Anxiety

“Today I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions — not outside.” ― Marcus-Aurelius

“We are more often frightened than hurt; And we suffer more in imagination than in reality.” - Seneca

IF you are feeling anxious. Ask: are you afraid of something? If so look at: How Get out of Fear state

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Reframe your way of thinking

Reframe your way of thinking, use cognitive distancing to see the same situation from a different view point.

Such as: Reframe thoughts as hypotheses

Reframe thoughts as hypotheses: Instead of treating a thought as a fact, you can treat it as a hypothesis that can be tested or questioned. For example, instead of thinking,

"I'm going to fail,"

you could think

"I have the thought that I might fail."

Now you can:

  • Distance yourself from that thought.
  • Question the thought.
Or Use the third-person perspective

Use the third-person perspective: Try to look at your situation as if you were an outside observer. This can help you view your thoughts and emotions more objectively.

Visualize your thoughts

Visualize your thoughts: Imagine your thoughts as objects floating by on a stream, or as words written on leaves that are drifting away in the wind. This can help you see your thoughts as transient and separate from yourself.

Use visual submodalities

The visualization of thoughts advise is akin to whats called visual submodalities manipulation from NLP: Neuro Linguistic Programming.

Hence, consider also consider manipulating your fears using visual submodalities to lessen the degree of your fears affecting you.

Visual submodalities are the specific characteristics of our mental imagery. This includes aspects such as brightness, size, distance, and color, as well as the motion (or lack thereof), the image's perspective, and whether it is viewed first-person or third-person.

Here are ways to adjust these visual submodalities to modify the intensity of their impact:

Increase Intensity

To intensify the emotional effect of a mental image, adjust its submodalities as follows:

  • Add motion: Make the image dynamic or moving.
  • Enhance brightness: Make the image brightly lit.
  • Enlarge: Increase the image's size.
  • Saturate: Infuse the image with vibrant colors.
Decrease Intensity

To lessen the emotional effect of a mental image, manipulate its submodalities as follows:

  • Keep it static: Make the image stationary or still.
  • Diminish brightness: Make the image dim or dull.
  • Reduce size: Shrink the image to a smaller size.
  • Desaturate: Transform the image into black and white.

Question yourself in why NOT fashion
  • Why you are not afraid?
  • Why were you afraid? What made you overcome your fear?
  • What steps have you taken mentally to move past it?

Worst case scenario tactic

Worst case scenario tactic

You can also use worst case scenario tactic. Imagine the worst case scenario. While imaging worst case and coping with it all of a sudden you realize the problem that you feared is not as large you have imagined.

In the end zoom out. Memento Mori (Remember That you will Die), what you fear now will pass.


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