/ease your mind

Are you feeling anxious? Me too. The reality is that most of us do. Anxiety is a biologically based signal informing us to be on alert, to be aware of a perceived threat, and to take action in one way or another. Some of us may be able to lean into this anxiety, while others tend to retreat. Somewhere along the line, our wires may get crossed, and we may start to experience symptoms of anxiety when we aren’t in danger.

Anxiety can manifest in various ways. For some, it may be a mental game in which you experience racing, ruminative thoughts that you can’t seem to shake, keeping you up at night, and culminating with irritability. For others, it may manifest physically through an increased heart rate, tightness in your chest, sweating, or knots in your stomach. Maybe you’ve hit the double whammy and you experience both physiological and psychological symptoms.

Treatment for anxiety often focuses on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) skills to connect:

• Activating event- something happens

• Beliefs- associated thoughts

• Consequences- feelings that arise

In making these connections, you will be able to better understand the roots of your anxiety and use skills based interventions to help reduce the intensity and frequency of your symptoms.