Caring for Anxiety with Robert Strock

This six-part series is designed to focus on feelings of anxiety. You will learn unique methods to respond to your anxiety and to develop the necessary self-compassion to care for yourself as you are. This approach may sound simple, but it can be transformational when practiced daily. Recognizing and accepting anxiety will allow us to live our lives more courageously and confidently.

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Episode 120 Summary

Welcome to part one of our six-part series in managing anxiety. Being gently aware of your anxiety is a powerful starting point. Inquire into your heart, seeking a place in your thoughts that nurtures self-care; it’s truly invaluable. Amidst the anxiety, seek out thoughts that affirm, “Of course, I want to care for myself. Of course, I want to treat myself kindly.” Bringing awareness to your anxiety while nurturing a desire to care for yourself is truly magical.

Reflect on whether you extend care to your anxiety when you’re mindful of it, recognizing that self-care often slips your mind during anxious moments and can provide significant support. It marks a breakthrough moment that propels you toward thoughts, attitudes, and actions that will uplift and sustain you.

Episode 121 Summary

In this second part of our series of six guided meditations on caring for our anxiety, we take the next step. After we are aware of our anxiety, we are shown how to guide ourselves to develop the capacity to find our intention to care for ourselves while we are anxious. We often ignore anxiety or treat it like it’s the only problem, judging or even suppressing it. This may sound simple as you think about it, but we see how transformational it becomes when we can practice it in our own lives. Recognizing and accepting anxiety will allow us to be more courageous and confident.

Episode 122 Summary

As we continue to evolve with our capacity to care for our anxiety, this third part reviews the first two steps: 1) Being aware of the anxiety as it occurs and that the awareness is even-tempered, and 2) Focusing on our capacity to find a place inside that really wants to care for ourselves while we’re anxious. This instinct is supported to develop in the meditation while the anxiety is present; it’s the true beginning to move from just suffering with this feeling toward a part of our wisdom that wants to care.

In this episode, we will take it a step further—as is the case with each episode—to include one more small but essential element. Today, we learn the expansion of welcoming the presence of our anxiety, which prepares us to open our heart and mind to be like hands reaching toward this challenging feeling with an embrace. It's a symbolic hug that allows us to support anxiety while allowing it to be “as it is” without trying to change it. This characteristic is a significant act of self-compassion.

Episode 123 Summary

In part four, we learn how to open our heart and mind to communicate with our anxiety so that it occurs and converses in a positive, welcoming way and provides guidance. This has significant importance because we become more effective in relating to our anxiety in different ways depending on the circumstances we are in. This can be very beneficial since it can change our conversation when we are alone or with people of different depths. What we need to hear is different depending on who we are with, the degree and intensity of the anxiety, and what our options are—to be alone or together with certain people. The wisdom of recognizing the uniqueness of each conversation is an important realization since we always take into consideration the unique circumstances each time our anxiety arises. We’ve taken another vital step to deepen our capacity to care at these critical times.

Episode 124 Summary

Welcome to part five, which will significantly enhance your journey in managing anxiety by having the Introspective Guides as a welcome resource. As you listen to this guided meditation now and afterward, these guides can help you identify your most significant needs while anxious. You will also be further equipped to zero in on how to best care for yourself during this vital time. It may be something like expressing gentleness, acceptance, trust, resiliency, or whichever need you believe is most required to be expressed, considering the circumstances you are facing. It is a great advantage to know what your greatest need(s) is when anxiety is no longer a monopoly, and it is clear that you have a lucid way of advocating for yourself.

Episode 125 Summary

In part 6 in our final episode on managing anxiety, you will learn to bring together your heart and wisdom. This will allow you to hear the words or questions you most need to respond to while bringing your tone of voice inwardly. This will help soothe you. It may be a tone of tenderness, courage, or ease at any point in time. Only you will be the one to determine what your wisdom most wants to convey and also what tone or quality you wish to activate in your heart. This combination, along with all of the previous steps, will set you up for life to know how to really care for yourself while you’re anxious within the privacy of your own being. You will also see how helpful it is to ask: “How can I best bring my heart and wisdom to the anxiety I’m feeling now?” Just asking the question itself brings a certain amount of peace since it clarifies that you not only feel anxious but also have the capacity to respond in a way that will bring out the best in you.

It is clear that an intellectual understanding isn’t enough, and it requires implementing these steps each time you feel anxious and need self-support and self-compassion. This episode clarifies that ongoing practice is necessary to become your own guide and master of how you respond to your anxiety. Practicing this several times doesn’t guarantee that you’ll care for yourself in the future; you need to keep showing up for yourself on a regular basis.

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Caring for Anxiety

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