“I am responsible. Although I may not be able to prevent the worst from happening. I am responsible for my attitude toward the inevitable misfortunes that darken life. Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can chose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have — life itself.”   — Walter Anderson

 

Many times in your life you may find yourself having feelings of panic or anxiety. You feel your heart racing, can’t catch your breath, you may feel shaky, light-headed, dizzy, etc. They seem to just come out of no-where or they are a physical reaction to something–an upsetting experience like a close call while driving, seeing something disturbing on the news or a work or home challenge.

I know panic attacks are real and can be extreme for some. They can rob you of your ability to think, remember and concentrate. If you are experiencing panic attacks, it’s best to get medical attention. There are tremendous resources and techniques to help.

In this post I want to talk about the feelings of dread or panic that get triggered by situations where we react negatively. We live in a dynamic world with lots of stimuli, and we react to a range of stimuli every day. Most of our reactions are subtle or incidental–like changing the TV station when we don’t like the commercial or show or moving our seat on the train when someone around us is loud.

Others are more significant and can impact us more deeply or even long term, especially in the context of how we create patterns of negative reactions. In short, reacting negatively becomes a habit or we create an emotional negative cycle.

For some of us, we have become quite good at reacting negatively, and sometimes these reactions in real time bring in those feelings of panic, fear or anxiety, and come with physical side effects (headache, upset stomach, feeling jittery). And  we let the emotions and these feelings take over. We start to ask why is this happening (again), and we don’t ask ourselves the question of what can I learn from this or we don’t take a step back to calm ourselves or reflect.

In short, we lose sight that we can manage how we react so we can move through the emotions, feelings and physical effects more quickly, and over time lessen our negative reactions that cause our minds and bodies discomfort and stress.

While we sometimes have to relinquish control over situations, we can still maintain our connection to ourselves. There are no right or wrong reactions, but only what serves us. Being self aware through the reaction and the process is important. Noting that you may be creating a pattern of negative reactions and realizing the impact your attitude has on your experiences is a first step.

You do have a choice of how you are going to respond or react. Try not to let something dictate how you react to things. You have the power and the inner strength to lessen the negative reaction and move more quickly through the emotional event.

Below are a few tips to help you when you find yourself feeling that feeling of panic or anxiety and reacting negatively:

• Learn to recognize your negative reaction triggers. Think and reflect on what the situations are that make you susceptible to these triggers. We can’t always avoid them, but being aware can help you prepare and acknowledge them is a more positive way.
• Practice positive self talk. You can use the old adage of “what is the worse that can happen,” and talk calmly and kindly to yourself with thoughts and words of “slow down,” “breath,” “I’m really OK,” etc.
• Do deep breathing. Take deep, slow breaths.
• Visualize. Close your eyes and with the deep breathing visualize a place where you are relaxed, calm and at peace. Stay there a while.
• Do something physical. Take a walk, get out and get some fresh air, clean a closet. Physical acts not only get your mind off of things, they help you use that extra adrenaline and cortisol.
• Call a friend. Sometimes just having someone listen where you can talk it out makes a big difference. But remember, try not to dwell–let it out and move on.
• Avoid over analyzing. Playing it over and over with the “should haves” or “what-ifs” is just perpetuating the negativity. Let it go.
• Journal it. Write what you are feeling. You can even write down the negative thoughts you are feeling and then simply throw them away or burn them.
• Let the emotions flow and go through them with no judgement. Use reflection and grounding techniques.
• Use the experience to learn about yourself and embrace that.

Remember reacting negatively is not going to change what happened, but how you manage your reaction can help change and evolve you. Turn around negativity when you notice it and infuse positivity on a regular basis.

The more positive thought you think consciously the less negative thoughts your mind will create over time. Embrace your positive warrior! I hope you found this helpful and we would love to hear from you on how you combat negative thoughts and what you do to reduce anxiety.