Stress & Anxiety Meditation To Address Negative Thoughts

Feeling overwhelmed by worry or anxiety about the future? Having constant, intrusive thoughts about something that may (or may not) happen? Try this "From Past to Positive" 6-minute stress and anxiety meditation to help ease negative thoughts or worries. Studies show practicing exercises like these daily -- particularly when feeling strong worry or anxiety -- can help us manage our emotions (Gross, 2010), and experience less anger and more positive emotions (Mauss et al., 2007).

Transcript

Welcome to the From Past to Positive Six Minute Meditation. What's got you feeling worried today? What are you concerned may happen? Think about any other people who may be involved. If where it is happening is relevant, Think about that. If when is relevant, What are you worried about? And when you think about whatever you are feeling concerned about, What type of emotions are you feeling? And depending on where you are in your healing journey, As you assess your current level of emotion, You may encounter some sensations in your body. Maybe your heart is beating faster. Maybe you're getting warmer. You're experiencing tension as you think about this worry. But if not, What feelings do you experience when you are concerned about this thing potentially happening? And when you think about the idea of this possibly happening, What is your mind telling you about how that would affect your future? So let's say I'm really feeling nervous about bombing a public speech. How would I be worried about that affecting my future if I do bomb the speech? So now I invite you to take a break from thinking about that potential stressor and try to connect with a memory of who you were five years ago this month. Where were you living? What were you doing in your spare time? What were you doing for work or how was your business doing? And who are the important people in your life? Just connect with the details of where you were five years ago this month. Pause this if you need to. But as you think about what your life was like five years ago this month, Try to remember what types of things were stressing you on a day-to-day basis. What were you worried or concerned about? What kinds of things were you afraid of happening then? What were your main sources of day-to-day stress? Not necessarily any overarching huge intense stressors but what were your day-to-day stressors? What were you concerned about? Did you have a plumbing problem in your home? Were you onboarding a new client? Were you studying for a big exam? Were you bored or were you overextended? What were your day-to-day stressors five years ago this month? You might notice that it's a bit difficult to picture yourself and reconnect to yourself five years ago in this particular month and if so that's normal. But if you were able to remember any stressors from your day-to-day five years ago, Are they still a part of your life today? Are they still stressing you today? What happened with those stressors? Did you resolve them? Did they resolve themselves? If so, How were they resolved? And is the outcome of those stressors still impacting your life today? So you might notice that only the most intense stressors are still impacting your life five years later if they are and even those will often feel different and feel more manageable than the way they did five years ago. And aside from any truly life-altering events, Most stressors, Even the intense ones, Tend to resolve themselves over time or we resolve them and so they don't impact our life for years. So just as the stressors from five years ago have become less relevant in your life today, Your current worries, Concerns, Stressors, Anxieties, Fears will also quite likely become much less relevant for you in the future. Always remember that perspective when you find yourself overcome by distressed thoughts or distressed feelings about your future that may or may not ever come to be. Make it a powerful day. Take care.

Reviews

Wonderful! Thank you!