Bill
30-07-08, 03:07
Picture walking towards a door. When you reach the door you take hold of the handle and slowly turn it. As the door opens, you observe a table standing in the middle of a room which is totally covered with beautiful scented flowers.
After standing a while to admire them, you leave, closing the door behind you.
However, you can't stop the memory of them so the next day you can't resist going back to view them once more. Still this isn't enough and every day thereafter you feel drawn to this room to see them again and again.
One day though, you walk up to the door just as you have countless time before but when you open the door, instead of seeing the flowers, you are suddenly confronted by a swarm of bees that begin to attack you.
You run as fast you can to escape them because you feel so terrified of them.
This experience though has had such a frightening effect, that every time you even just think about going back to see the flowers, you start feeling panicky because all you can now think of are the swarm of bees and the fear you felt rather than the beautiful scented flowers you once couldn't resist seeing.
However, you now also begin to worry about the anxious symptoms you experienced. You begin to convince yourself that these feelings aren't just because of fear but that there must be something seriously wrong with you. You now feel incapable of even attempting to get out of the house.
One day though, you pluck up the courage to go back to this room but you still feel very fearful that the bees might still be there waiting for you but you also now fear experiencing the fear and the symptoms the fear produced . However, upon opening the door, the flowers are once more there to be admired but instead of being able to enjoy them, you suddenly begin to feel panicky and have to run out again even though there are no bees to be seen.
Every time thereafter you attempt to see these flowers, you still feel forced to run because of the panicky feelings you still feel.
Only after a long period of time once you've convinced yourself that the bees really aren't coming back, are you then able to enter this room as before to admire the flowers without feeling fear of the bees or the fearful symptoms they produced and therefore without the need of having to escape.
Now picture the room of flowers as life before anxiety.
The bees as too much stress.
The fear that creates the symptoms that too much stress produce.
The health fears that the symptoms produce.
The memory of feeling fear that now creates worry.
The worry that now creates memories which induces the same panicky symptoms.
How wiping the memory can help get us back to where we were before our first panic attack.:hugs:
Bear in mind though that you cannot expect to extinguish a frying pan fire unless you turn the gas off first! Where there is too much stress, panics will still exist so only by finding ways to reduce stress can we effectively begin to overcome panics.:hugs:
After standing a while to admire them, you leave, closing the door behind you.
However, you can't stop the memory of them so the next day you can't resist going back to view them once more. Still this isn't enough and every day thereafter you feel drawn to this room to see them again and again.
One day though, you walk up to the door just as you have countless time before but when you open the door, instead of seeing the flowers, you are suddenly confronted by a swarm of bees that begin to attack you.
You run as fast you can to escape them because you feel so terrified of them.
This experience though has had such a frightening effect, that every time you even just think about going back to see the flowers, you start feeling panicky because all you can now think of are the swarm of bees and the fear you felt rather than the beautiful scented flowers you once couldn't resist seeing.
However, you now also begin to worry about the anxious symptoms you experienced. You begin to convince yourself that these feelings aren't just because of fear but that there must be something seriously wrong with you. You now feel incapable of even attempting to get out of the house.
One day though, you pluck up the courage to go back to this room but you still feel very fearful that the bees might still be there waiting for you but you also now fear experiencing the fear and the symptoms the fear produced . However, upon opening the door, the flowers are once more there to be admired but instead of being able to enjoy them, you suddenly begin to feel panicky and have to run out again even though there are no bees to be seen.
Every time thereafter you attempt to see these flowers, you still feel forced to run because of the panicky feelings you still feel.
Only after a long period of time once you've convinced yourself that the bees really aren't coming back, are you then able to enter this room as before to admire the flowers without feeling fear of the bees or the fearful symptoms they produced and therefore without the need of having to escape.
Now picture the room of flowers as life before anxiety.
The bees as too much stress.
The fear that creates the symptoms that too much stress produce.
The health fears that the symptoms produce.
The memory of feeling fear that now creates worry.
The worry that now creates memories which induces the same panicky symptoms.
How wiping the memory can help get us back to where we were before our first panic attack.:hugs:
Bear in mind though that you cannot expect to extinguish a frying pan fire unless you turn the gas off first! Where there is too much stress, panics will still exist so only by finding ways to reduce stress can we effectively begin to overcome panics.:hugs: