Your Anxiety is Telling You Something
By Jon Terrell, M.A., L.M.T.
Do you know how to listen to what it is saying? Anxiety can be very uncomfortable, yet we can transform it as we learn to decode the vital messages to has for us.
The thoughts, feelings and body sensations that make up anxiety are calling us pay attention. They are telling us that we are out of balance and need to change our direction. Viewed this way, it's a call to take action.
Sometimes the action we need to take is to change our mindset, our way of viewing ourselves and the world. Sometimes it involves external action. Usually, it involves both. A comprehensive, holistic approach includes listening to our thoughts, feelings, body sensations and how these connect with our personal relationships and roles in the world. All of this matters and each plays a role in our overall wellness.
Alternately, a disease-oriented medical approach sees anxious feelings as being caused by a bio-chemical imbalance in the brain. From this perspective an anti-anxiety medication would be the primary way to treat it. While this could help us feel better, at least for the short term, we could miss hearing the vital call to action message within our discomfort.
What is the message? It is a call to come alive. It's a "wake up call" to pay attention inside ourselves and around us. It's a call for us to tap into our creative wisdom, find our inner strength, and take an appropriate action.
"Anxiety is the gap between the now and the later" Fritz Perls
Anxiety is about the future...we become worried or apprehensive about a perceived threat, of something happening or not happening. It is often not clear what we are concerned with as distinct from its relative, fear. Fear generally has a clear object...we are afraid, for example, of a big bear attacking us while out hiking. For more on working with fear, especially fear of change, go to
Fear and Change.
Anxiety helps us be aware of potentially dangerous situations, although not necessarily physical dangers. The cause is more vague than fear and can be less than totally rational...such as a fear of heights or spiders or enclosed spaces. What it is telling us may need some exploration. We may need to "dig in the dirt" to find out what we are afraid of... where in our past we lost control or felt helpless. In that exploration we can often find inspiration and healing, especially if we connect with and feel those hidden feelings along the way.
I believe that our feelings are essential messengers calling us to awaken and grow. They are the most overlooked factor in personal growth and total wellness. We tend to want to avoid uncomfortable feelings that make us anxious but that just makes matters worse by reinforcing it. Avoidance makes our world smaller as we shrink to avoid life.
As we learn to lean into our feelings, they transform and become our teachers. Anxiety transformed is a great awakener (as is fear) calling us to live a bigger life, with far more awareness, courage and excitement than before. Going through emotions (rather than suppressing them, trying to understand them or manipulate them) allows us to receive their gifts of increased energy and awareness. Click on the psychotherapy link for more on this perspective.
"Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” Charles H. Spurgeon
What are the components of
an effective, holistic anxiety program?
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) has been shown to be effective. It works with thoughts, beliefs and behaviors, helping clients change behaviors and thought patterns that reinforce their anxiousness. Multimodal Therapy (developed by Arnold Lazarus) is even more effective because it also looks at the role interpersonal relations, perceptual stimuli and physical issues affect us.
In my approach, which I practice at my office in Northampton, Massachusetts, I give greater emphasis to emotions than CBT or Multimodal therapy. I see emotional healing as essential. I also give more attention to helping a client become much more spacious and open in their body and minds to let the uncomfortable feelings reveal their gifts. I do this is with both specific body-oriented energy healing and with counseling.
I also follow an anxiety protocol that includes training in relaxation skills (Autogenics, Breathwork, Progressive Muscle Relaxation and meditation), changing distorted beliefs, challenging negative self-talk and assertiveness. I encourage clients to make full use of the benefits of exercise, rest and a healthy diet.
“Anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity” Wayne Dyer
These feelings are not an enemy to eradicate. They're allies, sources of wisdom and creativity. In fact, there are many things we should be anxious about, especially the big issues outside of our self: the state of the world and humanity's inability to deal effectively with numerous problems. The world is out of balance and needs our help.
Many people are stuck in denial of anxieties and fears. Others feel trapped and paralyzed by them. But we can move beyond those stuck places. By working holistically, with all our relations (self and others), we can mobilize our vast internal resources to truly be a force for good in the world.
While my approach is primarily non-medical, medications can be helpful by providing much needed relief when the problem is severe enough to make daily activities difficult to perform. And they can help some people be more able to take the action steps to truly master these feelings and discover the wisdom within them.
Nutrition can affect our levels of stress and anxiety. People who are experiencing chronic stress, fatigue, and other symptoms can often benefit from the help of an excellent nutritionist. I highly recommend
Ellen Kittredge,
who is available by phone.
For more information about anxiety counseling and
retreats
with Jon Terrell, contact Jon using the form below. He has offices in downtown Northampton, Massachusetts (serving the Pioneer Valley) and New York City.
Jon Terrell, M.A., L.M.T.
Fitzwilly's Building
25 Main Street, Suite #342
Northampton, Massachusetts
(413) 687-7955
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