How NLP can help you deal with anxiety and fear

Faced with a tough choice/decision to make, I just realized how I was unknowingly allowing myself to feel sorry for myself.  Poor me, times are so tough and I am so young! Poor me, I don't yet know how to achieve my goals. Poor me, how am I going to become who I want to become when the government doesn't cooperate? Bla, bla, bla! Mind fog, that's what it all is!

"It is impossible for an anxious person, a worried one, or a fearful one to perceive truth. All things are distorted and thrown out of their proper relations by such mental states." Wallace D. Wattles

If you, like me, find yourself feeling sorry for yourself, feeling anxious about your future, feeling scared of what tomorrow will bring...

STOP!

Stop and breathe!

(READ BELOW AND THEN CLOSE YOUR EYES!)
Just close your eyes for one full minute (what is one minute out of the 1440 that make up our day?) and BREATHE!

Breathe in deeply and fully! Breathe in and feel the miracle of life that is within you and outside of you alike.

While you are breathing, remember something that happened to you that made you feel real good inside. A happy moment. It could have happened when you were 5 years old or last night, it doesn't matter. Just get in touch with that warm and happy feeling inside, while you are breathing.

Breathe and feel the happiness. See the scene, what happened exactly to make you feel so happy? Where were you? Who was around you? What did you hear? What were they telling you? Were you speaking at all, or laughing out loud? Breathe and see and hear and feel the image of your happiness.

While doing this, anchor the feeling! To anchor the feeling you simply have to choose a spot to touch yourself while you are breathing and feeling the happiness. You can touch your left knuckles with your right hand, or you can touch your right elbow with your left hand or you can touch your thigh, or your forehead, your choice.

Breathe + Feel the happiness + Anchor (touch a spot)

Then, you can go back to thinking about the problem, fear, stressor. While you think about that unpleasant situation, gently touch the spot you had previously touched when feeling happiness (the anchor).

You will never perceive that problem in the same way!

Just Breathe

Yesterday a client came in like a hurricane. He was extremely anxious as he entered my office several minutes late. He started telling me how he ran around the whole day, a photo shoot that was supposed to take two hours took four, and then he attended a meeting and then he had to come see me and still needed to go to kickboxing class after our appointment...

I was out of breath just listening to him. Before we did anything, I asked him to take two minutes to breathe. After the two minutes, he had a huge smile on his face. It was all he needed at that moment. To be reminded to just breathe.

Here's a great post via zenhabits

Breathe.

Breathing can transform your life.

If you feel stressed out and overwhelmed, breathe. It will calm you and release the tensions.

If you are worried about something coming up, or caught up in something that already happened, breathe. It will bring you back to the present.

If you are discouraged and have forgotten your purpose in life, breathe. It will remind you about how precious life is, and that each breath in this life is a gift you need to appreciate. Make the most of this gift.

If you have too many tasks to do, or are scattered during your workday, breathe. It will help bring you into focus, to concentrate on the most important task you need to be focusing on right now.

If you are spending time with someone you love, breathe. It will allow you to be present with that person, rather than thinking about work or other things you need to do.

If you are exercising, breathe. It will help you enjoy the exercise, and therefore stick with it for longer.

If you are moving too fast, breathe. It will remind you to slow down, and enjoy life more.

So breathe. And enjoy each moment of this life. They’re too fleeting and few to waste.

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Tip: Put the word “Breathe” as a screensaver or desktop pic, or put it up as a note on your wall or fridge or on your desk. Then do it every time you see the word.