It is natural to feel a sense of anxiety and fear on certain levels at specific times. There are real, tangible, justifiable, fear causing situations that occur. Again, this type of fear is caused by external real life experiences or situations and can be considered normal.



The other type of anxiety and fear can be debilitating. It can hinder the entire being; ones entire life when left unchecked and allowed to create chaos. It is what we do with our naturally occurring fear internally that causes this type of anxiety.

Simple as this may sound, here is an example:

While sharing a sandwich at the beach one day with your child, a swift moving seagull swoops down, grabs the sandwich from your hand with its mouth and begins to fly away. In order to gain momentum it pushes against your child with its feet and scratches him fairly deeply, causing him to bleed. It all happens so quickly that you are both left startled and shaken.

On a future day when visiting the park, an innocent seagull flutters past and you find yourself quickly standing up to defend your boy. The seagull passes without incident yet your heart is pounding and your hands are shaking and most likely you are thinking, I don't like seagulls, they scare me. As a result of your initial encounter with the seagull at the beach, you are now self generating anxiety and fear into a situation that has no actual cause for concern.

Here is a sensible simple solution to both preventing and healing this type of anxiety.

Remember that internal anxiety has just one source, self.

1. Accept the feeling.

2. Think and identify the root cause. (Whether known or unknown- go to next step.)

3. Breathe- In through the nose to the count of three and out of the mouth to the count of ten. Repeat at least ten times.

4. Focus on positive things. Have a positive inner exchange of thoughts.

5. Do something positive.

6. Remember, this too shall pass.

7. Talk about it.

8. Pray.

The next time anxious feelings begin to arise from within, try these simple exercises and see if they allow some relief. They have been personally tested again and again and found to bring quick relief.

One particular woman was afraid to board an airplane since the 9/11 attack of the twin towers in New York but was recently able to fly from Massachusetts to Utah by simply applying these principals. She expressed having a vast amount of anxiety before leaving and for the first twenty minutes of the flight but then realized she was not in danger. She purposely took several deep breaths and let each one out slowly while she thought of all the fun that awaited her in Utah. She read a book and watched the sunset as she flew. She was grateful to God for allowing her this experience and she told him so. She has flown several times since then without difficulty.

Our Creator gifted us with the emotion of fear. Therefore sometimes it is very right to be fearful and to act upon that fear. However, if the root cause of your anxiety is self, try the simple steps above and give yourself permission to move on and out of the circumstance.