anxiety disorder, anxiety symptoms - www.manage-anxiety.com

Honesty

2009-03-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

When I trust and respect myself enough to be myself honestly, others respond with trust and respect.

We can greet all situations today with ease if we have committed ourselves to lives of integrity. Having made the decision to be fully honest at all times eliminates our uncertainty in responding to others, and thus we don't cloud issues and confuse our contemporaries with inconsistencies.
Without fail we recognize others' integrity as ours is recognized. It goes without saying that each of us is more at ease with those we trust.
Honesty invites honesty. Self-respect encourages respectful behaviour toward others, and like a boomerang, it returns to the initiator.
We teach others how to treat us.
With every action we take, every word we speak, we are informing others of our personhood.

I will set the tone for my day by my behaviour toward self and others. Over this I am all-powerful.

Dreams

2009-03-16T05:56:00.000-07:00

Within our dreams and aspirations we find our opportunities.

Our dreams invite us to broaden our horizons to reach beyond our present goals.
They are much more than whims.
They are probably calling us to those opportunities for which our talents have been readied. Most of us need this encouragement to attempt new ventures.
We've each been invited to this present moment by design. Our lives are joined like the tiles of a mosaic; none of us contributes the whole of the picture but each of us is necessary for its completion. More importantly, the deph, the richness of the picture in its entirety, is enhanced by our fulfilled dreams.
With joy and excitment we can anticipate our frequent aspirations, recognizing them as the guideposts offering directions for our daily travels.

Today I will welcome my dreams. They indicate tomorrow's sucessful ventures.

Love

2009-03-03T05:00:00.001-08:00

Love is mutually feeding each other, not one living on another like a ghoul.

Real love is compromise. It's sharing and taking turns. It's putting someone else's best interests first.
Love wears many expressions and is demonstrated by many gestures.
Offering love to someone, when the offer is genuine, benefits the giver as much as the receiver.
Our calloused souls are softened by the gentle nature of our love.
No one of us develops mentally and emotionally to our full stature if we cultivate isolation rather than intimacy.
We learn who we are through our involvement with others.
We come to terms with our defects and have opportunities to enhance our assets while experiencing the strenghts and shortcomings of others.
What time and patience teach is that love is generally slow to develop but will result when there is a mutual decision to live and grow in one another's company.
Each person we genuinely love makes our own survival easier.

My love is best expressed when I help someone else live life more comfortably.

My reflection of the day

2009-03-03T04:42:00.000-08:00

I've begun to better understand myself since I've recovered from GAD (General Anxiety Disorder).
One of the most important things I've learned is that opinions aren't facts.
Just because I feel that a thing is so doesn't necessary make it so.
"Men are not worried by things," wrote the Greek Philosopher Epictetus, "but by their ideas about things. When we meet with difficulties, become anxious or troubled, let us not blame others, but rather ourselves.
That is: our ideas about things."
Do I believe that I can never entirely lose what I have learned during my recovery?

Today I pray:

May I learn to sort out realities from my ideas about those realities.
May I understand that situations, things, - even people - take on the colors and dimensions of my attitudes about them.

Today I will remember:

To sort the real from the unreal.

Self-control

2009-03-02T03:22:00.000-08:00

One's mind may be given readily and it may be given with zest.
Not all control is oppression.
Sometimes it is release.

Our most dangerous delusion is that we can control others.
The hard-won truth is that we can control only ourselves - and it may take us a lifetime to learn this.
Self-control means release, however; release from the bondage of uncontrolled and thoughtless behaviour.
When we recognize that our only legitimate power is over ourselves, we become free to grow spiritually and to increase that power.
Lack of control is not freedom; it is chaos. Conflicting impulses squander energies instead of controlling them and directing them towards growth.
We can't subdue our unruly selves by fighting them: accept them, love them as part of our human imperfections, our superb and jagged individuality.
As we come to recognize the benefits of self-control, we'll choose it more and more often.
We'll become more fully in control of our lives, better able to direct our energies and do what we want to do.

Only by choosing self-control will I achieve freedom.

My reflection of the day

2009-03-02T03:14:00.000-08:00

Why don't I spend part of today thinking about my assets, rather than my liabilities?
Why not think about victories, instead of defeats - about the ways in which I am gentle and kind?
It's always been my tendency to fall into a sort of cynical self-hypnosis, putting derogatory labels on practically everything I've done, said or felt.
Just for today, I'll spend a quiet half hour trying to gain a more positive perspective on my life.
Do I have the courage to change the things I can?

Today I pray:

Through quietness and a reassessment of myself, may I develop a more positive attitude.
If I am a child of God, created in His image, there must be goodness in me.
I will think about that goodness, and the ways it manifests itself.
I will stop putting myself down, even in my secret thoughts.
I will respect what is God's.
I will respect myself.

Today I will remember:

Self-respect is respect for God.

Water

2009-03-01T06:26:00.000-08:00

It is time to show the strenght of water and flow away.
...To stand is to be crushed, but to flow out is to gather new strenght.

Water is one of the strongest elements on earth: it can't be broken; it can assume many shapes; it joins easily with itself.
When it reaches a certain mass, moving water presents an irresistible force.
We might do well to learn to acquire the strenght of water temporarily; to be able to lose ourselves for a time, in concert with others, and then to reclaim our identities.
We needn't fear their loss. We are unique personalities, and our selfhood is intact.

How sucessful I would be if I could use the strenght of water when I need it; the purity of air, the solidity of earth, and the appetite of fire.

My reflection of the day

2009-03-01T06:11:00.000-08:00

Just for today, I'll not be afraid of anything.
If my mind is clouded with nameless fears, I'll track them down and expose their unreality.
I'll remind myself that God is in charge of me and my life, and that all I have to do is accept His protection and guidance.
What happened yesterday need not trouble me today.
Do I accept the fact that it's in my power to make today a good one just by the way I think about it and what I do about it?

Today I pray:

May I make today a good day.
May I know that it is up to me to assign to it qualities of goodness, through a positive attitude towards what the present is providing.
May I be untroubled by vestiges of yesterday.
Please, God, remain close to me all through this day.

Today I will remember:

To make it good

History

2009-02-28T06:51:00.000-08:00

I want somehow to tell the story of how the dispossessed become possessed of their history without losing sight, without forgetting the meaning or the nature of their journey.
To use the past without being controlled by it - that is our responsibility to history.
Because the past is irrecoverably vanished, it's sometimes tempting to forget it or to falsify it.
But being true to ourselves means being true to our history.
Past cruelties can remain powerful in our lives - yet to take possession of our history means to free ourselves of bondage to past events.
Nothing can ever change them.
If we are to make the future good, we'll learn what the past can teach us.
But our freedom requires us to make choices based on the needs of the present, not the past.

I can act at every moment in such a way as to honor the past and enhance the future.

My reflection of the day

2009-02-28T06:46:00.000-08:00

The chief activator of our defects has been self-centered fear - mainly fear that we would lose something we already possessed or that we would fail to get something we demanded.
Living on the basis of unsatisfied demands, we obviously were in a state of continual disturbance and frustration.
Therefore, we are taught, no peace will be ours unless we find a means of reducing these demands.
Have I become entirely ready to have God remove all my defects of character?

Today I pray:

May I make no unrealistic demands on life, which, because of their grandiosity, cannot be met.
May I place no excessive demands on others which, when they are not fulfilled, leave me disappointed and let down.

Today I will remember:

The set-up for a let-down

Exploring Anxiety Attacks and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

2009-02-27T07:22:00.000-08:00

We all must deal with a certain level of anxiety during our daily lives. However, it is possible feelings of stress, nervousness, and anxiousness can impair with our daily life activities. In general, however, mild cases of anxiety can be managed effectively. Then, there are instances where anxiety levels increase to the point they manifest into serious conditions. Such is the case with anxiety attacks and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In order to properly deal with these conditions, it is important to clearly understand what these conditions entail.

Anxiety Attacks

The common feelings of anxiety are annoying but manageable. Irritability and nervousness can be problematic but they are not impossible to deal with. However, an overwhelming and incapacitating sense of fear that appears out of the blue is not easy to handle. This manifestation of fear is known as an anxiety attack (panic attack) and it is debilitating and dangerous. Such overwhelming anxiety attacks can lead to difficulty in breathing, nausea, a racing heartbeat, and severe pains in the chest. Often, these feelings are so severe the person who suffers from an anxiety attack will assume he is experiencing a heart attack.

The root origins of an anxiety attack can vary. Sometimes, an anxiety attack can be brought on by something buried deep in the subconscious. For example, a person who is seriously worrying about paying a bill could have an anxiety attack after walking past a bank. However, the individual may not be consciously aware that the image of the bank brought about the anxiety attack.

The various causes of panic attacks can be stress, alcohol/drug issues, hereditary problems, fears and phobias, or environmental related causes such as a difficult home or work life. The amount of time an anxiety occur lasts will vary from individual to individual as will the frequency of panic attack episodes.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

While anxiety attacks are severe, the condition of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is even more problematic. Once considered solely the result of war experiences, psychologists have discovered there are many different causes for the development of this serious psychological condition.

PTSD is a form of anxiety disorder that results from exposure to an event that yielded either severe physical harm or the potential for physical harm and/or death. Common sufferers of PTSD include veterans, police/fire personnel, victims of crime or abuse, or those involved in serious, life threatening accidents.

What makes the anxiety of PTSD so powerful is that sufferers of this condition relieve the trauma experience over and over in their head. This comes in the form of flashbacks, nightmares, and intrusive thoughts. These symptoms are usually brought about as a result of triggers in the conscious world that affect the subconscious. For example, a victim of a mugging could suffer flashbacks when coming across a police drama on television. Because these intrusive thoughts are so overwhelming, the individual will seek to reduce exposures to triggers. This can be achieved by withdrawing from life, isolating oneself, becoming a workaholic, or taking part in other means of avoidance. Clearly, this would have a very negative effect on one’s life.

Dealing with the Conditions

Thankfully, there are a number of ways anxiety attacks and PTSD can be treated. Therapy and outpatient prescription medication care are means that have long since proven to be successful. Those that are dealing with these conditions should consult with a qualified mental healthcare professional to discuss treatment options.

Please visit http://www.manage-anxiety.com for more details.

Being alive...

2009-02-27T04:45:00.000-08:00

God creates. People rearrange.

Being alive is our invitation to act in fresh, inventive ways.
All it takes is concentrating on our inner vision in combination with external reality.
The components for accomplishing any task are at our fingertips, awaiting discovery.
Our burdens are lightened when we understand that all situations are resolvable - no mystery need leave us in the dark for long.
Just as surely as we each exist, so exists every element we need to solve any problem or chart any new course.
Our purpose in life is to select those elements that will satisfy the need.
We each have been blessed with this capability for proper selection.

The day promises challenge and many choices.
I can successfully handle all possibilities.

Growth

2009-02-27T04:36:00.000-08:00

Self-determination does not mean exercising intellectual mastery at all times over bodily, earthly processes, though the capacity for that mastery expands our human possibilities.

Growth means learning the limits of our will.
What appears to be mastery - flying in an airplane, for example - is merely cooperation with natural forces.
Human intellect does not master natural processes; we tap into them, learn them, bring our own aims into harmony with them.
The world is not a jungle, to be hacked, cleared, or bulldozed.
Human beings are learning not to clear jungles that way either.
The world is us extended over the globe.
We can spend our whole lives discovering the wonderfull oneness of creation.

The awareness of this unity expands our human possibility, for each case is an example of our growing harmony with nature.

I will pray for harmonious resolution of my human possibilities with the great forces of nature.

"What if..."

2009-02-27T04:29:00.000-08:00

"What if..." - How often we hear these words from people?
How often, in fact, we tend to say them ourselves.
"What if I lose my job?"
"What if my car breaks down?"
"What if I get sick and con't work?"
"What if my child gets hooked on drugs?"
What if - anything our desperate imaginings can project.
Only two small words, yet how heavy-laden they are with dread, fear and anxiety.
The answer to "What if..." is, plainly and simply, "Don't project."
We can only live with our problems as they arise, living one day at a time.
Am I keeping my thoughts positive?

Today I pray:

May I grow spiritually, without being held back by anxieties.
May projected fears not hobble my pursuits or keep me from making the most of today.
May I turn out fear by faith.
If I will only make a place for God within me, He will remove my fears.

Today I will remember:

I can only borrow trouble at high interest rates

My reflection of the day

2009-02-27T04:22:00.000-08:00

If I live just one day at a time, I won't so quickly entertain fears of what might happen tomorrow.
As long as I'm concentrating on today's activities, there won't be room in my mind for worrying.
I'll try to fill every minute of this day with something good - seen, heard, accomplished.
Then, when the day is ended, I'll be able to look back on it with satisfaction, serenity and gratitude.
Do I sometimes cheerish bad feelings so that I can feel sorry for myself?

Today I pray:

That I will get out of the self-pity act and live for today.
May I notice the good things from dawn to nighfall, learn to talk about them and thank God for them.
May I catch myself if I seem to be relishing my moans and complaints more often than appreciating the goodness of my life.

Today I will remember:

Today is good

Relantionships

2009-02-25T04:15:00.000-08:00

Relantionships are only as alive as the people engaging in them.

We receive from every experience in proportion to what we give.
In other words, the richness of our lives is necessarily dependent on the depth of our commitment.
Reserved involvement guarantees only limited rewards, while wholehearted efforts promise full-scale returns.
In all aspects of our lives, we'll find this to be true.
Our relantionships gift us justly.
These experiences with others are woven together, and their beauty is equal to the beauty we bring to one another's company.
However, if we bring only criticism and bleak hopelessness to a relantionship, we'll find despair rather than joy.
Every relantionship is the sum and substance of the partners involved.
No relantionship is more fruitful than the efforts of those doing the pruning.

How much do I give to the relantionships I deem meaningful?
They bless me in just proportion to what I give.
Today gives me a chance to make a greater contribution.

My reflection of the day

2009-02-25T04:09:00.001-08:00

Before, fear ruled our lifes.
Tyrannized by our addictions and obsessions, we feared everything and everybody.
We feared ourselves and, perhaps most of all, feared fear itself.
These days, when I am able to accept the help of my Higher Power, it makes me feel capable of doing anything I am called upon to do.
I am overcoming my fears and acquiring a comfortable new confidence.
Can I believe that "courage is fear that has said its prayers..."?

Today I pray:

God grant that through faith in Him, I may overcome my obsessive fears.
I have been running scared for so long it has become a habit.
God help me to see that I may be purposely clinging to my fears to avoid making decisions, perhaps even to shirk the responsibility of sucess.

Today I will remember:

Fear keeps me safe from risk-taking.

Stress Symptoms and Stress Management

2009-02-24T17:19:00.000-08:00

Stress is a part of our everyday lives and in small amounts can even be good for us. It challenges us to meet and exceed current limits so that we become stronger, faster, better. However, there are people for whom stress is an everyday, ongoing problem that impacts their lives and even their health negatively. In very severe cases, stress can become so overwhelming that it literally makes them shut down. For these people, stress management is imperative if they're going to live healthy and fulfilling lives.

What are stress symptoms?

Stress symptoms can occur in both the physical body and psychologically. Physical stress symptoms include overwhelming fatigue, muscle tension, headaches, gastrointestinal distress like stomach aches, constipation or diarrhea and excessive weight loss or weight gain.

Psychological stress symptoms can occur, too, and they can actually exacerbate physical stress symptoms. Nervousness, anxiety, under- or overeating, difficulty sleeping (or sleeping too much), no longer enjoying activities once enjoyed, negative mood changes, and being short tempered are all psychological stress symptoms.

How stress management is best addressed?

If you are among those who have significant stress symptoms (psychological, emotional or both) such that they negatively impact your life and ability to enjoy it, there are things you can do to ease it.

First of all, figure out what is giving you stress. There's a good chance you can change external circumstances so that your stress levels automatically go down without any other type of intervention.

The fact is, all of us need balance and time for winding down. In today's 24-hour a day, seven-days-a-week world, multitasking is considered admirable, and being "on the go" all the time is something one is expected to be proud of. Yet, that's not how we're built, and we need time to relax, recreate, sleep, and simply "be" as much as we need to be busy, to be productive, and to work.

Identifying your stress: Is it permanent, or temporary?

It can be difficult with this "go, go, go" mentality to even identify when exactly you are experiencing stress. We're so "on" all the time that we can't even slow down long enough to figure this out. So keep a journal for a few days and just write down moments you identify as feeling particularly stressful.

After a few days, take a look back at what you've written and figure out what's making you feel particularly stressful. Are you in college, for example, with exams coming up? That's "normal" stress. In general, this is temporary stress that's going to go away as soon as the exams are over.

But if you have some pretty permanent ongoing stress (such as that you're going to school full-time AND working a full-time and part-time job besides), it's no wonder that you're feeling continually stressed. Your body isn't meant to function in an "on" position all the time.

In that case, it's time to make some changes. You simply have to make some time in your schedule to have "down" time and of course, enough time to sleep and eat properly. Most people need between seven and eight hours of sleep a night. In addition, it's healthy (not lazy) to give yourself at least an hour to do anything you want to, at least a couple of times a week, if not every day -- even if that just means sitting down and reading a book you've wanted to for a long time. People who are balanced and not stressed out make time for leisure, relaxation and sleep just as they do for jobs, family, and responsibilities.

Diet matters, too

If your diet contains a lot of caffeine or sugar, or unhealthy foods, your anxiety levels and stress levels can be higher just as a matter of course. The fact is, your body needs good nutritious food to run properly. Minerals like calcium and magnesium and vitamins like the B vitamins are natural emotional regulators. In other words, they're not just good for your body, but they're good for your mind, too. If you don't get enough of these in your diet, you could be experiencing anxiety or stress just from this lack. Try getting a good balanced diet and taking a good multivitamin and mineral supplement in addition to the other lifestyle changes talked about previously.

If external changes aren't enough

If your stress is longer-lasting or does not drop to normal levels with schedule changes so that you have time to relax and distress, sleep enough and eat properly, it can be helpful to talk to a counsellor or psychiatrist. In some cases, medications may help when nothing else has worked.

The bottom line

Stress management is something everyone has to do. Whether you can manage your stress simply by incorporating lifestyle and dietary changes, or whether you need more help in the form of counselling, health care intervention, or an anxiety management manual, you can manage your stress so that your life becomes healthy, balanced and enjoyable once again.

Please visit Manage Anxiety for more info.

The door

2009-02-24T02:16:00.000-08:00

If you shut your door to all errors, truth will be shut out.

Since so much of the world remains mysterious, how can we rule out new possibilities?
It's very human to want to cling to the little bits of truth we're sure of; but we mustn't use those bits of knowledge to keep us from the possibility of further discoveries.
True wisdom includes the humility to acknowledge what we don't know.
The careful scientist and the experienced physician are humble before the immensity of what they don't know.
New experiences, new relations and connections can reveal more and more, if we are open to them.
Once we decide we know something - and close our minds to the possibility that we don't - we're keeping ourselfes willfully ignorant. Filtering out life's richness robs us of our birthright - experience.
Nothing is true that can't stand to be tested against life's flow.

Even welcome visitors can only enter through a door I've opened.

My reflection of the day

2009-02-24T02:06:00.000-08:00

I can banish fear by realizing the truth. Am I afraid to be alone?
This fear can be banished by the realization that I am never alone, that God is always with me wherever I am and whatever I do.
Am I afraid that I won't have enough money to meet my needs?
This fear can be banished by the realization that God is my inexhaustible, unfailing resource, now and always.
Today I have the power to change fear into faith.
Can I say with confidence "I will trust, and will not be afraid?"

Today I pray:

That I may fear no evil, for God is with me.
That I may learn to turn to my Higher Power when I am afraid.
I pray diligently that my faith in God and trust in what He has in store for me is strong enough to banish the fears that undermine my courage.

Today I will remember:

Turn fear into faith

Self-love

2009-02-23T04:45:00.000-08:00

When we think of cruelty, we must try to remember the stupidity, the envy, the frustration from which it has arisen.

Our outer behaviour matches our inner state of mind and emotional well-being.
Our expectations of others are consistent with our personal expectations.
When we feel less than adequate because of our imperfections, we treat others like failures, too.
How someone treats us today indicates how that person feels about herself or himself.
Self-love is lacking wherever people criticize others destructively, and self-love is necessary before we can offer love to any of the people in our lives.
Developing self-love requires discipline.
Our existence verifies our value as human beings.
Understanding that our lives do have purpose contributes to our ability to love ourselfes.

Today is day one for me to develop my loving behaviour.

My reflection of the day

2009-02-23T04:39:00.000-08:00

The terrifying fear of nothingness begins to subside.
We find that the basic antidote for fear is a spiritual awakening.
We lose the fear of making decisions, for we realize that if our choice proves wrong, we can learn from the experience.
And should our decision be the right one, we can thank God for giving us the courage and the grace that caused us to act. Am I grateful for the courage and grace I receive from God?

Today I pray:

I ask that I be given the power to act, knowing that I have at least a half-chance to make the right decision and that I can learn from the wrong one. For so long, decision-making seemed beyond my capabilities. Now, I can find joy in being able to make choices. Thank you, God, for courage.

Today I will remember:

Freedom is choosing

Happiness

2009-02-22T08:10:00.000-08:00

Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.
We find hapiness with our friends, if we expect it there.
The workplace guarantees it, too, if we go in search of it.
Happiness visits us in our solitude and in our myriad involvements.
Wherever we are, so is happiness, unless we've chosen to keep it out.
Our attitudes are powerful, and will prevail in all matters, with all people.
Happiness is contagious. It spreads quickly when shared freely.
When it catches up with us, the cares of the day are immediately lightened.
We have lessons to learn in this life, and we have essential contributions to make, contributions that will ease another's burdens, foster happiness in another's heart.
Likewise, someone else's lessons may well encourage our own happiness.

Every struggle is eased by laughter. I am never left to struggle alone, unless by choice. Today will be joyful and eventful if I live in the laughter.

My reflection of the day

2009-02-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

When I came into the online anxiety, stress and depression discussions, I found people who knew exactly what I meant when I spoke finally of my fears.
They had been where I had been; They "understood".
I've since learned that many of my fears have to do with projection. It's normal, for example, to have a tiny "back-burner" fear that the person I love will leave me.
But when the fear takes precedence over my present and very real relationship with the person I'm afraid of losing, then I'm in trouble.
My responsibility to myself includes this: I must not fear things which do not exist. Am I changing from a fearful person into a fearless person?

Today I pray:
I ask God's help in waving away my fears - those figments, fantasies, monstrous thoughts, projections of disaster which have no bearing on the present.
May I narrow the focus of my imagination and concentrate on the here-and-now, for I tend to see the future through a magnifying glass.

Today I will remember:
Projected fears, like shadows, are larger than life.

Spiritual center

2009-02-21T07:13:00.000-08:00

"Although the act of nurturing another's spiritual growth has the effect of nurturing one's own, a major characteristic of genuine love is that the distinction between oneself and the other is always maintained and preserved".

Those we love must be free to love us in return, or leave us.
The honest evidence of our love is our commitment to encouraging another's full development.
We are interdependent personalities who need one another's presence in order to fulfill our destiny. And yet, we are also separate individuals.
We must come to terms with our struggles alone.
One gift of life available to each of us is security, the sense that accompanies the recognition of our spiritual gifts strengthens our own.
Nothing is too dificult when we act in unison as separate entities, relying on the spiritual core that strengthens us to meet any situation.

My own spiritual center will be strengthened if I help someone else develop theirs.