Are you experiencing anxious thoughts? Feel like you can’t beat anxiety? Is your sleep interrupted or are you having trouble falling asleep?  If you are experiencing anxiety you are not alone. I have experienced anxiety and so have my clients. To help support you when you are feeling anxious, I have some powerful strategies that can help.

1. Experience your emotions. Sometimes when we experience anxiety we are actually suppressing our stress and/or emotions repeatedly throughout our days. Eventually these emotions “come out” as anxiety. If you are seen by others like a calm person then you may be engaging in this behavior. Internalizing your stress instead of noticing it, experiencing it and letting it go increases your anxiety over time. Be patient, this behavior pattern may be so automatic that you are not sure how to behave differently. If you are sensing that you fall into this category I am going to suggest my blog the “The 3-S way of dealing with anxiety.”

Just to clarify that to beat anxiety, I am not advocating that you lash out or express your stress/anxiety in unhealthy ways, instead, I want you to notice it is happening and pause. If you can notice the moments where you feel stressed, ask yourself why you are stressed, if what you are worried about is actually happening in that moment, and feel your body then you can prevent the emotional buildup. Use your breath to bring calm.

2. Relax your expectations. Most of our disappointments and anxiousness come from a feeling of lack of control. If you feel like you don’t have control over your situation than you can feel anxious. The reality: You can’t control others or the outcome of a situation, you can only control your response. So, your expectations of what the results of your efforts need to be are what is creating the anxiety. What if you set goals, and took action while surrendering the results to a higher power. What if you were able to trust that the outcome that is for the best good of all involved will happen as long as you have done your part?

How would the release of the expectations that you will control the results change your anxiety levels? When you feel anxious: Check if you have done everything you can and then release the outcome to your higher power. I am going to encourage you to try this technique and let me know what happens.

3. Gratitude. When we focus on what we are grateful for in our lives then it is harder to be in an anxious state. Think about it when you were anxious were you able to be grateful at the same time?

The next time you begin to worry, notice the worry and acknowledge that there is a possibility that what you are worried about might happen, but it isn’t happening now. Then shift into gratitude for what you do have, what IS working in your life and what you can control. Remember if you worry that you can’t beat anxiety that is exactly what will happen.

For instance, if you are worried about getting sick, then focus on the fact that you are healthy right now, that you have enough food, you have a place to live and that you have people that you love and who love you. If being grateful is not how you usually function you are not alone. Our brains are wired to focus on what is “wrong” or not working. You have to train your brain to refocus on what is working. Besides shifting your focus in the moment of worry, there are many ways to practice gratitude on a regular basis to start the process of rewiring your brain.

You can keep a running list of all that you are grateful for and revisit it daily and you will see how the list grows. Another option is to participate in a traditional gratitude practice by writing three things you are grateful for every day.

Whatever gratitude strategy you choose, pick one and stick to it for 30 days, then let me know how this impacts your life.

Gratitude

4. Celebration. Do you forget to celebrate your accomplishments? Or simply forget to celebrate life? Are you a person who completes a task and then moves onto the next thing? If you answer yes to any of these questions it is time to pause. Take a moment and celebrate. When I have suggested celebrating to my clients they usually have a hard time figuring out how to celebrate. As HSP’s and empaths we tend to take life more seriously so celebrating doesn’t come naturally or easily.

Is life serious all the time? Can you take time to really notice and experience joy?

If you just keep moving and doing how can you truly savor and experience life? I am going to encourage you to take a pause and celebrate you and your loved ones.

Some strategies: a dance break, coloring, a celebration pose, letting a friend know what you have done, or just taking a moment to be grateful. A popular one is to put aside some money each time towards something you want to purchase. Whatever you choose make sure you have fun doing it. If you want to learn more about learning to reduce stress and empath/HSP, check out my Vlog on this topic.

Anxiety can feel like it overwhelms your system and that your life or you are out of control. It can feel like you just can’t beat anxiety. Try these strategies to help support you through anxiety. Some of you may have severe anxiety and if that is the case I am going to encourage you to seek professional help. I have supported my clients through coaching, Reiki and hypnosis and as a result, they are calmer, more centered and happier individuals. The techniques I am outlining here are some that I have seen as beneficial for my clients.