Anxiety and fear are both quite common emotions in our lives especially in times of changes when new things are happening or are expected to happen. But if they become too frequent or even a constant we can become severely debilitated and paralyzed. While fear is specific, anxiety is a more generalized feeling of uneasiness and worry often towards the future. We can successfully manage or even overcome both of them with different practices (breathwork, meditation) and strategies (cognitive therapy). Some simple affirmations for changing our perception towards ourselves and our surroundings are:
1. Everything is alright now.
Since both fear and anxiety are usually directed towards the future the more we establish ourselves in the present the lesser impact they will have on us. If we can’t say “everything is alright now”, we can try with: “No matter how things turn out, I will be alright.”
2. Fear/anxiety can’t hurt/control me because I am bigger than fear/anxiety.
If we are mentally a very closed individual then a single emotion can take a lot of space in our being. That is why it may look unbearable to hold it. But if we expand our mental space (by meditation for instance) then fear or anxiety may be still there but it doesn’t look so big or frightening anymore.
3. I am never confronted with something I am unable to handle.
Many times when we minimize ourselves and overestimate the circumstances we hinder our capacity to see or confront the situation. Fear and anxiety in that case are bound to happen. By remembering that we have overcome everything life has thrown at us so far we are able to see ourselves as powerful and capable being.
4. This too will pass.
Even if something we are feeling now seems unbearable, one of the greatest reminders is that nothing is permanent. Everything changes constantly which means no matter how heavy the feeling seems, it won’t last. Maybe it will go in a day, a week or even a month, but it will go. Will it even matter in five or ten years from now?
5. Allowing to happen what will happen is so freeing.
Khalil Gibran said: “Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.” So what if instead of thinking of how we can control something we would entertain a thought about how much lighter and at ease everything feels when we start to release our grip on life.
6. There is nowhere to go, there is nothing to do.
When we feel fear or anxiety it seems like there is an outside situation causing it. But if that would be so then everyone would feel the same fear or anxiety in that situation. Enormous feeling of fear or anxiety is usually an invitation to do some internal work. Wisdom here is to realize running around preoccupied with activity will get us nowhere. Even if we try to avoid external causes we cannot escape ourselves.
We can choose one or more of these affirmations (whichever resonate with us at the present moment). By repeating these affirmations on a daily basis throughout the day or as a part of breathwork or mediation session we might be able to lower our anxiety or fear on a manageable level.
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