439: How to calm the unwanted thoughts that often come with anxiety

Points discussed in this week's show:

What helps Calm Unwanted Thoughts?

Understanding that we are not our mind and that our thoughts aren’t truths and that we are not crazy or alone in this..

Ayurveda teaches that we are not our minds.

Your mind may cause you suffering from anxious thinking, but very often what we are really experiencing is a case of F.E.A.R False Evidence Appearing Real

  • the mind creates a distressing thought, and we believe it might be true, or come true

  • we have a story - a running narrative - that believes and supports the fear

  • then we feel the anxiety in our body because the body doesn’t know the difference between real or imagined fear

Trying to force unwanted thoughts to stop doesn't help.

In fact, it makes them worse. When we resist and get stressed trying to stop these thoughts we pour petrol on their fire.

Labelling and Dropping

Label or name the thought, then use mindful awareness to stop anticipatory anxiety and bring yourself back to the present moment.

Here’s how:

  • notice the unwanted thought

  • then drop it and describe your physical reality right now

  • describe where you are and what you are doing, in plain basic facts. For example: Women in the kitchen making dinner. Man in the car driving to work.

This takes you out of the loop of repeating anxious or negative thoughts. It brings you away from “what if” thinking and into the present, the truth of what is really happening in this moment rather than what your mind is worrying about and causing you pain.

Be careful with external influences and entertainment

Be very careful about the impressions you allow in your mind. The mind is like a camera; it takes snapshots of everything. The sensitive mind is easily disturbed by violent imagery, we have to be vigilant and protect it.

Learn skills for mental detoxing

The unsettled mind will further provoke itself by chewing over and over unwanted thoughts, conversations and injustices. We need to have skills in place for processing and protection.

When we are anxious, our mind becomes more stirred up and starts chewing over our concerns, learning some practices that can help us feel grounded and calm enough to get some distance between us and our unwanted thoughts helps.

We get into trouble when we believe the mind’s propaganda, and we see its story as fact - at any time we can use our intelligence to choose something different. Our How to Calm Your Fragile Mind Course will show you how to do that.

*Discover how to release unwanted negative thoughts & feel greater peace in our

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SELF-HELP FOR ANXIETYadminanxious thoughts, negative thoughts, unwanted thoughts