In episode 5 of the Caring for Anxiety Series, Robert Strock invites you to explore guided meditations designed to help you manage anxiety with self-compassion and awareness. Learn to observe and respond to your anxiety, developing the capacity to care for yourself in the midst of challenging emotions. Robert provides practical steps to identify and meet your emotional needs, encouraging a compassionate approach to your anxiety. Tune in to discover how you can transform anxiety into a source of strength and connection. Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review our podcast, and explore our Introspective Guides available on our website.
Resources related to this episode
• Robert Strock Website
• Podcast Episode Video (YouTube)
• Robert’s Book, “Awareness that Heals”
• The Introspective Guides (Free Download)
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Transcript
A very warm welcome to season three of Awareness That Heals where we have progressed to be able to focus on one challenging emotion at a time. This will allow you to choose a specific emotion that you’ve had challenges with, and each one will have a progressive series of guided meditations that will allow you to go deeper and deeper into self-compassion. For me, it’s truly inspiring because each emotion has unique nuances for both self-care and responding to your environment at the same time, this is subtle and a rare skill. As all too often we don’t stay aware of how we can care for ourselves as we are. I hope that you’ll not only find it helpful, but also give you deep resources that you can internalize when the emotion is most emerging.
(01:07)
So let yourself recognize that you’re in a continuation of developing tools to be able to support yourself right now while you’re anxious. Anxiety. I am aware of you and I am this awareness that frees me from your hold on me. This awareness has the capacity to respond to you and beyond you, to wherever I am while I’m anxious, and I am sending you caring, at least in thoughts. If you can’t feel me because the anxiety is too strong, the thoughts are golden and appreciate that the hardest work is gathering the caring thoughts. That will be enough to guide you. You are the observer and also the responder, and see if you can take that in. You’re observing your anxiety and you are the one that’s capable of responding. Have greater and growing tolerance and acceptance and welcoming as well. And don’t get ahead of yourself wherever you are.
(02:36)
If you’re barely tolerating, you’re tolerating, you’re accepting, you’re welcoming. Wherever you are, recognize you can continue to develop this capacity. And now ask yourself what sentence or two would be most helpful to accept your anxiety and learn more about what you can do to grow, to be more relaxed and confident. It could be something like, I’m here to support you, to recognize that you aren’t close to all of me, and I can still respond with love and intelligence to whatever’s needed wherever I am, whether I’m by myself or whether I’m with friends. And notice what tone as you ask questions or make supportive suggestions is happening.
(03:38)
And ask yourself, what are your greatest needs? Remembering to keep observing your anxiety and care while you’re doing that. And it may be very helpful to look at the list in awareness that heals and recognize that you have so many needs that can help you. It could be welcoming, a need for welcoming. It could be tenderness. And as I’m saying, these qualities or these needs, see if you can access which one or which ones are most important for you. That’s what matters. Could be compassion, it could be strength, it could be empathy, it could be kindness. So keep asking yourself, what are the greatest needs that you have while you’re anxious? It could be, I’m going to communicate with my loved one about the anxiety itself and see the benefits of being able to do that maybe for the first time or for sure, maybe the deepest time.
(04:57)
And instead of putting yourself down like that damned anxiety, it’s you can have an attitude that is revering your capacity to reveal your anxiety. Something that very few people are able to do. I trust myself with my anxiety. See if and how much you can let that in you. You are giving yourself whatever the most important need is and reviewing the needs in your awareness and in the list to make sure that whatever you need when you’re anxious is there for you. And keep dwelling on the abundance of the needs that you’re learning about yourself that are most important. And lastly, be as appreciative as possible that you’re doing the inner work to work with your anxiety, to care for yourself, and recognizing that this is going to be of the greatest benefit for those that you love for the world. Because as you deal with your anxiety and bring your heart to it, you’re also caring for the world more and more.
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