Panic and Anxiety

[abdulmajeed948]

Im dealing with severe anxiety and panic disorder.

Im afraid that I will get a heart attack.

I wish I could go back to time to change me.
Thanks

[mindful anxiety]

My friend, may I ask what things in life gives you joy and happiness?

Have you formulated a plan to change what is directly causing you to panic?

I think we panic when we get overloaded with thoughts and fears.
Its your body's way of overflowing with thoughts when you just cant make room to deal with any more.


I hope you don't mind me sharing a story that has helped me better understand my capacity for handling emotion and fear..

I was listening to a monk tell a story one day about mindfulness. They have a wonderful way of adapting stories to life in order to extract meaning.

He told about how he had this mantle in his house over the fireplace. It was empty, no idols or nick-knacks displayed. No pictures or do-dads.

Well, his mother came to visit one day and commented on how his mantle was bare and could use some items. She explained that she was going on vacation and would return with something to put on the mantle.

A few weeks later she returns with a little stuffed kangaroo. On the mantle it went! Time goes on and she goes on another trip and brings another thing for the mantle. Now the monk has two things on his mantle from good ole mom.

Well this now turns into a thing with mom and she specifically searches out to find mantle items for her son when she travels.

One day she visits her son and he has removed everything from the mantle except the last item she brought him. She asks him "where are the other things I bought for your mantle?"

The monk smiles and says "I only want to focus on one thing at a time on my mantle. I dont need it to be full to enjoy it. It was starting to fall off the wall and the items were falling off as it was overloaded so much."

The monk explained the meaning a bit further... He said to imagine a mantle in your mind.

Just like the mantle that got overloaded and eventually fell, your mind also has a limit to what it can hold. We all sometimes put too much on our mental mantle and eventually it comes crashing down.

Learning to just focus on one or two things on your mental mantle will spare you the stress of an eventual emotional avalanche.

I hope this helps..