Overcoming Anxiety

Meditation is a powerful tool for overcoming anxiety. It doesn’t cost anything, can be done anywhere and the side effects are all positive 🙂

It is well established that anxiety can lead to heart disease, relationship problems and a person who is anxious is likely to rate their level of happiness lower than a person who controls their anxiety.

Several ways to overcome anxiety:

• Meditation.
  We have a wide variety of meditations to choose from right here.
• Mindfulness.
  Pay attention to only what you are doing right now. This leaves less room for an anxious mind to worry! In this article from Harvard Health Publications mindfulness meditation (in the video he describes it as paying attention) is given as a way to relieve anxiety.
• Creativity.
  Here is an article about using art as meditation, including ideas and instructions. Although I use art as an outlet, many other (non-electronic) hobbies have the same effect. I say non-electronic because it has been shown that computers and other electrical devices stimulate instead of calm the nervous system. Here are a few (non-electronic) examples
  • Knitting, quilting, crocheting.
  • Wood working, model trains. There are many hobbies that use your hands and imagination to create a physical project.
  • Art in it’s many disguises – drawing, painting, working in clay. Think of creating things that are visual.
  • Writing. No not your grocery list 😉 I mean creative writing like short stories. Also, writing in a journal can be calming, especially if you take the attitude that you are writing away your problems. (In that case start by writing about the things that are causing stress, then switch over to writing about things that make you feel calm or happy. That way the last thoughts you have created for yourself are enjoyable ones, so take a few moments to FEEL the good thoughts 🙂
  • Reading uplifting materials.
  • Creating music.
  • Gardening.

When you are engrossed in creating, you forget about what is causing you stress. Sometimes is all you need in order to gain a sense of calm is to interrupt the anxiety with a hobby you enjoy.

• Socialize.
  Connect with friends (preferably ones who are upbeat).
• Movement.
  Exercise is well known to relieve stress and anxiety.

I hope you find these suggestions useful.

Do you have any other ideas? Please leave a comment to let me know what your favorite way to overcome anxiety is 🙂

To your health!