Anxiety starts in the mind as a thought

To begin to understand anxiety it is important to understand why it happens and what is actually happening physically within your body. Anxiety or worry is the body’s way of helping, getting ready to freeze, flee, flight or fight a “bear” or some real danger.

In response to this, the autonomic nervous system produces your fight-or-flight response. This is designed to help you defend yourself or run away from danger. When you are under stress or anxious, this system kicks into action, and physical symptoms can appear such as headaches, muscle tightness (particularly in the neck), shortness of breath, shakiness, nausea, stomach pain or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

So often there is no real danger. It is simply our spiralling, fearful thinking that has caused this physical reaction within our body. This thinking usually comes from past experiences and familiar patterns of thinking. Every time we do this we strengthen the connections in our brains, the neural pathways. These thoughts must be recognised, challenged and replaced with a new way to create new thought patterns and new neural pathways in our brain.

Thoughts are not facts

When I really started to understand this concept of “anxiety starts with a thought” my life changed. When I really understood that it was my thoughts that were causing these awful, debilitating physical symptoms in my body, and that my thoughts were not real and I could actually choose them, I felt empowered, excited and able to challenge and choose thoughts that created calmness in my body.

Thoughts are not real. If you imagine a green monkey sitting next to you it can become very vivid in your imagination, but it will never be real. Real is what you can feel, see, touch and taste. It may seem real, but it is not real, and you must give yourself this truthful and honest suggestion because your mind is very suggestible: it listens to everything you tell it.

When you feel anxiety or worry present or building, it is vital you tell yourself the truth that thoughts are not real. Stay in the present moment by looking around and asking what is happening right now. Change any “what ifs” to “what is”. The quicker you challenge these thoughts, the easier it is to stop them spiralling into your usual patterns of unhelpful anxious thinking.

Create safety, then challenge the thought

During anxiety, stress or panic, your body is telling you, “It’s time for an emergency right now”. This switches off the part of your brain that thinks logically, creates and enjoys. In this state you cannot clearly think, create in a positive way, enjoy life or see possibilities.

So how do you change this? You need to do two very important things. First, create safety in your system by breathing more slowly and more deeply. This switches the nervous system from sympathetic, fight or flight, to parasympathetic, rest and digest. Only when the body is calm is the mind rational and able to assess accurately.

Secondly, you need to challenge these thoughts. The antidote to anxiety, worry and panic is accurate thinking. Ask yourself what is accurate and truthful in this very moment. The past is gone and the future has not happened yet. You only have this moment in time. You cannot control the future, no one can, but you can learn to think on purpose and accurately.

For more support, explore how I work with anxiety and unhelpful thought patterns.