I have worked with many clients with addiction to worry.
It seems that when they realise that they are making progress in their healing something else jumps up to cause them a new problem. There seems to be a certain comfort in being stuck with what is familiar to them even if it does cause them misery.
Thanks for sharing these videos Tara.
Kristin Schmidt, Another Field, McKinleyville, CA, USAsays
Some days my anxiety and worry manifest as speed. I cannot sit still, I walk around, I do this then do that. It’s horrible. It can result in a lost day. Fortunately I am learning to recognize this, allow it to be there, investigate why I’m anxious and worrying and nurture myself. Nurturing is the most difficult part for me. I want to judge and find fault for feeling anxious. “What’s wrong with me?” etc. It’s going to happen I know. But there are now more days without speed than with. I am grateful.
The key for me is practicing every day in some small way things I can do to experience the present moment in my body especially … walking in nature, moving my body in some way, music, listening to a favourite short guided meditation, doing something i enjoy like singing or reading or weeding my garden or cooking. This routine experience of experiencing what these things offer me, has helped me find my way back to this state more easily when I really need it. It’s like I am training my nervous system to know this place and find my way there more easily. I am finding my recovery time is shorter from suffering to more ease. I have done a mindful selfcompassion course which I am finding really helpful. The key is to actually give myself the time and space to DO the practice in the midst of those times of fear and despair. It’s like replacing a habit that harms me with a habit that helps me. Thank you, Tara, your meditations and talks are a significant part of my toolkit.
Shoshana Avree, Another Field, ASHEVILLE, NC, USAsays
Hi Tara.. for me.. it’s humorous in the sense that I’m Jewish and it seems worry is 5.000 years in the making of my DNA.. talk about fighting upstream.. however, I keep remembering that worry robs me of the moment.. and if I remember to breath and be grateful for this moment.. where i’m ok.. it gets better..
doesn’t help to hear my jewish mothers voice in my head..
thanks
Thank you Tara! Just listening to your calming voice did wonders for my anxiety. Kind of like ASMR. I use tapping in conjunction with your steps. Works wonders!
Worrying for me is like any other addiction and in fact, I have seen instances where I participated in another addictive behaviour to fend off worrying. Now that is worrisome.
As a mindset coach, my training taught that fear was a “dream stealer” emotion and that we should spend as little time in it as possible. I love the perspective that it is a gift and a tool and which we should strive to use properly. It takes the shame out of having fear and allows us to use it, not be used by it. THANK YOU for the beautiful insights!
It cames along with the feeling that I am not ok right now, there is something to fix it, whatever. I can see the worry as an excuse for beeing just nervious, for example. So, I meditate and be aware of all the things in my life that are ok and begin to feel grateful for that
Marcie Polier Swartz, Another Field, Los Angeles , CA, USAsays
The meditation exercise enabled me to feel and release fear when I brought to mind my anxious triggers. I work with homeless veterans and your book and these videos are great. I’m hoping you can add a category for charity or 501c3 work to your professional list. We are about to embark on training volunteers to work with social workers and the unhoused.
My biggest fear, melt down comes when I hear loud booming music from a car or truck. Fireworks especially. If a neighbor plays music so loud I hear it in my house it overwhelms me. I am a Disabled Veteran and people cannot understand how this creates such fear in me. It is literally torture. Your videos may offer some hope. I’ve suffered with this crippling fear and anxiety for over 40 years. I will keep listening and working on controlling these issues with your programs and those of Dr Zinn. My counselor is the one who recommended you to me.
I have been on high alert ever since I was a child when my older sister would tell me all her worries over our parents dying, or being in a car crash, or something horrible happening. Arrggghhhh! I felt like I needed to be present with my mom especially, so that nothing bad would happen to her. Made me so upset that I would have to leave school just to make sure she was ok. Such anxiety put on me as a 5 yro. I stayed worried about them for years and it affected me and my usual happy-to-lucky self for years. It is my loop as an adult and now I’m 60.
Thank you SO much for the simplicity and clarity of these three steps Tara… They will be revolutionary in my practice, many of whom are addicted to worry thoughts.
I can see in my son how he is quite attached to having a worry. He likes to talk about his worries even though he articulates intelligently that they are unfounded and debilitating. He likes to talk out his worries, talk through his mindfulness and describe his meditation.
Yes, I’ve become addicted to worry as I get older. I’m 72 now, and moved into a smaller house. I keep getting multiple colds and flu. I was never sick in my previous home. Addiction to worry, yes. Thank you Tara
Living with OCD, I very keenly feel my addiction to worry and the mental rituals it created. Before medication, I wouldn’t have been able to begin the process in this video. Now, I can be present enough to take the outlined steps and respond to my feelings rather than dwell in panic.
To anyone who is drowning in panic, worry, and anxiety: it’s really okay to get help through medication. You aren’t weak, you’re working from a chemical disadvantage. It will begin to be possible to embrace the wisdom in this video once your mind can actually concentrate.
It helped to remember to distinguish between fear state n worry looping which i find very debilitating n hard to remember. The suggestion to drop into the body n sensations is so helpful n the compassion or self soothing . I need to practice practice practice!
First of all, thank you!
What do you do when your physical conditions and pain might be causing your anxiety? For example, is it just my arthritis or is the cancer back?
Another problem for me is when I breathe into the pain, it helps the pain but not the anxiety/fear?
Thank you for sharing your teachings with us. Love and blessings,
I really disagree with calling it an addiction. I think people get stuck in a pattern and maybe don’t even realize it. But it is hardly an addiction. that word is way too over used. Which minimizes the people who really struggle with addiction. However overall I loved your 3 step method of dealing with anxiety and fear thinking. Now that is a great term! thanks
These last couple of weeks because of a health crisis my husband is going through I am having extreme insomnia because of worried thoughts in the middle of the night. The deep breathing and centering on the We are ok right now message has been helpful
Developed a chronic worry pattern on a extremely job years ago that had strenuous time deadlines- need to dissolve this pattern of thinking as it inhibits me from experiencing new things and fun in my life
I really value the examples that Tara gives that I can pass onto clients. She has such a wonderful way of making this information so accessible. Working with clients to “give up” on their worries, I have found quite challenging when using a CBT approach (as I used to predominantly use), as we would end up going round in circles of and it feel like we were getting into a battle, with clients feeling they had to defend their worries. This is a much more compassionate approach I find very useful when working with people with health and neurological conditions.
Thank you. Useful advice to use towards a lifetime of fear based thinking. The smallest things trigger intense anxiety within myself and a catastrophic response both mentally/physically. These tips are extremely helpful. Anxiety in itself can become a form of paralysis.
My worry is strong because 1 out of 10 times it’s served me. And I have no idea which one it will be. So I worry about all 10. Sometimes the one thing is minor. Sometimes the one thing is significant. I just can’t predict or control these uncertainties. But I can worry. So I worry. It feels like flying a kite in a hurricane. I can do it, it is possible, it will work but it’s not fun.
Thank you for these three steps. I’m aware of being chronically anxious about becoming homeless. First thing I did was make a donation of handmade items to a shelter. Fear was paralyzing me, and all I could think of in a loop were the reasons I will become homeless. Finally, logic took over, I did the math and decided to work 80 hours a week for a year in order to afford a place to live. When I did the 3-step practice, a message came to me that I will play in a new loop. “A safe space for you to live will arise when you need it.”
This helped me rethink.. understand fear and worry.. My thoughts how they affect me.. my three adult children also have anxiety .. As a mother you want to help.. also feel helpless… reading other comments puts your thoughts in another place.
This was an excellent reminder and 3 step process. I am personally going through a valley and it is easy to slip into worry and anxiety and even fear. Thank you for throwing out a lifeline for myself and which I will no doubt throw out to others.
Thanks for that recording – it is really worth listening to and is a good and crisp reminder that anxiety is not fate (even though it sometimes seems that way!)
Thank you so much. I work in a day therapy centre with people experiencing chronic anxiety. I’m looking forward to taking this information into the room to use
It’s hard not to spiral into worry when you’re a millennial and the job market has been shitty your whole adult life. If you cant afford therapy or medication because you cant find a decent job, what else are you gonna do?
I have suffered crippling fear and anxiety for many years. I think I went for a flight/fight combination of reaction to fear, to a freeze one. These days I freeze when I’m having thoughts of fear of the future, fear of outcomes of situations. I freeze and cannot think clearly. That gives rise to more fear and anxiety. I’ve been able to see this pattern. My body gets really stiff and I don’t move. Some times I even stop breathing . My mind gets confused. But I feel like if I keep worrying, I may find the right answer . I even feel guilty that I don’t worry enough. I am so thankful to have access to this tool.
Thank you for sharing the techniques and going through the process patiently. I will use the 3 steps. BTW, I love your voice and the chanting of it like a murmur. Never know why I am more sensitive to sounds, it just makes so much more sense.
I have worked with many clients with addiction to worry.
It seems that when they realise that they are making progress in their healing something else jumps up to cause them a new problem. There seems to be a certain comfort in being stuck with what is familiar to them even if it does cause them misery.
Thanks for sharing these videos Tara.
Some days my anxiety and worry manifest as speed. I cannot sit still, I walk around, I do this then do that. It’s horrible. It can result in a lost day. Fortunately I am learning to recognize this, allow it to be there, investigate why I’m anxious and worrying and nurture myself. Nurturing is the most difficult part for me. I want to judge and find fault for feeling anxious. “What’s wrong with me?” etc. It’s going to happen I know. But there are now more days without speed than with. I am grateful.
Many of my students who are going through cancer experience a fear and worry about what the future holds – fear of mortality and fear of recurrence.
the 3 step process to address as mentioned by you can be very useful as fear and anxiety can be deterrents to healing.
The key for me is practicing every day in some small way things I can do to experience the present moment in my body especially … walking in nature, moving my body in some way, music, listening to a favourite short guided meditation, doing something i enjoy like singing or reading or weeding my garden or cooking. This routine experience of experiencing what these things offer me, has helped me find my way back to this state more easily when I really need it. It’s like I am training my nervous system to know this place and find my way there more easily. I am finding my recovery time is shorter from suffering to more ease. I have done a mindful selfcompassion course which I am finding really helpful. The key is to actually give myself the time and space to DO the practice in the midst of those times of fear and despair. It’s like replacing a habit that harms me with a habit that helps me. Thank you, Tara, your meditations and talks are a significant part of my toolkit.
Hi Tara.. for me.. it’s humorous in the sense that I’m Jewish and it seems worry is 5.000 years in the making of my DNA.. talk about fighting upstream.. however, I keep remembering that worry robs me of the moment.. and if I remember to breath and be grateful for this moment.. where i’m ok.. it gets better..
doesn’t help to hear my jewish mothers voice in my head..
thanks
Thank you Tara! Just listening to your calming voice did wonders for my anxiety. Kind of like ASMR. I use tapping in conjunction with your steps. Works wonders!
Worrying for me is like any other addiction and in fact, I have seen instances where I participated in another addictive behaviour to fend off worrying. Now that is worrisome.
This was revolutionary for me to hear.
As a mindset coach, my training taught that fear was a “dream stealer” emotion and that we should spend as little time in it as possible. I love the perspective that it is a gift and a tool and which we should strive to use properly. It takes the shame out of having fear and allows us to use it, not be used by it. THANK YOU for the beautiful insights!
It cames along with the feeling that I am not ok right now, there is something to fix it, whatever. I can see the worry as an excuse for beeing just nervious, for example. So, I meditate and be aware of all the things in my life that are ok and begin to feel grateful for that
The meditation exercise enabled me to feel and release fear when I brought to mind my anxious triggers. I work with homeless veterans and your book and these videos are great. I’m hoping you can add a category for charity or 501c3 work to your professional list. We are about to embark on training volunteers to work with social workers and the unhoused.
Addiction to worry can be all consuming and block awareness of the wonder and beauty of the here and now such that we miss swaths of life.
My biggest fear, melt down comes when I hear loud booming music from a car or truck. Fireworks especially. If a neighbor plays music so loud I hear it in my house it overwhelms me. I am a Disabled Veteran and people cannot understand how this creates such fear in me. It is literally torture. Your videos may offer some hope. I’ve suffered with this crippling fear and anxiety for over 40 years. I will keep listening and working on controlling these issues with your programs and those of Dr Zinn. My counselor is the one who recommended you to me.
I have been on high alert ever since I was a child when my older sister would tell me all her worries over our parents dying, or being in a car crash, or something horrible happening. Arrggghhhh! I felt like I needed to be present with my mom especially, so that nothing bad would happen to her. Made me so upset that I would have to leave school just to make sure she was ok. Such anxiety put on me as a 5 yro. I stayed worried about them for years and it affected me and my usual happy-to-lucky self for years. It is my loop as an adult and now I’m 60.
The looping thoughts have created my worst fear – breaking free is empowering to live a happier life
Thank you SO much for the simplicity and clarity of these three steps Tara… They will be revolutionary in my practice, many of whom are addicted to worry thoughts.
I can see in my son how he is quite attached to having a worry. He likes to talk about his worries even though he articulates intelligently that they are unfounded and debilitating. He likes to talk out his worries, talk through his mindfulness and describe his meditation.
Yes, I’ve become addicted to worry as I get older. I’m 72 now, and moved into a smaller house. I keep getting multiple colds and flu. I was never sick in my previous home. Addiction to worry, yes. Thank you Tara
Living with OCD, I very keenly feel my addiction to worry and the mental rituals it created. Before medication, I wouldn’t have been able to begin the process in this video. Now, I can be present enough to take the outlined steps and respond to my feelings rather than dwell in panic.
To anyone who is drowning in panic, worry, and anxiety: it’s really okay to get help through medication. You aren’t weak, you’re working from a chemical disadvantage. It will begin to be possible to embrace the wisdom in this video once your mind can actually concentrate.
Thank you for the interesting information and for practical possibilities. Hazel
Wow, almost instantaneously my anxiety left my body, when I said to myself, That’s then, this is now. Thank you x
It helped to remember to distinguish between fear state n worry looping which i find very debilitating n hard to remember. The suggestion to drop into the body n sensations is so helpful n the compassion or self soothing . I need to practice practice practice!
Excellent ,is there an online course that I could take for self enhancement?
I am doing a free online course of mindfulness with her, Tara Brach and Jake Kornfield. Check her internet page
Excellent
First of all, thank you!
What do you do when your physical conditions and pain might be causing your anxiety? For example, is it just my arthritis or is the cancer back?
Another problem for me is when I breathe into the pain, it helps the pain but not the anxiety/fear?
Thank you for sharing your teachings with us. Love and blessings,
vikki (Victoria Marie)
I really disagree with calling it an addiction. I think people get stuck in a pattern and maybe don’t even realize it. But it is hardly an addiction. that word is way too over used. Which minimizes the people who really struggle with addiction. However overall I loved your 3 step method of dealing with anxiety and fear thinking. Now that is a great term! thanks
Thank you for these three steps. I look forward to implementing them. Anxiety and worry has ruled my life for as long as I can remember.
These last couple of weeks because of a health crisis my husband is going through I am having extreme insomnia because of worried thoughts in the middle of the night. The deep breathing and centering on the We are ok right now message has been helpful
Developed a chronic worry pattern on a extremely job years ago that had strenuous time deadlines- need to dissolve this pattern of thinking as it inhibits me from experiencing new things and fun in my life
The 3 steps…so simple…so helpful.
I really value the examples that Tara gives that I can pass onto clients. She has such a wonderful way of making this information so accessible. Working with clients to “give up” on their worries, I have found quite challenging when using a CBT approach (as I used to predominantly use), as we would end up going round in circles of and it feel like we were getting into a battle, with clients feeling they had to defend their worries. This is a much more compassionate approach I find very useful when working with people with health and neurological conditions.
This was an amazing “summary” of what I have learned over the past 1.5 years. Thank you so much.
This is a wonderful practice to help break the anxiety cycle.
Thank you. Useful advice to use towards a lifetime of fear based thinking. The smallest things trigger intense anxiety within myself and a catastrophic response both mentally/physically. These tips are extremely helpful. Anxiety in itself can become a form of paralysis.
So helpful!
I just did this as you walked us through ☺️?
My worry is strong because 1 out of 10 times it’s served me. And I have no idea which one it will be. So I worry about all 10. Sometimes the one thing is minor. Sometimes the one thing is significant. I just can’t predict or control these uncertainties. But I can worry. So I worry. It feels like flying a kite in a hurricane. I can do it, it is possible, it will work but it’s not fun.
Thank U dor helping me help others help themselves
Thank you for these three steps. I’m aware of being chronically anxious about becoming homeless. First thing I did was make a donation of handmade items to a shelter. Fear was paralyzing me, and all I could think of in a loop were the reasons I will become homeless. Finally, logic took over, I did the math and decided to work 80 hours a week for a year in order to afford a place to live. When I did the 3-step practice, a message came to me that I will play in a new loop. “A safe space for you to live will arise when you need it.”
Excellent guidance from Tara! Thank you for simplifying ways to cope with anxiety..and heal!
This helped me rethink.. understand fear and worry.. My thoughts how they affect me.. my three adult children also have anxiety .. As a mother you want to help.. also feel helpless… reading other comments puts your thoughts in another place.
This was an excellent reminder and 3 step process. I am personally going through a valley and it is easy to slip into worry and anxiety and even fear. Thank you for throwing out a lifeline for myself and which I will no doubt throw out to others.
Thanks for that recording – it is really worth listening to and is a good and crisp reminder that anxiety is not fate (even though it sometimes seems that way!)
Addiction to worry prevents me living fully present in the here and now.
I find if I am working and have things to occupy my mind helps me from over-thinking or worry.
Allowing space for anything to be changes what is experienced.
Thank You dor helping mw hwloing others helping them selves.
Thank you so much. I work in a day therapy centre with people experiencing chronic anxiety. I’m looking forward to taking this information into the room to use
It’s hard not to spiral into worry when you’re a millennial and the job market has been shitty your whole adult life. If you cant afford therapy or medication because you cant find a decent job, what else are you gonna do?
I have suffered crippling fear and anxiety for many years. I think I went for a flight/fight combination of reaction to fear, to a freeze one. These days I freeze when I’m having thoughts of fear of the future, fear of outcomes of situations. I freeze and cannot think clearly. That gives rise to more fear and anxiety. I’ve been able to see this pattern. My body gets really stiff and I don’t move. Some times I even stop breathing . My mind gets confused. But I feel like if I keep worrying, I may find the right answer . I even feel guilty that I don’t worry enough. I am so thankful to have access to this tool.
Thank you for sharing the techniques and going through the process patiently. I will use the 3 steps. BTW, I love your voice and the chanting of it like a murmur. Never know why I am more sensitive to sounds, it just makes so much more sense.