Refusing to fight anxiety

[rosa_j_t]

I've heard a lot of people say that if anxiety arises you can choose not to fight it, but I've never really understood what that means in practice/how I'm NOT doing that.

I've also been told again and again that deep breathing will reduce the physical symptoms of anxiety, which it does, but by doing that, am I fighting it? During recent panic attacks I've tried lying down and 'letting it happen', but maybe I wasn't doing it right because it didn't make a difference. I think maybe I was trying to slow my breathing down, and by doing that I was fighting it.

Does anyone have any advice or thoughts about this? Is it just me or does there seem to be a bit of conflicting advice here?

About 20 minutes ago I started feeling anxious, remembered the 'don't fight it' idea, and closed my eyes and said to myself/to the anxiety, "I won't fight you. I won't."

It did seem to pass, but I wonder if that was because at the moment I can 'afford' to be very anxious (in that I don't have anything I absolutely have to do this morning), so if it didn't work, and I felt more anxious, I'd have time to bring myself back down again.

[pinkdove]

hi rosa, i think you are trying too hard, if you feel anxiety creeping in, thrn try to igonore it (hard i know) but by thinking about it, you are fuelling the anxiety, i find distraction helps, and keeping busy, deep breathing is a great help, as when you are anxious you can hyperventilate, but try to practice deep breathing when you are not feeling anxious, and you will get used to slowing your breathing down, i know it is so hard, have you read clare weekes, if not, i'm sure you would find it very helpfull, all the best x

[PanchoGoz]

Ok, so you are in a war with some slag in a bar. What does she do? Shouts at you swears at you, even shoves you a bit? You can choose to walk up to her, pull her hair and get in a very painful brawl, possible ending in jail. Or, you can stand there and smile angelically at her, nod at her beautiful language, clasp your hands in a silent prayer that her crops be plentiful this coming harvest. She stands there, shoves you a bit more, and shuffles off in bemusement.
Both are fighting, but one doesn't involve voilence.
Don't dig to deep into this, at the end of the day it's a play on words like most philosphical answers, but it certainly shows you how you can beat something by laughing in its face rather than hitting it back.
Next time you feel panicy, say hi panic. Nice to see you. Nice weather isn't it? Tell youself it is only feelings, let them pass, feel them, be them, they will go.

[Mindful]

Ok, so you are in a war with some slag in a bar. What does she do? Shouts at you swears at you, even shoves you a bit? You can choose to walk up to her, pull her hair and get in a very painful brawl, possible ending in jail. Or, you can stand there and smile angelically at her, nod at her beautiful language, clasp your hands in a silent prayer that her crops be plentiful this coming harvest. She stands there, shoves you a bit more, and shuffles off in bemusement.
Both are fighting, but one doesn't involve voilence.
Don't dig to deep into this, at the end of the day it's a play on words like most philosphical answers, but it certainly shows you how you can beat something by laughing in its face rather than hitting it back.
Next time you feel panicy, say hi panic. Nice to see you. Nice weather isn't it? Tell youself it is only feelings, let them pass, feel them, be them, they will go.

LOL I love this way of looking at it.


For me Not Fighting it means letting it be.

Dont try to make it go away, thats as good as throwing petrol on the fire. Acknowledge how you feel, then tell yourself why you feel it, anxiety! Then carry on with what you are doing. It will be there, sometimes very intense, other times not so much, either way its ok, its just a feeling. Over time if you truly accept it as feelings and thoughts caused by anxiety you will lose any fear of it. Thats when you find yourself almost forgetting about it and if it does rear its ugly head you really arent fussed.