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Shifting Old Views to Understand Anxiety and Support Well Being
- Elke Scholz
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Welcome to Healing From Within I am your host Sheryl Glick Reiki Master Energy Teacher and author of the newest book in a trilogy A New Life Awaits Spirit Guided Insights to Support Global Awakening which share stories and messages from Spirit that show us our challenges are often not economic political or societal but a disconnect from our true being or soul wisdom. In today’s show I welcome Elke Scholz author of Anxiety Warrior who will help us understand the nature of anxiety fear- based energy depression that leads to procrastination feeling unwell and holding us back from creating the happy purposeful life we all desire.
Listeners of Healing From Within well know my introspective guests and I share intimate stories of discovering we are indeed more than our physical bodies and the everyday problems that bring fear and worry into our thinking process. By discovering more about ourselves and the personal power we possess we can deal with past trauma fear that creates anxiety and lower the level of discomfort in mind body or spirit to manageable levels so we can feel and respond differently to any troublesome event.
In today’s episode of Healing From Within Elke Scholz will share strategies and exercises and the thoughts of five contributors who share her passion to empower people to realize their inner strengths and to help deal with the trauma and stress of life. Dr. Scholz will guide you to go from feeling like a victim of anxiety to an empowered warrior over it. Along with several other practitioners, she supplies readers with the tools to deal with trauma, stress, overcoming fear, and creating a healthy more resilient way to look at life and all situations.
When Elke is asked to think back to her childhood and remember a person place or event that may have suggested to her or others around her the interests work lifestyle she might embrace as an adult, she describes her childhood and writes, “I have had anxiety all my life, but I did not always know it. As a child I had migraines, tummy aches, and flu-ish feelings so often that I had to miss school. My mom believed me, however my dad did not think I was truly sick. Often, I would be sick before a test or presentation. I also would cry easily in class if teachers raised their voice, even when it was not directed at me. I remember as a teen feeling angry hopeless misunderstood and very alone, until I met my two very special teachers, Mrs. Yeo and my creative English Teacher and Mr. Hodwitz my Drama teacher. They saved my life. After their classes I felt I would be okay in the worlds.”
Elke goes on to describe what anxiety is and how can we start a checklist of the things that trigger a person’s anxiety. Anxiety is part of the human spectrum of feelings. Anxiety can be a gift or a clue notifying us that we need to pay attention to something that perhaps is amiss. However, we can have a life where anxiety does not control our lives, our decisions and our choices. What does a life managing anxiety feel like? It feels empowering. It feels like I have a choice. It feels like I can. It feels like I have a right to be happy. It feels like I am able. And it feels like I am worthy of thriving.
Elke writes that studies suggest that our anxiety level is generally higher than it was 30 years ago and it’s starting earlier in life. Elke uses a scale of 0 to 10 for a useful check in scale. By giving your anxiety a number sometimes it is easier to examine. Zero is no disturbance, so at 0 you are calm settled and relaxed. As the anxiety grows your numbers get higher. For example, at 1 you might feel a little jittery or nervous, maybe even excited, and that might be a 2 or 3 and is very manageable. However, when you reach 4 you might want to use the strategies you will learn here because you don’t want to go higher as it could escalate and overwhelm you quickly at this point. At a 10 you might have heart pain, labored breathing, nausea and so on. The scale will be different for every person but what is important is you are aware of the feelings in your body and use tools to maintain your equilibrium so the anxiety doesn’t get out of hand.
Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, an unease, typically about an imminent event or a certain outcome. Feelings of concern, apprehension unease fearfulness disquiet agitation angst tension twitchiness nervousness. Anxiety is mostly felt in anticipation of something happening.
Fear is different than anxiety. Fear is something you feel when you are threatened, while anxiety is being afraid in anticipation of something happening. They both have the same physiological response in the body. Fear is when you are in the woods and a bear is coming after you. You are afraid and must make a decision to run or take cover. Fear is an important emotion that has kept the human species alive. Anxiety is when you anticipate that a bear may come after you.
Some of the manifestations of anxiety are butterflies in the stomach, slight curled toes, shaking, stiff neck, sore back, indigestion, fidgeting, picking, nail biting, hair pulling, restlessness, increased heart rate, sweating, flushed cheeks, hives, nausea, stomach ache, headaches, migraines, weight changes, tension, stress, fatigue, exhaustion, busy mind, (OCD) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, agitation, clenched teeth, teeth grinding, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) chest pains, shortness of breath, lack of concentration etc. Anxiety has many different layers and degrees of intensity. The more you become aware of these layers the greater your ability to change or manage them.
Elke tells us, depression as defined by the Mayo Clinic, is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. A mood disorder is a general emotional state or mood that is distorted or inconsistent with your circumstance. Here is an example: At different times in our lives, we may suffer from grief and sadness. People with mood disorders suffer for longer periods of time and it is helpful to seek professional help. Depression and anxiety can occur together.
We can learn to recognize body sensations that are clues to the actions we take or don’t take. Not all types of anxiety qualify as an anxiety disorder. It may feel very uncomfortable unbearable and when unmanageable, very depressing. However, anxiety that disrupts the quality of life is problematic when it stops you from doing things you love, accepting a job you want, or fulfilling to a dream you have. Even though different categories of anxiety have names, anxiety can be layered. If anxiety is stopping you from functioning well seek professional help. No matter what type of anxiety you’re dealing with anxiety can be managed and help deal with the body sensations you are experiencing.
Anxiety can be managed by the following strategies:
Explore and understand the possibility of a specific type of anxiety
Accept your anxiety as a gift a signal an opportunity or message
Identify and understand the causes triggers and feelings for your anxiety
Use the scale 0 to 10 to identify the intensity of your anxiety
Know your limits (sleep hunger amount and type of stressors)
Perhaps break down your anxiety into smaller layers
Manage the easy layers first, right away.
Change your lifestyle to lower the anxiety
Practice strategies
Create you own daily routine and practice it daily, especially when you feel pleasant
The two words to remember are ”AWARENESS” and “PRACTICE.”
Listening to your body’s sensations can take many forms. It may involve sensations, images visions as well as emotions. Body functioning is a way of listening to your body and appreciating your body remembers everything, is programmed for survival and is constantly attempting to communicate to you what it requires. We can trust our body and brain to maintain our temperature and if something is wrong we start to feel unwell. As we grew older judgment pressure criticism intimidation and negation may have taught us to discredit the feelings of the body or to judge them as wrong or unimportant and thus question them or disregard them.
We can gain mastery over our minds and begin to break down beliefs or habits developed in childhood that limit our success later in life, by listening to our Inner voice which share the many layers of possibilities, memories, habits, love and fear that are influencing that inner subconscious system of guidance. To strengthen that inner voice and inner understanding begin to notice when you feel lighter or heavier, constricted or elated. Ever watch a bird soar dip and dive and catch the wind? Sometimes it’s just for the pleasure of the act no other reason. Always ask yourself Where are these feelings coming from? What options are open to me? Is this the best answer for me? Is it best for my life my family my community? These types of awareness and contemplation can help us change old patterns and dramas that replay in our lives and hold us back from releasing false beliefs and painful perhaps traumatic memories. Also consider if these feelings are coming from a place of love or a place of fear.
As Elke writes, Expressing your feelings feely by participating in the arts, music, drama, movement, visual arts and creative writing can help to discharge feelings safely and non-verbally, making for clearer thinking and calmer emotions.
It is important to learn boundaries and ways to protect ourselves. If familiar with the Eleven Layers of Anxiety it will help to learn boundaries and ways to protect ourselves.
Here are The Eleven Layers of Anxiety are:
Substances: Caffeine, sugar, alcohol and drugs
Physiological: Physiological conditions can mimic trigger or intensify anxiety. Hormone imbalance, and or thyroid imbalance can generate symptoms similar to anxiety. Being low on iron will also generate symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Reality: Is there something that needs attending to such as a pending decision multiple decisions finding a job managing finances visiting someone moving court hearings doctor’s appointments surgery. Here fear and anxiety can be useful indicators of very real issues we need to deal with.
Overstimulation: Cell phones texting computers TV gaming all within reason are useful but exceeding our limits is overwhelming leading to anxiety.
Cultural and social beliefs: A social belief is a belief that is taught as being true by parents, siblings teachers neighbors media advertising books ministers and anyone who has instilled in you a belief that you believe to be true. In reality it many not be true It may not be useful it may not be authentic for you. Our brains lock onto beliefs because we have a deep need to belong. Cultural beliefs are passed down from generation to generation and may or not be relevant as society changes.
Self -doubt: Self-doubt can be a symptom of low self-esteem. Insecurity questioning decisions as well as conflict with beliefs that cause worry and anxiety.
Perfectionism: Wanting to be right, to do everything correctly and to be perfect are other causes of much anxiety. This is a serious concept that leads to much unhappiness anxiety and creates feelings of failure.
Negative Thinking: Take a moment to reflect on the quality of your thoughts. Do you focus on mistakes flaws? Are you critical of others Do you complain a lot? You must become aware of language and how your thoughts create your reality. Changing negative thoughts to reflect higher views to reflect your dreams and goals is the key to transformation.
High sensitivity: A highly sensitive person HSP also known as a person with sensory processing sensitivity SPS is someone with hypersensitivity to external stimuli and who has a greater depth of cognitive processing and high emotional reactivity. According to Elaine Aron and colleagues’ people with high SPS comprise about 1.5$% to 20% of the population It is not a disorder and is associated with both positive and negative attitudes.
Memories: We’ve all experienced smells actions colors touches tastes and sounds that trigger wonderful memories. That’s because our long-- term memory is linked to parts of the brain that regulate our emotional and physical reactions to situations and events. But if these sensory triggers are connected to stressful situations or events, they can cause anxiety.
Traumas: If you have experienced a recent trauma processing it will take time. During this period following the event, it is natural to feel some anxiety. This anxiety should lessen over a few weeks but sometimes the brain gets backed up. Big and small traumas can get stuck When the brain cannot process the trauma, this is called post -traumatic stress.
Boundaries are established when you work with a daily practice of strategies like grounding, breathing gratitude practice, bubble shield, step back/watch pause, notice safe place meditation container, affirmations, setting mindful intentions, creating positive beliefs that work for you, singing bowl vibrations, positive movies, journaling, nature walks snowshoeing kayaking sleeping well taking naps, good nutrition, social connections especially if you are an introvert and have to make an effort to reach out, yoga massage energy group tapping and whatever brings you into the silence where you may be closer to Universal Source.
Sheryl says that to do our best and strive towards establishing boundaries and utilizing the various strategies, is a goal we must pursue. However, we must learn to be perfect is an impossibility, and perhaps, in imperfection there is a way to move forward, achieving small and large accomplishments, such as to finish a book, build a home, write a play, create new conditions for whatever success and happiness you wish to manifest.
In her new book, A New Life Awaits, Sheryl expresses it this way and writes, “I have observed people who are not only happy and fulfilled, but often courageous and dynamic and bold leaders much needed in today’s world of conflict and confusion. Their general mindset reflects virtues including empathy, the acceptance of others with genuine regard for their differences, and respect for what each of us can contribute to the world. In other words, these successful people are the antithesis to the competitive, unrelenting, and controlling drives of many of our politicians, corporate leaders, educators, and media who display a dog-eat-dog mentality. ………The focus has too long been simple “happiness.” Some people will do anything to ensure their own happiness. Happiness is however, the result of a purposeful life and a realization of our human and spiritual qualities.
We can help help those living with crippling fear and anxiety hugely exacerbated during the Covid 19 pandemic or plague racial unrest and natural disasters wreaking havoc across the country by creating realistic awareness, free of other people’s thoughts and opinions, which mastering your mind and remembering you always have a choice. You can buy into the negative aspects of this debilitation disease and time in our nation’s difficulty or purse positive thought and action. We each have well over 50,000 thoughts floating into our head each day and many are negative and repetitive, so we need to welcome which serves our highest good and discard anything that is inappropriate for our well -being. Another helpful strategy is to expand the joy space in our brains.
Several ways include:
Blessing people
Praying
Forgiveness
Sharing grace
Loving –the process of life beauty, being alive, another person, knowledge pets
Accepting the miracles of our bodies, other animals plants trees the universe the planet Earth stars.
Remembering fun things
Recalling good memories
Repeating good things
Enjoying comedy and joke Laughter
Elke tells us about the contributors to her book, Anxiety Warrior, and the main thoughts they share with readers. Ryan Brown has written about Financial Anxiety. Elke as a single mother struggled with poverty and discovering worrying about our finances can undermine our health threaten our relationships and lead us to question our self-worth wanted to share some of Ryan’s ideas about financial challenges
Ryan Brown offers 11 ways to reduce debt and free yourself from financial anxiety.
Be honest with yourself Is your problem the result of health issues a lost job or marriage Is the debt the symptom of an underlying problem. If you don’t recognize your problem, you can’t find solutions
Understand what you spend your money on.
Don’t be afraid of dealing with debt. You may want to find an advisor or company that can help you manage your debt.
Understand Your options.
Create a cash flow by saving some money Know where your money is going.
Manage your finances like a business. Make plans where a certain amount of money is spent monthly for example a electric bill and then you won’t receive a gigantic bill at the end of the year.
Pay yourself first This is the 10% rule: every time you get pais put 10% in a savings account that isn’t easy to access. Your money will grow for personal needs.
Lower credit card debt to a reasonable amount.
Avoid day to day temptation Stop carrying credit cards around and live in a cash culture. If you don’t have it in your jeans you can’t spend it.
Ask people you usually do business with if they have any suggestions on how to save money.
Be wary of easy solutions.
Other guests include Yvonne Heath, author of “Spirituality Forgotten: Finding Your Post” who shares her thought that we stay connected and our energy lives on which gives her great comfort in life and thinking about death and after death Some of the beliefs that come out of this chapter are expressed by Yvonne this way: I believe that in living a purposeful life in being the change and in making a difference We are all connected and that everyone’s well-being is everyone’s concern. She believes in laughter goodness and simplicity and in random acts of kindness and bucket filling and that we should always leave things better than we found them. She also believes it is her responsibility to become the best version of herself that she can be and that we all have value and should not judge anyone.
Sheryl thanks Dr. Elke Scholz for sharing practical and creative ways to deal with anxiety which is as we all know a debilitating obstacle that saps energy causes undue worry and stress and can lead to all manner of physical ailments as the body attempts to process all the emotional triggers and reactions that are happening at lightspeed within.
In summarizing today’s episode of Healing From Within, Elke Scholz and participant authors in book Anxiety Warrior have offered practical methods techniques and solutions to anxiety which often shows up unexpected in our lives whether regularly or once in a while and by paying attention to the feelings in our bodies we can quickly recognize changes and adjust to situations people and events causing any feelings of discomfort or stress efficiently and quickly.
Elke has helped readers discover how connection and relationships can ease anxiety and writes, acceptance, belonging and relationships help to promote a sense of safety and reduce the experience of anxiety:
Here’s how:
When we feel connected, included nurtured and loved our brains register that we are safe
Feeling safe is the opposite of feeling threatened.
Anxiety is our threat response to fear response turning on
Fostering a sense of safety is a powerful way to mitigate the fear response and reduce anxiety.
Creating opportunities to surround yourself with people who care about you, people who support you and or share common interests, tells the brain that you are safe and reduces the experience of anxiety.
Elke and Sheryl would like you to take steps towards awareness and practice by identifying your mental blocks, facing the dragons or imagined fears and realizing quite possibly you are your own worst enemy and limiting our achievements and greatest joys and moments of success by allowing these fears. Begin to make new perceptions and choices that can bring about the changes you truly desire.
I am Sheryl Glick host of Healing From Within and author of A New Life Awaits Spirit Guided Insights to Support Global Awakening which shares stories and spiritual messages that help us realize our challenges, anxieties, fears are merely a disconnect from our true being or spiritual wisdom and our infinite potential to live a brilliant life. Sheryl invites you to visit her website www.sherylglick.com to learn about the world of energy, eternal life, science, spirituality, metaphysics, psychology, medicine, healing, the arts and music and to find ways to self investigate your inner being as well as the world around you. Shows may also be heard on www.webtalkradio.net and www.dreamvisions7radio.com
