What you need to know about healing anxiety
A lot of the ways we’ve been taught to think about emotions like anxiety are unhelpful if not downright destructive.
One of the most egregious examples of this happened the other day. A woman struggling with healing anxiety during this beyond extra 2020 we’re all experiencing said she was in therapy and learning about “living with my anxiety next to me.”
I’m guessing this woman got that wording in therapy since no one ever talks about their feelings like that, and thank goodness. It's an incredibly destructive statement for two reasons.
First, talking about living with anxiety next to you encourages disassociation.
Disassociation is the practice of separating yourself from your emotions and / or environment to protect yourself when you feel unsafe.
This is why some people feel like they're watching a movie, rather than living their actual life.
Ironically, anxiety comes from feeling unsafe, so this shotgun approach could intensify the feeling — the exact opposite of healing anxiety.
This is damaging because emotions don't go away when ignored. They burrow deeper into your energetic and physical bodies, eventually causing things like panic attacks or health problems since chronic stress is incredibly destructive to the body.
Anxiety is not some stranger that's hopped in the passenger seat of a life, uninvited and without reason.
This approach denies that anxiety is a messenger. It contains very important messages that once listened to, will help you find peace.
Without finding the root, peace will never come. This is the most important thing to know about healing anxiety.
That's why the methods you'll learn inside the Mindfulness & meditation guided journal are so essential.
Few people in our society know how to deal with painful emotions from a spiritual perspective. That's exactly why I created this book.
On Day 8 of the journal, The Antidote to Anxiety, we go into great detail about this specific emotion. You'll learn about the spiritual meaning of anxiety, how to discover and heal the root cause, and how to release feelings of panic from your body so you can feel calm.
Second, saying things like "my anxiety," is incredibly damaging.
Calling an emotion yours is destructive because it causes people to create identities around them, or a "disorder" they've been labeled with.
"I am an anxious person."
"I have anxiety."
If you are an anxious person, or if you have anxiety, who would you be if you weren't those things?
Moving beyond something is hard if you think it's part of who you are.
A lot of times people subconsciously hold on to labels because they don't know who they'd be without them. (There are other reasons, too, but that's a long conversation for another time.)
This is why meditation is so important. It helps you connect to who you really are, underneath all the labels that limit you.
It helps you formulate new perceptions and responses to old problems.
It frees you to live a life without anxiety, even if it's something you now think you'll always experience.
Anxiety must be faced directly if you want to find peace, not lived next to — whatever that means.
Learning how to feel is important, and of course there are specific practices you can do — including breathing techniques to regulate your nervous system. You'll learn my favorite, go-to practices in the Mindfulness & meditation guided journal.
But recurring, deeply felt anxiety always has a root cause. This deeper cause must be identified for healing anxiety in a lasting way.
The apparent cause might seem obvious enough — work or financial stress, caring for a sick loved one, or the tremendous uncertainty we're facing in the world — but there are always deeper, more existential fears at play.
The good news is that once you discover those fears, you can figure out how to find peace.
Other times unhealed childhood traumas trigger anxiety, even if the apparent cause seems totally unrelated.
The truth is, the soul speaks in symbols so nothing is unrelated. There's always a unifying thread, a reason why anxiety or other painful emotions appear.
Once you know how to identify that unifying thread and follow it to the answers you seek, you know how to find peace in any situation.
If you want to know how to do this important inner work, you will love the Mindfulness & meditation guided journal.
This 30-day program will help you start or deepen a meditation practice.
It includes short daily readings that will teach you tools to heal anxiety. Each reading ends with a mindfulness journal prompt to help you apply the day's focus to the rest of your life.
The most important part in the journal is Week 3, Heart & Soul. During this week, you'll learn how to use my potent shadow work techniques to heal the root of anxiety so you can find peace.
The unhealed past will continue creating painful emotions and ongoing problems until you release it.
When you want to unlock the door to growth, happiness and healing, it's time to go within, sit with yourself, and face your pain. So much wisdom and healing is inside of you.
The Mindfulness & meditation guided journal is for you if you want to learn about healing anxiety, connect to your heart, and find peace within yourself.
All the love,
Suzanne Heyn
Founder, Soul Scroll Journals
