As we enter week three of War in Ukraine, our hearts and minds are still very much with our sisters in that part of the world.
While we have been hearing, reading and watching them, both in Ukraine and Russia, the shock, fear and pain of the people. We also acknowledge our own fears and anxieties about what is happening and wondering about how we will be impacted.
On last Friday's Goddess Talk, Guide Ellen Snortland, shared a very powerful distinction with us about the difference between fear and anxiety. Since we are being presented with an abundance of opportunity for both, we thought this would be the perfect subject to cover in this week's email.
So, today let’s talk about growing our capacities to discern the difference between fear and anxiety. This week we will focus on anxiety and next week more about understanding our fear response for the gift that it is.
Realizing Anxiety is NOT Fear
Take a moment to follow Ellen’s direction … Raise the hair on the back of your neck. It’s important that you actually try this and not just think your way through it.
You will likely discover, as we did, that you can not do this on command. It is not a mental function, it is a physiological reaction. True fear is a response to something actually happening in our environment, a threat. Our bodies are amazing. The sensation of hair raising on the back of our neck and other intuitive reactions are a reliable warning system we all have built right in. If you have ever been under physical threat, you have experienced this.
ALL those other feelings and sensations we experience routinely are anxiety, worry and concern.
Now what? Once we identify that we are dealing with anxiety, we can start to build up our tool chest. Tools for how to process anxiety so that it doesn't run us.
To begin, practice identifying if you are experiencing fear, that response to something happening in your environment right now OR anxiety, things in our imagination or memory. Then, use the following chart to name the level of your anxiety.
Notice… Does naming the sensations and experiences as anxiety, plus determining which level of anxiety you are experiencing, begin to calm the feelings?
Another great way to build your ability to calm these feelings is to use a mindfulness app. Use it to teach and support you with simple techniques for easing anxiety. Since anxiety appears in the body, meditation and movement are two of the most powerful ways to reduce it. We suggest Head Space, Calm or Healthy Minds.
The assignment this week is ... Practice, practice, practice. Notice your feelings of anxiety, name them and use a technique from your spiffy new App to process and move the feelings through you.
