How Mindfulness Helps with Anxiety
Mindfulness is the practice of being present. By focusing your efforts on staying in the moment, you are able to fully enjoy and experience your current situation. Mindfulness can help anxiety in a variety of ways.
Here are a few ways mindfulness helps anxiety:
Putting Worries Aside
Many people who are anxious tend to dwell on their worries. It’s a normal thing to do. But when that worry overcomes your ability to enjoy other things, it becomes a concern. One step you can take to help ease anxiety is to put your worries aside and focus on the task or event you’re participating in. By consuming your mind with what’s right in front of you, you won’t be able to focus on your worries.
Prioritizing Concerns
A big tip for maintaining mindfulness is to prioritize your efforts. If you have many things to do, you should create a list and dedicate time to each task. Make sure to prioritize your list in order of importance or deadlines. As you go through your list, remember that the other tasks aren’t going anywhere. You can only do one thing at a time. So focus on the task at hand and find peace in prioritization.
Set Intentions
If you frequently feel haunted by something you did or didn’t do, give yourself permission to hit the reset button. Set your intention to achieve the goal you want to accomplish. Intentions help you focus. Some ideas of an intention for someone with anxiety may be to become more confident or resourceful. Remind yourself daily who or what your intention is to be. Envision and embody it.
Open Your Mind
You may be anxious because you feel like you need to have control, or you may feel a lack of control. Or perhaps you feel the opposite. No matter how you feel, opening your mind can help you deal with anxiety. By accepting other perspectives you may get a fresh look at your own struggles. Be open to what others have to offer and how they may help you in life’s journey.
Accept Your Anxiety
You can get anxiety over anxiety. Stop the cycle by accepting your anxiety. If you’re meditating or practicing mindfulness in another way and anxiety strikes, don’t panic. Accept that you have anxiety and allow it to simply be there. You don’t need to explore your anxiety. Feeling its presence is enough. Not all emotions need to be investigated.
Be Kind to Yourself
Mindfulness does not always come easy. Be kind to yourself on this journey toward peacefulness. You may struggle with staying in the moment, but practice will help you improve.