Panic Attacks and Fearful Thoughts

Do ever suffer from a fearful thought you can't seem to be rid of?

Having visited my site on panic attacks I can almost imagine what your fear might be.

Maybe it's a fear of :

• an illness
• fainting in public
• a breathing problem
• or a fear of losing control

My name is Joe Barry and I have successfully taught scores of people how to be free of anxiety and panic attacks through my course Panic Away. What ever your fear is I want to share with you some tips and techniques, over the next four days that will not only help you snap out of these fears but also for reducing your overall anxiety significantly.

You will find some interesting things here, that will come in very useful for you on a day to day basis.

I have worked with many people who continually worry about some issue. For example many fear for their health and even though their doctors have given them the all clear they still feel powerless to stop the repetitive worrying thoughts! So what can be done for people who suffer from fearful thoughts?

To begin lets look at how a fearful thought is powered, and then how to disempower it quickly.

Say for example you are going about your daily business when a scary thought enters your mind. Maybe you fear you are about to have an anxiety attack? Maybe it's a thought about your health?

Whatever the fear the pattern that follows is usually predictable. You instantly feel a knot in your stomach as you contemplate the thought and you get sucked into a repetitive thinking pattern of fear. You may even continue to spend the rest of your day thinking about that fear. It can become very obsessive and stop you concentrating on whatever is at hand.

SO how can you eliminate these unwanted anxious thoughts?

When you begin to obsess and worry about an issue it is very important not to force the thoughts away -let them in, they are harmless. The more comfortable you can become with them the better. These thoughts will never go away completely but what can change, is your reaction to them.

Everybody experiences fleeting thoughts that many would consider scary or crazy. The difference between most people and somebody who gets over anxiously caught up in them, is that the average person sees them for exactly what they are - Just thoughts -and casually ignores them.

So lets take an example :

You are enjoying the way your day is going but then all of sudden a fearful thought comes to mind.

Traditionally you would have reacted with anxiety and tried to put that thought out of your mind - This time however say :

"That's an interesting idea -I could worry about that but this time I'm going to do something different- I'm not going to react to it but I'm also not going to try and stop it either. I'm just going to watch the thought"

Then the thought comes again, and once again you do exactly the same.As if you were observing a cloud passing overhead, you simply watch it as it passes by. No judgment. Just observe

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Just watch it, then go about your daily business. See it for what it is, one of the thousands of fleeting sane and insane thoughts every one of us experiences daily.

For some it helps to imagine the thoughts as if you are watching them on a large cinema screen and the thoughts are projected out in front of you. You watch them but you don't react to them.

Now comes the real trick to turning this situation to your advantage. When things are going well and you are not worrying about anything in particular, actually invite one of your more regular fearful thoughts in!. Call the fear to you -say you just want it to come close to observe- again sit back and examine it.

It may seem like the last thing you would wish to bring upon yourself as you don't particularly enjoy the thoughts but this approach can be very empowering. You are now calling the shots this time - You actually invited the issue in. This immediately disempowers the thing you are worrying about.

The fear exists when we pull against the thoughts like in a tug of war. It is the mental struggle that creates the tension. It is the mental conflict of saying "I don't want to think about this" "I don't like that thought- I want it to go away" that causes us the anxiety and stress.

Invite them in willingly and you suddenly place yourself in a unique position of control that you may never felt you had before. You are no longer a victim of fearful thinking but a decision maker in what you will or will not be concerned about.

Use this technique for any thought that you find yourself worrying about. It will disempower it immediately and leave you feeling in control.

As with every technique there is always a level of practice involved in the beginning. Initially you may fall into the trap of getting anxious about the issue you are thinking about but keep at it. Practice inviting the fear and you will quickly see how less impacting those fearful thoughts become. The internal battle is over as you no longer struggle to resist the thought and suddenly you are free.

Author: Joe Barry
Website: http://www.panicportal.com/