Our Tendency to Shrink Away from Anxious Thoughts and Feelings
As sufferers of anxiety or OCD, we may experience physical symptoms that result from long-term stress/anxiety (dizziness, aches, fatigue, depersonalization, headaches, gastrointestinal issues, heart palpitations, fearful thoughts, and many more), and we also experience the immediate physical symptoms that arise when our anxiety is triggered (faster heart rate, faster respiration, feelings of panic).
Natural reactions to these uncomfortable physical symptoms can include trying to avoid them, trying to control them, trying to distract ourselves from them, and being distressed over them. The physical symptoms that we experience when we are anxious can become what we actually fear and try to avoid. Though we think that certain situations cause us fear, it can actually be the way those situations make us feel that we fear. Therefore, when we can accept how we feel when anxious, then we can learn to tolerate the situations that trigger us.
Dr. Claire Weekes, a sufferer of panic disorder who became an anxiety and panic guru, encouraged individuals to face their symptoms rather than try to shrink away from them. Weekes said that facing means “not shying away” from symptoms “for fear of making them worse”. Rather than shrink away from the uncomfortable symptoms of anxiety, we want to learn to look at them directly and bring our awareness to them. Through this process, we will disarm our symptoms of anxiety. In time, they will no longer cause us alarm, and then they will diminish altogether.
Mindful Awareness as a Tool for Anxiety and OCD Recovery
Mindful awareness is a very important tool to develop when working toward recovery from anxiety and OCD. When we are experiencing intense anxiety, our thoughts can be so loud and the physical sensations in our bodies can be so uncomfortable. Mindful awareness can help us to detach from these thoughts and feelings. We cannot stop the thoughts from coming, and we cannot stop our body’s physical reactions to fear; however, we can try to step back from these thoughts and feelings by becoming the awareness that observes them.
What Is Awareness?
- We have thoughts that go through our mind
- We have feelings that go throughout our bodies
- We have awareness, which can step back and observe these thoughts and feelings
The Impartial Observer
One way to practice mindful awareness is to try to become an impartial observer of our thoughts and feelings. Do not judge your thoughts or feelings, but try to adopt a stance of curiosity as the anxious thoughts and feelings present themselves. Become a scientist of your own experience in this world: observe, without judgement, what it is like to be you and live in your body. Though it can be very uncomfortable to more fully bring our awareness to intense anxious thoughts and physical sensations, this is how we face our fear and eventually disarm it.
Strengthening the Impartial Observer
Being able to shift into the mode of mindful awareness will help you to face and accept your symptoms of anxiety because you will be able to create some distance between yourself and your symptoms. We can strengthen our mindful awareness skills through practice. You can practice bringing mindful awareness to your external experience or your internal experience.
External Experience: Engage One of Your Five Senses
To practice bringing mindful awareness to your external experience, engage one of your five senses. For example, pick an item to look at. Try to look at it as though you were an alien from outer space and had never seen such a thing before. Study the object with your eyes. You could also engage the sense of touch by closing your eyes and feeling a certain item. Bring your attention to each aspect of the item you are touching. You could also close your eyes and bring your awareness to all of the noises you can perceive. When you allow yourself to bring your awareness to an external environment, through one of your five senses, you are practicing non-judgmental awareness.
Internal Experience: Body Scan
One simple way to practice internal mindful awareness is through a body scan. To do a body scan, sit or lie down comfortably and allow your muscles to relax. Close your eyes. Bring your awareness to any sensations you feel in your body. Do you notice any tension anywhere? If so, note it, and invite that part of your body to relax. Do you notice any other sensations? Allow those sensations and any other sensations to be there. Just notice them by bringing your awareness to them.
Meditation
Meditation is another practice that can strengthen your mindful awareness muscles. When you meditate, you are practicing nonjudgmental awareness. It is the same kind of awareness that you will want to engage to observe the uncomfortable anxious thoughts and feelings that you experience.
I recommend guided meditation for beginners (or for people with some experience). There are many guided meditation options. I enjoy guided meditations by Andrew Johnson, which can be found in the app store. Guided meditations can help you relax and get into a state of mindful awareness.
Mindfulness, a Tool for Life
Anxiety and OCD can cause much distress and negatively impact quality of life. The good news is you can learn mindful awareness skills to help you move toward what you fear, and then disarm it. In time, the things that once triggered you greatly will no longer bother you. Mindfulness is an extraordinary tool that can help on this path to recovery. As you develop this tool, you can use it for other stressors and anxieties that will arise. This journey can help you become stronger and more at peace than ever before!
