I want to share some tools that help me to stop anxiety from turning into a panic attack or shame spiral. One of them is called Real Time or Reality Thinking.
Reality is not what is going on in your life right now, or today or next week. Reality is this very second right now! It is knowing that the real reality is inside of me right now.
Whenever I start to feel anxiety, the most important thing I have to do is to stop my head from racing by getting into the present moment and letting go of whatever thoughts are torturing me.
I have to put all of it in His hands and let it go. I mean every thought! I know that sounds trite and easier said than done, but real time is where we need to be to get into the moment and get out of our heads. We need to stop the racing thoughts that cause anxiety or fear before they turn into a panic attack. Panic attacks or generalized anxiety is not a fun place to live.
First we need to say to ourselves, "Where am I right now?" Then look at everything that is around you at this very moment. What are you seeing? Start saying in your mind what you see with your eyes, either out loud or in our minds, whichever way works best for you. Keep naming everything you can see around you with your eyes. Touch things where you are and say what you are touching. Focus on your breathing and your belling going up and down. Very soon your head will get out of the place that is causing the anxiety, and you will be firmly planted in the moment. Everything is okay right this second and that is where your head needs to get to.
When the racing thoughts are under control then you will be able to take care of whatever you need to do.
I had this experience the other day where I was starting to feel very anxious, and I was quickly moving into an uncomfortable place. I was feeling very confused and my usual tools didn’t seem to be working for me, so, I paid attention to what was going on with me.
I realized that I had another conversation playing in my head with someone that I was really frustrated with. I was thinking that if it wasn’t for him, and if he would just listen to me, then I wouldn’t be in this situation.
I was trying to get into the moment, but instead, I found myself having this conversation in my head with this person that I was blaming for causing me all these problems.
Then I realized I couldn’t get into the moment and into reality, real time because I was having this conversation in my head with someone who was not even there, and it was making me very anxious.
I realized he wasn’t there at that moment so it was impossible for me to be talking to him. I was not in the moment in reality. Stopping that other conversation going on in my head helped me get into the moment and focus on what I was doing.
I think anxiety comes when we are overwhelmed with a situation, or from life events that might come at us all at once and from different places.
Sometimes it is by our own doing and sometimes it is just life that happens to us, but our systems get on overload. The problem is what we do with it all this data in our heads.
If we run from dealing with the feelings inside of us then they will come out of us some other way, by obsessive thinking or obsessive, racing thoughts.
Doing this can cause anxiety or shame attacks big time.
It seemed like I was doing all the right things to get me into the moment like I knew to do, but then I realized that the conversation going on in my head with this other person is what had to stop.
I needed to focus on what I was doing right now at work. I could only allow myself to focus on the task at hand. No other conversations were allowed.
That is what I told my head. I told it "No!" Then I stopped that thinking and focused on what needed to do get done, and all the anxiety diminished.
Reality is knowing that the Lord is inside of me and that is where I find my peace, in that very moment with Him.
Stop my head and turn my attention immediately from what I was thinking to Him inside of me.
I need to realize quickly that crazy thoughts flying all over the place are not thoughts that I can reason with or think through. No, they just need to stop!
My mind had to tell my head to stop! Reasoning with insanity is not a sane thing to do. I know because I did it for years.
My mind is very powerful and I can use it to accomplish many good things, but reasoning with crazy thoughts is not one of the good things and they will get me all messed up.
I have been dealing with these kinds of things for a long time so I know what I can and cannot allow to go on up in my head. I don't do it perfectly, but I certainly handle things better than I used to.
I promise you that the locomotive going forward in your head with the racing thoughts needs to be stopped by you.
The hamster wheel spinning out of control needs to be stopped by you! You need to turn off that head from running forward and get yourself into the moment with Jesus.
Stop, breathe, pay attention to your breathing and say Jesus over and over again.
Turn your attention to Him on the inside and hide there. Turn your attention to Him, step back into Him and rest in Him!
The only real safe place to be!
#heartsandmindssetfree #anxiety #thoughts #heart #mind #feelings #choices #hearts #minds #freedom #god #love #moment #feel
