If I asked you to tell me what anxiety is I'm sure you'd do a fine job. After all, you know your stuff. You could probably tell me a lot about what your anxiety feels like, what fear feels like, even what terror feels like. I'm confident that you could give me all the intricate details. In fact, I'm sure you and I could easily get lost in the details of your latest complaint, but what would be the point? I know why you do it. You're on the lookout for danger. You're anticipating, calculating, always watching. To be fair, I
How the Right Foods Can Improve Your Mood
One of the biggest concerns for the average person with anxiety is figuring out how to decrease their physical symptoms. For the vast majority, that means endless hours researching deep breathing, yoga, or feel good quotes. Now, there's no doubt in my mind that if you take meditation and yoga seriously that you will see results, but how many people do? That's why the motivation factor is all-important. Rather unfortunately people get discouraged if they don't see results within a few days. Bottom-line is that if it takes too long to
3 Essential Tips for Anxious Parents
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was sitting in my room, grinding my teeth, when my inner voice exploded with anger: Enough! His screams had made their way deep inside the part of my brain that houses rage and I just couldn't contain myself anymore. So I bounced up and stormed in his direction. When I had him cornered I glared at him and demanded silence. I pointed at him and shouted: Stop! He looked back at me with a quivering lower lip and these sad, sad eyes that made me feel like total garbage. You see, the guy I was
Can a Panic Attack Trigger Anxiety Forever?
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Einstein Let me take a wild guess. You're not exactly sure if you're going to get better, right? This is especially true if you were dragged into anxiety by one of those "out of the blue" panic attacks. Although not all anxiety problems are triggered by panic, many are. That was the case for me. I remember it well. A crashing wave of fear terror mixed with palpitations, dizziness, sweating and the sense that I just might not make it out
Does Exposing Yourself to Your Fears Really Work?
It's an interesting question that I'm sure you've wondered about before. I mean, it's like you don't want to overcome your health phobia or fear of flying, right? Of course you do. It's not a lack of desire on your part that holds you back. More likely, it's knowing that exposure to your fears could make you feel worse. But that's why it's important to remember that when you use exposure to extinguish your fears it should be done gradually. That's the most important lesson I learned from this week's podcast guest Guy Oberwise,
This Is How Hypnotherapy Lowers Anxiety
Last week someone asked me if hypnotherapy was effective and whether or not it could be combined with other types of therapy. It's a good question. But I couldn't answer it since I've never had a particular interest in hypnosis. I guess it's because I've always associated hypnosis with stage acts. But man, was I wrong. In 1955 the British Medical Association issued a report stating that hypnosis was a valuable medical tool. In 1958 the American Medical Association recognized hypnosis as a viable scientific modality. In 1962 the
Simple Is Better
Steve Jobs once said... You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains." Ain't that the truth? The problem is that simplifying our thoughts is complicated. Our minds are in constant search of connections, patterns and meaning, setting the stage for a whole lot of thinking and not much else. We often get bogged down in details that don't matter and stay distracted enough to miss all the important stuff. I'm no different. Take my
The Top 100 Things You Should Know About Anxiety Disorders
Over the course of a decade you can learn a lot about anything. You can become an expert at car repair, kitchen remodeling, hair styling, or in my case you can learn all about anxiety. Since 1999 I have been battling anxiety non-stop and as a result I've learned a thing or two about this topic (I've recovered since then). Many of my thoughts on this issue are short thoughts or blurbs that I've collected over the years and for no particular reason I wanted to jot them down. I can't possibly recall everything but here is a good chunk of