on greeting a day if yours begins w/ anxiety.
Judging by my twitter feed, I’m not t only one who slept poorly. Our society is so ill-informed abt how to feed ourselves emotionally. So if it helps to hv ideas of HOW to do that, here’s how I’m tackling my struggle.
Judging by my twitter feed, I’m not t only one who slept poorly. Our society is so ill-informed abt how to feed ourselves emotionally. So if it helps to hv ideas of HOW to do that, here’s how I’m tackling my struggle.
2. I accepted I wasn’t going to go back to sleep. ACCEPTANCE is the key to emotional and mental health. Acceptance of what one is feeling right now, of what is happening right now. Not fighting right now or wishing it was otherwise. Accepting.The.Now. = safety for the body
3. I CLOTHED MYSELF IN LOVE. I am currently dressed entirely in comfy clothing where every single piece contains memories of someone I love. To the body, love = belonging = safe. (Even if the people aren’t present, the piece of clothing tells my brain I’m not alone.)
4. I greeted the dawn from my window, GRATEFUL that the sun has decided to come up again. 😊 Thank goodness everything hasn’t changed! 😊 To the body, predictability = control = safety. Gratitude calls my attention to what is good in my world. My body can relax.
5. I made tea in a mug given to me by a younger family member I love. So as I sipped, I thought of how fab she is. She gives me HOPE. Hope = energy = banishing despair. All the way down to my tummy.
6. I toasted the rising sun. That upped the gratitude quotient in my frontal cortex! And it made me LAUGH, because I realised that mug reads: “It is what it is.” It was that youngster’s way of teasing me about how I go on all the time about acceptance. Laughter = safety. 
7. I HAVENT TURNED ON THE NEWS YET. I managed somehow, in all those stumbling attempts to accept my day was starting long before I planned, to create a sense of calm. The news will destroy that. I’m going to hang on to ths calm emotional space I somehow created a wee bit longer.
8. I allowed myself a moment of PRIDE. I did this. I managed it. I created this place of calm & peace FOR MYSELF. Even in all this craziness. I celebrated: I AM ABLE TO DO THIS. If I can do it once, I can do it again. To the body, mastery = control = relief = safety.
9. I have written this thread for 4 reasons. First, anxiety easily feels overwhelming. It feels like you can’t do anything about it. I’m trying to show how you CAN. It takes conscious awareness. That’s the key. Attention to CREATING A SENSE OF SAFETY for yourself.
10. Second, no one else knows how to create a sense of safety for you. Only you can do that. We each hv a RESPONSIBILITY to learn how to do that for ourselves. This comes as news to many people. Attachmnt patterns can lead you to think someone else has your answer. Nope.Only you.
11. Thirdly, I didn’t used to know ths stuff. I had to LEARN it, just like everybody else on ths earth. I had to un-learn all t drama stuff I got taught. I hope knowing that is encouragng. Everything around us is making our brains go: “Do drama!” Nope. I’m not gonna be tricked.
12. Fourthly,we need to HELP each other right now.The questns coming in for my webinar tonight on anxiety show how much terror there is in our world right now.Terror calms whn we take charge of it &whn we know help is at hand. So, one thing we can do right now is help create calm
13/end. I hope that sharing how I am managing this will help others to find their own way. If we adults can’t calm our anxiety, we can’t help our kids calm theirs. So I do hope these ideas help. I leave you w/ the RAINBOWS they’ve been drawing for all of us, in windows. Thanks.
