The Message Anxiety Brings

This gentle guided practice allows us to calm the voices of anxiety and fear as we breathe in the peace that is yearned for. As we sit beside this anxiety and fear, we are able to see more clearly the discomforts that both bring to us. As we learn from this discomfort, we understand what it is we need to know to release the grip that anxiety and fear have had on us. Breathe in the love.

Transcript

Welcome,

And thank you for joining me for today's guided meditation as we take the time to listen to the message that anxiety brings to us.

Anxiety shows its face when you begin to think of things that have not yet happened and the door of possibilities is left wide open.

Possibilities of the good things that could happen and oh so many possibilities of what could go wrong.

Anxiety thrives on this and takes advantage of that door being open and walks right into your space and takes a seat next to fear as they both settle into your mind.

Fear and anxiety begin to chatter as if they were long time friends and at first it seems like they are making sense of their case but soon it sounds more like arguing and fighting as so many assumptions are being made of everything and anything that could happen to you,

Of everything you are afraid of happening,

Everything you don't want to have happen.

Soon this becomes all that you can hear inside of your mind as their voices get louder and louder.

Fear clutches at your heart warning you of the dangers while anxiety clutches at your chest warning you of the possibilities of danger.

Together they hold onto you causing your shoulders to tighten and your body to feel tension all over.

Together they whisper that you don't have control and their grip tightens even more.

As you have been feeling the tension inside of you grow,

Take a deep breath in and as you breathe out say the word stop.

Stop the voices.

Stop the noise.

Just simply stop.

Now is the time to allow yourself to sit in absolute silence,

To be still and focus only on your breath.

As the voices of fear and anxiety try to interrupt the silence gently put your hand on your head and your other hand on your heart and gently,

Lovingly remind them to stop.

Say I know that you are there.

I hear you.

I know you are here trying to warn me but right now I need you to stop talking.

We are going to sit together in silence for a moment and just breathe.

I do understand that I cannot control what is happening around me but at this moment I can control how I respond and at this moment I respond with stillness.

I am upgrade.

You Now take a long deep breath in and hold And then let go Take another long deep breath in counting to four Breathe in two three four and hold two three four release two three four and hold two three four Let's do that one more time breathe in two three four and hold two three four release two three four and hold two three four As you continue to breathe deeply Be mindful of what comes in with each breath And as you breathe out Be mindful of what it is that you want to release from within you If you want to feel more peace breathe in peace If you want to release tension that you've been holding on to Breathe out the tension Allow your body to relax with each breath out more and more deeply This weight that you have been carrying on your shoulders has gotten so heavy as if you were carrying a heavy backpack on your back Now imagine as you breathe in And breathe out you take this heavy backpack from off of your back And place it in front of you You then take the contents of this backpack and dump them onto the ground So that the bag is now empty And with each breath in breathe in something you want Like love or peace And as you breathe out Imagine that you are now in peace Breathing out imagine that you are placing whatever it is that you are breathing out Back into this bag Removing the attachment to your body and your energy You are physically removing it from your presence And you feel lighter and lighter And are now able to focus more on your breath As you breathe in you reach for something else Something beautiful that you yearn for Then breathing more tension out of your body And into this backpack you find more peace I breathe in love I breathe out fear I breathe in light I breathe out darkness I breathe in peace I breathe out pain I breathe in calm I breathe out frustrations I breathe in understanding I breathe out anxiousness The breath brings life It brings with it a beautiful energy Focus on what you want to hold onto and release what you want to let go of Now as we have practiced being with our breath Being mindful of what it is we want We are able to relax into our body and let go Imagine that you pick up this heavy backpack in front of you full of tension and pain And you place it further away from your body And return to the place where you can breathe in love and peace and light As you continue to breathe in love You look around to look inside of you To see what is still lingering there You see that anxiety and fear have not yet completely left your mind As they hold on hoping to get their last words in Rather than removing them from your mind just yet You walk up to them and take a seat beside them You glance at fear and then you look over at anxiety You know them so well and yet you have never really taken the time to look into them And now from this place of love you see them more clearly As you look into the face of anxiety you see it for the first time This anxiety has not come to hurt you It has come to signal a warning to you To tell you to look more closely on what your priorities are To help you consider what you really want As the voice of anxiety speaks you clench with discomfort And this discomfort is telling you that there is something in this situation that does not feel right What is it about this situation that does feel right?

That feels important?

Discomfort is giving you that answer When it feels off something is not in alignment with who you are Anxiety is the messenger bringing with it discomfort And this tells you what you don't want so that you can better understand what it is that you do want You now look over into the face of fear and your heart softens Fear sits in front of you to also protect you To keep you from making a choice that might hurt you To try to keep you safe from harm To smother you with so much protection that you aren't able to choose anything that could hurt you You reach out your arm and gently place it around anxiety And with your other arm you reach out and place it around the fear And to them you whisper softly I know the feelings you bring This anxiousness and fear I see you I hear you I understand you are here to protect me and to keep me safe Thank you for showing me what I'm afraid of I know now that my fears are teachers for me Thank you And thank you for showing me the discomfort Thank you for showing me what it is that I don't want Thank you for allowing me to fully understand what it is that I do want Thank you I appreciate you bringing these messages to me I understand now Thank you I love you I'll take it from here now I am ready to walk forward knowing what I want And as you let go of your hold on them Anxiety and fear stand up And walk out of the door of your mind And as you stand there in silence,

Love swirls around you Love fills the space where anxiety once was Love fills the space where fear once was And the strength within you grows The tightness has left your body The tension is no longer there You are surrounded with love and light and understanding All this time,

It felt as if anxiety and fear were there to hold you back and confuse you When in reality,

They are just guards standing outside protecting your inner being from harm Waiting for the moment so that they can signal their warnings to you As their chattering has stopped,

You are able to see it clearly and understand more fully Discomfort tells you what you do not want So focus on what you do want Anxiety brought you this message Breathe in what you want and breathe out what you don't want Breathe in what you want And breathe out what you don't want Breathe in what you want and breathe out what you don't want Breathe in what you want and breathe out what you don't want Breathe in love Breathe out fear Breathe in peace And breathe out pain Breathe in calm Breathe out chaos You know what you want You know what you are You are love When anxiety shows its face again,

Be mindful of what discomforts you are feeling Focus on the discomfort long enough that you better understand what it is that you don't want And then focus your energy and love on everything you do want Your life will continue to bring you what you focus on Be gentle and compassionate with yourself You are brave You are precious You have so much strength and purpose Focus on that And breathe in the love