I am totally addicted to worry. It is like I am playing the same tapes again and again in my mind. The Greatest Hits of the season change over the years. I see my tendencies to escape my worrying mind by eating or other activities. What helps me immensely is yoga, dancing and song.
Sometimes I worry over and over the same thing, I am realizing it but can’t stop. I feel the worries in my chest and often I can’t sleep. Hopefully I will be able to break through sometime….
I love this on-the-spot mindful method for dealing with anxiety! Talking myself out of worrying has not been helpful to me, but changing my focus after acknowledging the thoughts seems to “work” to decrease anxiety. Thank you.
Thank you for articulating this concept, that I have struggled mightily with for many years. I am trying to step back and pause before automatically responding in my usual way. Facing anxiety directly takes away some of the irrational power I often give it.
I was walking on a woodland path to a park. As I emerged in the park, two large German shepherds ran out from the woods. No owner in sight. I have been scared of German shepherds since I was a small child and was knocked down by one. The person walking the dogs finally appeared and said they were friendly. One seemed to be. But the other stood in front of me and looked at me menacingly. I knew it perceived my fear. I felt where the fear was and let it go. I felt the change in my body. Immediately, the dog changed his look and actually acted a little afraid of me and ran off. It was truly amazing. It made me glad I’ve been practicing mindfulness.
I have been a worrier for as long as I can remember. As a child I worried that something terrible would happen to my parents. As a parent now of adult children I worry about them and their families. My doctor says it’s how I’m wired. I am now facing a major life transition moving from where we’ve been living for 20 years to a different geographic location. Everything about the move scares me and I am losing sleep as well as feeling physically ill. I am trying to be mindful but find the anxiety often takes over, paralyzing me and making it difficult for me to face the tasks required for the move.
I am an architect who was laid off during Covid. Deep down I know it was because the firm just couldn’t afford to keep me on. But now that I am essentially on my own doing freelance work, I don’t have the support I had from a large office. I have a tremendous fear of failure and feel very insecure of my abilities. I would like to face each day with confidence in my abilities and give my clients beauty and usefulness but am frozen a lot of the time.
I hold so tightly to things that I love, that it causes me to be in a constant state of fear of losing it. The acceptance of being alone can sometimes be so hard to reach and it feels easier to fall into attempting perfection to prevent the loss, however this never prevents the fear seeping in.
Hello
Very interesting question. I didnt even realize that i have an adiction. I knew that I get angry very easy. But ofer time, with self analisis I realized that under my anger was a lot of worry, fear. For almost everything. Such an imbodied feeling, so powerful that overwhelmed me qnd delt with it in a way that I have learn3d to deal with hard “stuff”. It is very difficult to heal my addiction to worry.
Thank yiu a lot for these meaningfull questions.
My addiction to worry manifest as constantly creating future scenarios and creating my response to that scenario…what I’ll say, how I’ll respond to the “threat”, how I’ll be helpful to save the day or protect myself from the pain. This creating takes me from the present moment and rarely manifest into reality in a future moment.
Thank you so much! Your mind-body loop explanation and strategy for dealing with the physical reactions to generalized anxiety are so helpful and comforting.
I have been so well and strong for a long while and I think being summer helped. But now that winter comes I am terrified of the future. I fear I have not enough friends, and feel strong my life pattern of attracting friends and partners that are emotionally unavailable. When my anxiety comes which is often in the mornings, I meditate, but cannot help panicking about the future. Why my friends are so absent or what’s going to happen to me in the future when my younger son leaves home. I feel so lost in fear of being alone and living in a cold country I dislike so much. I meditate and keep meditating… inviting fear and aloneness to sit with me…and it works but is it going to change the reality that I don’t feel I have a home in this world? Thank you for the support
I share Sophia from OH’s sentiments. Definitely inherited worry from my mother and it has taken many years to rewire and be in a more mindful space.
Thank you Tara for this great video!
Mindfulness and other mind body practices have changed my relationship with thoughts of worry. Worry was inherited from my mother and grandmother! I still find i have thoughts of worry although i become aware of them and sooth the fear behind them habitually! It helps and took a lot of rewiring to pair them.
Worrying seems to pop up aggressively when I feel confidence and happiness. And a lot of other times more sneakily. It happens with just about everything I do, walking my dogs, thinking about moving, writing and my art. Lots of meditation and podcasts from Tara and talking with friends and RAIN make this very often a less intense and shorter experience than it once was. Then in the non worry periods I’m very happy with me and life. And I have much more hope and optimism. I think it’s healing my relationship with myself and others trying to remember act in loving kindness.
I completely get this Donna, worry pops up when I’m happy, as well as when I’m not. It took mindfulness teachings for me to even spot this but it helps knowing that it is worry, even though a moment before things felt good. All the best with your healing.
Despite all my knowledge about this subject, I must practice each day as if always a beginner as the wiring is so strong. It’s been easier to change for specific situations/phobias but harder for the chronic worry about real challenges…but so draining so practice, practice, practice. Someone once said to me “the more I practice, the luckier I get.”
I identified myself as a worrier at about age 6 – now I’m 83 and still a worrier but am also very aware of it and working to get through this syndrome. It’s very freeing to find out what’s beneath the worry so I can let go of it.
thank you for your free videos. I appreciate what you have to give.
That’s one of my major issues. I become too responsible for many people and many situations in particular in my family life. I get concerned constantly about the future of my dear ones, their poor decisions, etc. If things are going to work as expected, what am I going to do if this or that does not go as expected. Would I be capable and ready to handle that situation?
I think about not being able to accomplish the tasks ahead, and I end up giving it a lot of time and neglecting my physical and mental health, my relationship.
I need to add that Each step of the way as I became more and more aware of the anxious thoughts affecting my life the more I ended up just feeling bad about the place I was in. This is tuff. It prevents me practicing these steps. Sounds mixed up but I’m persevering.
My addiction to worry, anxious thoughts and fear as time has passed in my life strangles my energy for sure. I see clearly it’s an addiction as you say Tara.
This is easy to say – simple – but hard to do. The person who is very sensitized or physically exhausted needs much more preparation before being given these simple tools. Otherwise s/he will only despair when the body and mind continue to respond ferociously to each anxious thought.
It is common that some parents think that to worry about their children is an expression of love. They centered their thougths on daily problems and obstacles and as these never end, one can be cronically worried if not with this thing than with something else. The problem is that to focus on problems narrows up any conversation and feeds on negative prognostic. I suppose that worrying become part of these peoples identity and it is very difficult to give it away.
I have become addicted or accepting of worry. Early in my life, age 2, some trauma occurred around me shaping my world view of one that is dangerous and unpredictable. It has left me with a pattern of worry in anticipation of what overwhelming thing is just around the corner. Mindfulness and my meditation practice has eased the level of fear.
Liked this about fearful thought is not true _ worry is an addiction sometimes. I like Quote from. M. Twain. The worst things in my life never happened.
I’m encouraged by learning a method I can use to ease the grip of the worry loop. Sometimes my fear becomes so great that my ability to think effectively greatly diminishes. Im beginning to recognize that this is the time to drop into the body, offer presence, and trust that the waves of anxiety are just that. Waves in a much larger ocean that is awareness itself. And I’m part of that wide and deep ocean. Thank you so much for regularly reminding us of these practices.
Worry does indeed “strangle”: my muscles contract which makes my rheumatoid condition worse, my chest tightens which restricts my breathing, I lose my appetite and the flexibility and creativity of my thinking is drastically reduced. And the amazing thing is that all these are created by me with no outside help! The feeling of isolation is also very strong and it’s as if I am shrinking myself and becoming totally separate from everyone and everything. Thankfully, through Tara’s teachings I am becoming more aware of when I am slipping into the whirling wheel of worry – some way to go yet!
Strangle is a great word to describe what worry has done to our lives / my life. Thank you for this video. 💚 … Worry is the motivation behind my debilitating depression. After studying and practicing Buddhist mindfulness meditation for a year and a half, my life is free of depression. However the anxiety and stress that my depression was covering up is now in full force. The real healing “work” for lack of better phrase has begun… now that the real cause has been illuminated.
Yes, self doubt. Thank you for clarifying. Fear of failing to handle all I have taken on, and don’t know how to unload. This has become debilitating now. Mindfulness practice and breathing temporary relief. Yet, true dilemmas exist, taking much energy to cope with. Typing, texting, talking, viewing all become energy draining. I ask”What story am I telling myself?” However, I am alone and find more difficulty reaching out for help due to the culmination of all you mention.
I am totally addicted to worry. It is like I am playing the same tapes again and again in my mind. The Greatest Hits of the season change over the years. I see my tendencies to escape my worrying mind by eating or other activities. What helps me immensely is yoga, dancing and song.
Sometimes I worry over and over the same thing, I am realizing it but can’t stop. I feel the worries in my chest and often I can’t sleep. Hopefully I will be able to break through sometime….
I love this on-the-spot mindful method for dealing with anxiety! Talking myself out of worrying has not been helpful to me, but changing my focus after acknowledging the thoughts seems to “work” to decrease anxiety. Thank you.
Thank you for articulating this concept, that I have struggled mightily with for many years. I am trying to step back and pause before automatically responding in my usual way. Facing anxiety directly takes away some of the irrational power I often give it.
I was walking on a woodland path to a park. As I emerged in the park, two large German shepherds ran out from the woods. No owner in sight. I have been scared of German shepherds since I was a small child and was knocked down by one. The person walking the dogs finally appeared and said they were friendly. One seemed to be. But the other stood in front of me and looked at me menacingly. I knew it perceived my fear. I felt where the fear was and let it go. I felt the change in my body. Immediately, the dog changed his look and actually acted a little afraid of me and ran off. It was truly amazing. It made me glad I’ve been practicing mindfulness.
Thank you
I have been a worrier for as long as I can remember. As a child I worried that something terrible would happen to my parents. As a parent now of adult children I worry about them and their families. My doctor says it’s how I’m wired. I am now facing a major life transition moving from where we’ve been living for 20 years to a different geographic location. Everything about the move scares me and I am losing sleep as well as feeling physically ill. I am trying to be mindful but find the anxiety often takes over, paralyzing me and making it difficult for me to face the tasks required for the move.
I am an architect who was laid off during Covid. Deep down I know it was because the firm just couldn’t afford to keep me on. But now that I am essentially on my own doing freelance work, I don’t have the support I had from a large office. I have a tremendous fear of failure and feel very insecure of my abilities. I would like to face each day with confidence in my abilities and give my clients beauty and usefulness but am frozen a lot of the time.
I hold so tightly to things that I love, that it causes me to be in a constant state of fear of losing it. The acceptance of being alone can sometimes be so hard to reach and it feels easier to fall into attempting perfection to prevent the loss, however this never prevents the fear seeping in.
Hello
Very interesting question. I didnt even realize that i have an adiction. I knew that I get angry very easy. But ofer time, with self analisis I realized that under my anger was a lot of worry, fear. For almost everything. Such an imbodied feeling, so powerful that overwhelmed me qnd delt with it in a way that I have learn3d to deal with hard “stuff”. It is very difficult to heal my addiction to worry.
Thank yiu a lot for these meaningfull questions.
My addiction to worry manifest as constantly creating future scenarios and creating my response to that scenario…what I’ll say, how I’ll respond to the “threat”, how I’ll be helpful to save the day or protect myself from the pain. This creating takes me from the present moment and rarely manifest into reality in a future moment.
Thank you so much! Your mind-body loop explanation and strategy for dealing with the physical reactions to generalized anxiety are so helpful and comforting.
My addiction to worry seems very much linked in to a fear of getting things wrong, being inadequate, of not being ……(a range of adjectives) enough
Sometimes crippling even making it difficult to function.
Thank you for the videos!
I have been so well and strong for a long while and I think being summer helped. But now that winter comes I am terrified of the future. I fear I have not enough friends, and feel strong my life pattern of attracting friends and partners that are emotionally unavailable. When my anxiety comes which is often in the mornings, I meditate, but cannot help panicking about the future. Why my friends are so absent or what’s going to happen to me in the future when my younger son leaves home. I feel so lost in fear of being alone and living in a cold country I dislike so much. I meditate and keep meditating… inviting fear and aloneness to sit with me…and it works but is it going to change the reality that I don’t feel I have a home in this world? Thank you for the support
I share Sophia from OH’s sentiments. Definitely inherited worry from my mother and it has taken many years to rewire and be in a more mindful space.
Thank you Tara for this great video!
I’ve struggled with worry and anticipation anxiety for a long time. I am breaking free slowly and feel hopeful as I begin to trust myself.
Mindfulness and other mind body practices have changed my relationship with thoughts of worry. Worry was inherited from my mother and grandmother! I still find i have thoughts of worry although i become aware of them and sooth the fear behind them habitually! It helps and took a lot of rewiring to pair them.
Worrying seems to pop up aggressively when I feel confidence and happiness. And a lot of other times more sneakily. It happens with just about everything I do, walking my dogs, thinking about moving, writing and my art. Lots of meditation and podcasts from Tara and talking with friends and RAIN make this very often a less intense and shorter experience than it once was. Then in the non worry periods I’m very happy with me and life. And I have much more hope and optimism. I think it’s healing my relationship with myself and others trying to remember act in loving kindness.
I completely get this Donna, worry pops up when I’m happy, as well as when I’m not. It took mindfulness teachings for me to even spot this but it helps knowing that it is worry, even though a moment before things felt good. All the best with your healing.
Despite all my knowledge about this subject, I must practice each day as if always a beginner as the wiring is so strong. It’s been easier to change for specific situations/phobias but harder for the chronic worry about real challenges…but so draining so practice, practice, practice. Someone once said to me “the more I practice, the luckier I get.”
Thank you for this calming and grounding practice, highly recommend!
I identified myself as a worrier at about age 6 – now I’m 83 and still a worrier but am also very aware of it and working to get through this syndrome. It’s very freeing to find out what’s beneath the worry so I can let go of it.
thank you for your free videos. I appreciate what you have to give.
Thank you so much for this . I am going to try to help my son who is Autistic to find some discipline through practice
That’s one of my major issues. I become too responsible for many people and many situations in particular in my family life. I get concerned constantly about the future of my dear ones, their poor decisions, etc. If things are going to work as expected, what am I going to do if this or that does not go as expected. Would I be capable and ready to handle that situation?
I think this is powerful and very much needed. It can be very difficult to let go but it is possible.
Thank you!
Felicia Pizana
felicia_pizana@ymail.com
I have observed the mind body loop and also experienced the value of mindfulness in easing and calming my mind. Thank you.
I think about not being able to accomplish the tasks ahead, and I end up giving it a lot of time and neglecting my physical and mental health, my relationship.
I need to add that Each step of the way as I became more and more aware of the anxious thoughts affecting my life the more I ended up just feeling bad about the place I was in. This is tuff. It prevents me practicing these steps. Sounds mixed up but I’m persevering.
My addiction to worry, anxious thoughts and fear as time has passed in my life strangles my energy for sure. I see clearly it’s an addiction as you say Tara.
worry about people pleasing…
This is easy to say – simple – but hard to do. The person who is very sensitized or physically exhausted needs much more preparation before being given these simple tools. Otherwise s/he will only despair when the body and mind continue to respond ferociously to each anxious thought.
Thanks so much Tara for sharing this helpful practice.
I commit to myself to reduce my anxiety by putting these steps into practice on a daily basis.
Constantly Worrying about what people think of me…
I did the exercise with you and discovered how really anxious I am. I found it hard.
It is common that some parents think that to worry about their children is an expression of love. They centered their thougths on daily problems and obstacles and as these never end, one can be cronically worried if not with this thing than with something else. The problem is that to focus on problems narrows up any conversation and feeds on negative prognostic. I suppose that worrying become part of these peoples identity and it is very difficult to give it away.
Robs me of valuable time.
I love this! It’s such a simple technique, and so freeing! Thank you, Tara. I put it to work immediately and felt lighter and happier.
I have become addicted or accepting of worry. Early in my life, age 2, some trauma occurred around me shaping my world view of one that is dangerous and unpredictable. It has left me with a pattern of worry in anticipation of what overwhelming thing is just around the corner. Mindfulness and my meditation practice has eased the level of fear.
I’ve worried almost daily for all my adult life.
Thank you Tara. Not just helpful for clients but, being in the Human Soup, for me too! Love the process being broken down into three simple stages.
Very helpful video which I will use in my clinical practice.
Thanks
Liked this about fearful thought is not true _ worry is an addiction sometimes. I like Quote from. M. Twain. The worst things in my life never happened.
I’m encouraged by learning a method I can use to ease the grip of the worry loop. Sometimes my fear becomes so great that my ability to think effectively greatly diminishes. Im beginning to recognize that this is the time to drop into the body, offer presence, and trust that the waves of anxiety are just that. Waves in a much larger ocean that is awareness itself. And I’m part of that wide and deep ocean. Thank you so much for regularly reminding us of these practices.
It takes a lot of energy of me
sometimes when I do not have anything to worry about, I create some worries because I miss anxiety
Thank you for explaining the difference between fear and anxiety. Thank you for your
Loveliness 💜🙏🏽🧘🏽♀️🙏🏽💜
Worry does indeed “strangle”: my muscles contract which makes my rheumatoid condition worse, my chest tightens which restricts my breathing, I lose my appetite and the flexibility and creativity of my thinking is drastically reduced. And the amazing thing is that all these are created by me with no outside help! The feeling of isolation is also very strong and it’s as if I am shrinking myself and becoming totally separate from everyone and everything. Thankfully, through Tara’s teachings I am becoming more aware of when I am slipping into the whirling wheel of worry – some way to go yet!
Thank you again Tara
Kind wishes
Mairi
Strangle is a great word to describe what worry has done to our lives / my life. Thank you for this video. 💚 … Worry is the motivation behind my debilitating depression. After studying and practicing Buddhist mindfulness meditation for a year and a half, my life is free of depression. However the anxiety and stress that my depression was covering up is now in full force. The real healing “work” for lack of better phrase has begun… now that the real cause has been illuminated.
Yes, self doubt. Thank you for clarifying. Fear of failing to handle all I have taken on, and don’t know how to unload. This has become debilitating now. Mindfulness practice and breathing temporary relief. Yet, true dilemmas exist, taking much energy to cope with. Typing, texting, talking, viewing all become energy draining. I ask”What story am I telling myself?” However, I am alone and find more difficulty reaching out for help due to the culmination of all you mention.