When you think about happiness, it usually only comes with a positive connotation, and for good reason. Happiness is a positive and forward-thinking emotion. However, as I've said before and strongly believe, the universe is made of a balance of good and bad, yin and yang, light and dark.

Like many, I suffer from anxiety from time to time, and today was no different. Not that I avoid situations that give me anxiety, but sometimes I am thrust into a situation that makes me feel uncomfortable. As problems or issues start to compound, anxiety starts to present itself, and this overwhelming cloud starts to fog my mind. These situations aren't necessarily anything out of the ordinary or unique in any way, but they can come on like a freight train. Anxiety presents itself to everyone at completely different times and in completely different ways.

I'm not speaking on anxiety as if I understand the neurological makeup and construction of it but completely from a personal level. To be honest, my understanding of it, like I believe many others, is from this strange feeling of a cloud overshadowing my mind and the odd discussions I have with my closest friends and family, which end up having correlations between our thoughts.

The reason I chose to talk about anxiety today is that it is a bridge I've had to cross many times, and I know I will have to continue to cross that bridge for the rest of my life. It's easy to find perfect situations where it is as controlled as possible, but because the emotion is created within your mind, it can appear at any time without notice. I'm saying that, what is a life when you're afraid of your mind?

To help combat this emotion, I use a variety of techniques. The development of these techniques, discipline around improving them, and the subsequent overcoming and control of the emotion give me a great deal of happiness because, although I could choose to hide in the shadows in a completely controlled environment, I know that will achieve nothing except maintaining the same emotion. Developing skills, putting yourself into uncomfortable situations, and overcoming those moments will help improve your life directly against anxiety but also in a variety of other ways like purpose, fulfillment, confidence, etc.

When I'm met with this feeling, my main techniques are deep breathwork, focusing on my diaphragm breathing, listening to the sound of my breath, and allowing the breath to slow my heartbeat, emotion, and mind down. The second technique I use is to step away from the situation to find a couple of minutes to myself, close my eyes, and quickly enter a meditation. Meditation can take a while to build, but once you are comfortable in the space in your mind, it can be a wonderful tool to dissect questions in your mind. The third technique I commonly use is to confront the anxiety head-on. Am I anxious about a large crowd? If so, I'll choose to move towards the crowd, enter it, take a moment to absorb it, understand that the anxiety I'm feeling is simply in my mind, and then move on.

Whatever you feel and however you deal with it is unique to yourself, but it's important to process the emotion as just an emotion and try to logically dissect the moment for what it is and separate the consciousness from the mind. It's easier said than done, but little by little, you can improve and overcome those battles within your mind.

"What upsets people is not things themselves, but their judgments about these things." – Epictetus

You're not alone.

Thanks,

Dean