Most of my anxiety focuses on fear not of failure but of death. I am obsessed with my health and that of my family and live in a constant state of dread. As I get older this is getting worse.
I love this 3-step process to address the mind-body loop of anxiety. I will definitely find this useful with a particular client. I have talked about the thoughts and physiological reactions and guided people in meditation to notice them but the added step of discerning what is needed and providing that is helpful to interrupt the loop. Thank you!
I’ve been visiting with a friend and listening to her worry about potential health come in the future; seeing/hearing her repeatedly cycle these thoughts is a sad example of being trapped by worry.
Excellent to learn the process of deconditioning anxiety.
I get it! Why am I worrying? Where do I feel the worry in my physical self?
Reassure myself at its ok.
Thank you as always Tara for teaching me how to be well:)
I use to stay awake and worry what if this happens or what if I don’t know what to do in a certain situations the constant fear of worrying truly kept me up all hours if night then I’d turn to food to sedate or alcohol in my delusional thinking it may help gear of worry leave but that never works. The technique mediation is invaluable and I’m grateful for you and your workshop. Thanks and Amast !
When I finally surrendered and accepted the addict I am, I discovered I was addicted more to the challenges of being human than my extended use of drugs and alcohol. Worry blankets a lot of areas in my experience but I’ve learnt to not give it too much time and energy and keep it within the realm of “ONE DAY AT A TIME” and more so “ONE BREATH AT A TME” A recent teaching airways brings a smile and focus “ if you have one foot in the past and the other in the future, you’re pissing on the present”
I use to stay awake and worry what if this happens or what if I don’t know what to do in certain situations the constant fear of worrying truly kept me up all hours of the night then I’d turn to food addiction to sedate myself calm down or some alcohol in my delusion thinking it may help stop me from anxious worry but that never worked. The technique mediation is invaluable and I’m grateful for you and your workshop. Thanks and Amast!
Very knowledgeable. The theory well explained and articulated. Thank you. Years ago when I suffered my first severe panic attack…all we had was the emergency room and a doctor telling me to blow into a brown paper bag!!! We’ve come a longggg way!
Thanks for your sharing. I myself carried a bag when I travel by land to use for panic attack or anxiety of getting into a vehicle accident. Ever since I better my home of NYC the twin towers collapse made me fear of people in airports. I do not want to be paranoid. feel free to come and go without anxiety
One of the biggest challenges in my life has been worry, whether I would receive my second grad degree, be able to be a well thought of speech, language and hearing pathologist, have a wonderful marriage, and many other areas of my life. It was around that time in my life, I realized this worry was very habitual , not always coming from realistic concerns. I started acknowledging
that I must “talk to myself”. In doing so, and being truthful of my capabilities, slowly my self doubt has become lessened, and I am feeling much more content with myself.
Great Yes worry is so addictive, I know of someone who come to think of it. is addicted. Her concern about everything is beyond belief. She has been like this for many years, and is now in her 70s. Thank you
My experience with worry is that it takes away my focus from what I need to get done today not in a week and not in a month. At times, this loop of worry keeps me from completing projects on times and/or meeting deadlines. Then, I feel like I’m not dependable and trustworthy because I left undone something I said I would do. This then produces a sense of shame for failing myself and that other person/project – it impacts my wellbeing and my relationship with others because when this is experienced I pull away.
My addiction to worry keeps me from doing things I would enjoy, makes me think others are out to abuse me leading to checking bills fastidiously, researching options, taking more time than necessary.
It is so much easier to see someone else’s addiction to worry than my own! When I see it in others, it is very clear to me that it gets us no where, except unable to sleep….
When I personally experience worry, I may have a hard time focusing, unable to sit still to meditate, so I find walking and chanting or singing help.
The paradox appears to be that as much as I want to avoid worry, it is hard to step out and away from the looping thoughts of worry. I am somehow comfortable with the habit of worrying even though it creates such pain for me. Interrupting the looping worrying thoughts habit is key and it is in doing that successfully where I struggle and where my attention lies.
In the last couple of years I’ve come to see that I need to repeatedly choose NOT to worry. It takes vigilance and awareness to change my habit. Your mini teaching offers more ways to address it. Thank you.
I read the daily updates about the pandemic from my state’s health authority and can feel how it feeds my addiction to worry. Reading the daily news including on local wildfire conditions and climate changes’ contribution to extreme weather events does the same. I wonder if I should stop reading these things daily. But wouldn’t that be just sticking my head in the sand?
I think I grew up with a family where worrying about everything was just a part of my daily life and hence, it’s a very hard habit to break! I am trying to use a gratitude journal and breathing exercises to help right now but I could use some more help! I have been worse since the pandemic and it’s starting to affect my performance at work and my relationship with my coworkers. Thanks for this opportunity to learn!
Can watching shows with high danger cause as much physical damage as if experiencing fear and anxiety in real life? I have noticed my stomach getting tied up in knots at thriller shows and it lasts long after I’ve stopped watching even though I know it isn’t real. Think I’ve had it with thriller type shows! Enjoyed what I learned from this very much. Thank you you so much.
Thank you again Tara, my addiction to worry never surfaced untill the lockdown of 2020. Prior to that event I was totally unaware that I was an anxious person. I operated between Fear and anxiety all the time, I was in a Trance of Unworthiness. If I wasn’t lost in the past I was projecting about the future. I’m so grateful for all your posts on YouTube and these free work shops are educational and inspirational too so thank you again Tara.
Having to get everything right, to be good, to know things, to anticipate and plan and be prepared and having to do it all myself causes much anxiety, draining my energy and keeping me from enjoying the present as well as many bodily symptoms around digestive system particularly.
It really can become a way of life, to let go of the worry, which has been conditioned in me for generations before me, would give me so much more energy and happiness – going to give this a try and use with clients
Thank you Tara. This i find most helpful in dealing with my worries about what might never happen – my main cause of anxiety. And I look forward to listening to your Self Doubt presentation.
Worrying is a part of everyday… and I think it has been more intense with ageing? Working in bureacratic organisations where the boundaries are not always stated creates an environment of worry and fear and this is where a lot of time is spent and a lot of time is also spent worrying when I am not there about what may occur when I am there….!
With less worry, anxiety and fear, I would be more fluid, not frozen. I would enjoy my thoughts, feelings and actions being congruent. I’d have so much more physical energy and joy!
I got quite some expierience in worrying. Since some years I recognise, when the loop starts and I am able to look at these thoughts for a while.
Only if I fuel them with energy from my emotions, it´s disstressing. As long as I am just aware, there are worrying thoughts, I know it is just a habbit, and tell them go away for a while. Then they return and it starts over….
Hello thank you worry is a constant in my life I try not to let it take over and am able to catch harmful thought patterns sometimes know .it shows up in keeping me from going a head in life and in my confidence in myself .
Very convincing: reducing my precious energy going to useless spinning of worry wheels is worth being mindful about. I’m grateful to this teaching and promise to apply it now as I breathe deeply. Thank you!
I had 2 paralytic strokes when I was 18 months old, and after that I spent years having terrible night fears as I was going to sleep. I felt like I was dying, being thrust into huge dark forever. So now I’m 73, and realizing that some day, sooner rather than later, I will, in fact, die, the fears are coming back. The reality won’t change, but I would dearly love to do something about my anxious panic reaction to it.
Maria Santonino, Another Field, Orlando, FL, USAsays
Please reach out to those people who have given hope strength and courage throughout your life and stand with you soon the peace of knowing that this life is good but I believe that our journey doesn’t end at death. Blessings
That I have worried is mistrust enough, the addiction part really pulls my covers, the core of self centered ness, me playing God, the feeling is sickening and humbling. Thank you, thank you may WE ALL wake up. Thank you for your generosity.
Ruth
This is an aha moment for me and to think of all these years I was (and still am) in constant worry state. This will really help me I can feel it already. Thank you.
I’m an elder… I’m intrigued by the notion of “addiction to fear/anxiety”.
This notion resonates deeply with me. My anxiety has increased as I age. I see the same in others as we enter elder life. One of my dear friends takes a pill. I’d like to explore alternatives to pharma-fixes. Thank you for your work and your offering free access.
Hallo,
at work I find it difficult to help people who are in this loop. They often do not behave as they would like to get assistance or come out. They live like this for years already. The only thing I can do is listening mindfully and offering my openness, compassion, curiosity and acceptance.
For me the loop starts when things do not work out the way I planed it. Then there is worry showing up especially when I made similar experiences before concerning the same theme. I have to get back to mindfulness then to remind myself of the fact that every moment is new and every situation is new. I try to get into the moment itself with breathing. Everything changes and nothing stays the same. I will definitly try the three steps next time.
Kind regards, Heide
I’m a serial planner and feel like I worry constantly about making best use of my time and being productive. I feel guilty if I don’t feel I’ve done enough but in reality I will never be able to do enough so it’s perpetuating. I am becoming more aware but it’s so hard to stop the worrying addicted mind.
Worrying has always paralyzed me with inaction. Afterwards, the feeling of regret is usually overwhelming: “would of, should of, could of”. With hindsight, the feeling is always a sense of emptiness that I didn’t ‘do anything’ and a sense of cowardice that I didn’t ‘do something’. I always feel like I’ve cheated myself.
Hindsight is 20/20, but foresight is 50-50 and that’s where the fear and worrying comes in: the unknown outcome.
Since the pandemic, my mind races with the thoughts of possible negative outcomes. I have felt like I have to control everything in advance “before it happens.” Which leaves me pretty tense. Also I tend to worry I’ve lost something–usually papers– when I generally find them. So it’s a waste of energy.
It feels to me often disguised as an addiction to thinking in all it’s forms -so people don’t see it as worry; yet we’re consumed by thoughts and devices (from books to phones) that feed that addiction.
My experience is that it doesn’t help much, moreover, in a way it paralyzes me to do other things that have nothing to do with the obsessive preoccupation.
My body feels as though it is in an almost constant state of anxiety. I no longer need to have worried thoughts in my head to experience the tightness in my chest. I am anxiety looking for something to attach itself to.
I’ve dealt with some level of addiction to worry for as long as I can remember. If I had known that jobs like risk management existed when I was in school I might have changed career paths. I have learned to cope with my tendency to worry through practicing mindfulness and gratitude. My mantra when I feel like I’m starting to spin out into worry-mode is “Here. Now.” which I repeat as I take long slow deep breaths.
Most of my anxiety focuses on fear not of failure but of death. I am obsessed with my health and that of my family and live in a constant state of dread. As I get older this is getting worse.
I don’t worry about myself or what may or may not happen in my life but I do worry about my children and the health of this planet of ours.
I love this 3-step process to address the mind-body loop of anxiety. I will definitely find this useful with a particular client. I have talked about the thoughts and physiological reactions and guided people in meditation to notice them but the added step of discerning what is needed and providing that is helpful to interrupt the loop. Thank you!
Hard not to worry over one’s children, no matter how old. Hard to detach when they suffer from life lessons.
I’ve been visiting with a friend and listening to her worry about potential health come in the future; seeing/hearing her repeatedly cycle these thoughts is a sad example of being trapped by worry.
Excellent to learn the process of deconditioning anxiety.
I get it! Why am I worrying? Where do I feel the worry in my physical self?
Reassure myself at its ok.
Thank you as always Tara for teaching me how to be well:)
Sheila
Namaste
I use to stay awake and worry what if this happens or what if I don’t know what to do in a certain situations the constant fear of worrying truly kept me up all hours if night then I’d turn to food to sedate or alcohol in my delusional thinking it may help gear of worry leave but that never works. The technique mediation is invaluable and I’m grateful for you and your workshop. Thanks and Amast !
When I finally surrendered and accepted the addict I am, I discovered I was addicted more to the challenges of being human than my extended use of drugs and alcohol. Worry blankets a lot of areas in my experience but I’ve learnt to not give it too much time and energy and keep it within the realm of “ONE DAY AT A TIME” and more so “ONE BREATH AT A TME” A recent teaching airways brings a smile and focus “ if you have one foot in the past and the other in the future, you’re pissing on the present”
I use to stay awake and worry what if this happens or what if I don’t know what to do in certain situations the constant fear of worrying truly kept me up all hours of the night then I’d turn to food addiction to sedate myself calm down or some alcohol in my delusion thinking it may help stop me from anxious worry but that never worked. The technique mediation is invaluable and I’m grateful for you and your workshop. Thanks and Amast!
Very knowledgeable. The theory well explained and articulated. Thank you. Years ago when I suffered my first severe panic attack…all we had was the emergency room and a doctor telling me to blow into a brown paper bag!!! We’ve come a longggg way!
Thanks for your sharing. I myself carried a bag when I travel by land to use for panic attack or anxiety of getting into a vehicle accident. Ever since I better my home of NYC the twin towers collapse made me fear of people in airports. I do not want to be paranoid. feel free to come and go without anxiety
One of the biggest challenges in my life has been worry, whether I would receive my second grad degree, be able to be a well thought of speech, language and hearing pathologist, have a wonderful marriage, and many other areas of my life. It was around that time in my life, I realized this worry was very habitual , not always coming from realistic concerns. I started acknowledging
that I must “talk to myself”. In doing so, and being truthful of my capabilities, slowly my self doubt has become lessened, and I am feeling much more content with myself.
Love this! So useful! This video is life giving
A fan from Bethesda Unitarian.
Mary
Great Yes worry is so addictive, I know of someone who come to think of it. is addicted. Her concern about everything is beyond belief. She has been like this for many years, and is now in her 70s. Thank you
Worry has been a challenge in my life, my behavior is still being determined by how I feel.
My experience with worry is that it takes away my focus from what I need to get done today not in a week and not in a month. At times, this loop of worry keeps me from completing projects on times and/or meeting deadlines. Then, I feel like I’m not dependable and trustworthy because I left undone something I said I would do. This then produces a sense of shame for failing myself and that other person/project – it impacts my wellbeing and my relationship with others because when this is experienced I pull away.
My addiction to worry keeps me from doing things I would enjoy, makes me think others are out to abuse me leading to checking bills fastidiously, researching options, taking more time than necessary.
Always a constant problem of mine, love the Mark Twain reference.
It is so much easier to see someone else’s addiction to worry than my own! When I see it in others, it is very clear to me that it gets us no where, except unable to sleep….
When I personally experience worry, I may have a hard time focusing, unable to sit still to meditate, so I find walking and chanting or singing help.
The paradox appears to be that as much as I want to avoid worry, it is hard to step out and away from the looping thoughts of worry. I am somehow comfortable with the habit of worrying even though it creates such pain for me. Interrupting the looping worrying thoughts habit is key and it is in doing that successfully where I struggle and where my attention lies.
In the last couple of years I’ve come to see that I need to repeatedly choose NOT to worry. It takes vigilance and awareness to change my habit. Your mini teaching offers more ways to address it. Thank you.
My anxiety shows up in my legs which sometimes feel like they are failing me.
Thank you, Tara, for your generosity in teaching so many of us, so lovingly. Sending you love.
I read the daily updates about the pandemic from my state’s health authority and can feel how it feeds my addiction to worry. Reading the daily news including on local wildfire conditions and climate changes’ contribution to extreme weather events does the same. I wonder if I should stop reading these things daily. But wouldn’t that be just sticking my head in the sand?
I think I grew up with a family where worrying about everything was just a part of my daily life and hence, it’s a very hard habit to break! I am trying to use a gratitude journal and breathing exercises to help right now but I could use some more help! I have been worse since the pandemic and it’s starting to affect my performance at work and my relationship with my coworkers. Thanks for this opportunity to learn!
Can watching shows with high danger cause as much physical damage as if experiencing fear and anxiety in real life? I have noticed my stomach getting tied up in knots at thriller shows and it lasts long after I’ve stopped watching even though I know it isn’t real. Think I’ve had it with thriller type shows! Enjoyed what I learned from this very much. Thank you you so much.
Thank you again Tara, my addiction to worry never surfaced untill the lockdown of 2020. Prior to that event I was totally unaware that I was an anxious person. I operated between Fear and anxiety all the time, I was in a Trance of Unworthiness. If I wasn’t lost in the past I was projecting about the future. I’m so grateful for all your posts on YouTube and these free work shops are educational and inspirational too so thank you again Tara.
I know that I am!!
Having to get everything right, to be good, to know things, to anticipate and plan and be prepared and having to do it all myself causes much anxiety, draining my energy and keeping me from enjoying the present as well as many bodily symptoms around digestive system particularly.
It really can become a way of life, to let go of the worry, which has been conditioned in me for generations before me, would give me so much more energy and happiness – going to give this a try and use with clients
Thank you Tara. This i find most helpful in dealing with my worries about what might never happen – my main cause of anxiety. And I look forward to listening to your Self Doubt presentation.
Fear of failing is how I’ve lived. It’s led me to make and keep my life very small.
Most helpful and much appreciated….kira
Worrying is a part of everyday… and I think it has been more intense with ageing? Working in bureacratic organisations where the boundaries are not always stated creates an environment of worry and fear and this is where a lot of time is spent and a lot of time is also spent worrying when I am not there about what may occur when I am there….!
With less worry, anxiety and fear, I would be more fluid, not frozen. I would enjoy my thoughts, feelings and actions being congruent. I’d have so much more physical energy and joy!
I got quite some expierience in worrying. Since some years I recognise, when the loop starts and I am able to look at these thoughts for a while.
Only if I fuel them with energy from my emotions, it´s disstressing. As long as I am just aware, there are worrying thoughts, I know it is just a habbit, and tell them go away for a while. Then they return and it starts over….
Hello thank you worry is a constant in my life I try not to let it take over and am able to catch harmful thought patterns sometimes know .it shows up in keeping me from going a head in life and in my confidence in myself .
Very convincing: reducing my precious energy going to useless spinning of worry wheels is worth being mindful about. I’m grateful to this teaching and promise to apply it now as I breathe deeply. Thank you!
I had 2 paralytic strokes when I was 18 months old, and after that I spent years having terrible night fears as I was going to sleep. I felt like I was dying, being thrust into huge dark forever. So now I’m 73, and realizing that some day, sooner rather than later, I will, in fact, die, the fears are coming back. The reality won’t change, but I would dearly love to do something about my anxious panic reaction to it.
Please reach out to those people who have given hope strength and courage throughout your life and stand with you soon the peace of knowing that this life is good but I believe that our journey doesn’t end at death. Blessings
I tend to worry a lot. I have started your 40 day mindfulness training
and am finding it helpful.
That I have worried is mistrust enough, the addiction part really pulls my covers, the core of self centered ness, me playing God, the feeling is sickening and humbling. Thank you, thank you may WE ALL wake up. Thank you for your generosity.
Ruth
This is an aha moment for me and to think of all these years I was (and still am) in constant worry state. This will really help me I can feel it already. Thank you.
I’m an elder… I’m intrigued by the notion of “addiction to fear/anxiety”.
This notion resonates deeply with me. My anxiety has increased as I age. I see the same in others as we enter elder life. One of my dear friends takes a pill. I’d like to explore alternatives to pharma-fixes. Thank you for your work and your offering free access.
Hallo,
at work I find it difficult to help people who are in this loop. They often do not behave as they would like to get assistance or come out. They live like this for years already. The only thing I can do is listening mindfully and offering my openness, compassion, curiosity and acceptance.
For me the loop starts when things do not work out the way I planed it. Then there is worry showing up especially when I made similar experiences before concerning the same theme. I have to get back to mindfulness then to remind myself of the fact that every moment is new and every situation is new. I try to get into the moment itself with breathing. Everything changes and nothing stays the same. I will definitly try the three steps next time.
Kind regards, Heide
I’m a serial planner and feel like I worry constantly about making best use of my time and being productive. I feel guilty if I don’t feel I’ve done enough but in reality I will never be able to do enough so it’s perpetuating. I am becoming more aware but it’s so hard to stop the worrying addicted mind.
Worrying has always paralyzed me with inaction. Afterwards, the feeling of regret is usually overwhelming: “would of, should of, could of”. With hindsight, the feeling is always a sense of emptiness that I didn’t ‘do anything’ and a sense of cowardice that I didn’t ‘do something’. I always feel like I’ve cheated myself.
Hindsight is 20/20, but foresight is 50-50 and that’s where the fear and worrying comes in: the unknown outcome.
Since the pandemic, my mind races with the thoughts of possible negative outcomes. I have felt like I have to control everything in advance “before it happens.” Which leaves me pretty tense. Also I tend to worry I’ve lost something–usually papers– when I generally find them. So it’s a waste of energy.
Tara, would you make this material available or in a form for teenagers; they need access so much. Thanks
It feels to me often disguised as an addiction to thinking in all it’s forms -so people don’t see it as worry; yet we’re consumed by thoughts and devices (from books to phones) that feed that addiction.
My experience is that it doesn’t help much, moreover, in a way it paralyzes me to do other things that have nothing to do with the obsessive preoccupation.
My body feels as though it is in an almost constant state of anxiety. I no longer need to have worried thoughts in my head to experience the tightness in my chest. I am anxiety looking for something to attach itself to.
I’ve dealt with some level of addiction to worry for as long as I can remember. If I had known that jobs like risk management existed when I was in school I might have changed career paths. I have learned to cope with my tendency to worry through practicing mindfulness and gratitude. My mantra when I feel like I’m starting to spin out into worry-mode is “Here. Now.” which I repeat as I take long slow deep breaths.