From The Inside Out Mag.
For Personal Healing, Spiritual Growth & Development

A friend of mine asked me the other day - How do you do it? How
do you possibly do all the things that you have to do?

She was I'm guessing refering to the fact that I am raising
four kids, running a small business, writing this column, continuing my
massage practice, and doing my best to make sure my less than beautiful
apartment is at least livable for my family.

I smiled and said, "Oh, I blow a lot of things off."

Not the most intelligent of statements, I know. But quite true
actually, and healthy for me in certain ways.

I thought about it a moment, and said, "It is very important to
maintain a balance, you see. Stress, well, almost everybody has it, and
it can be motivating. But you need to know yourself well enough to see
when stress starts to become anxiety, and that is when you need to
switch something to the front burner and pay attention to it."

Let's talk about feelings for a minute, because its relevant to
the point here. I view feelings as important and fleeting. Most often
feelings cannot, and should not, be avoided, but accepted as important,
embraced, and released, so they cannot take over my day.

Stress is just a feeling. It rolls in, it rolls out. It doesn't
need to rule you, but it is incredibly useful when seen as a wave
pushing you towards whatever goal you feel you need to reach. Stress
doesn't need to hold onto any judgement of the situation. When I am
feeling stress, it indicates to me that it is time to get a move on
about things in real life that will benefit myself and others. Then I
make a list, tackle it, and feel a whole lot better. Stress rewards
discipline by going away....and allowing me to move into a feeling of
accomplishment - ahhhh. Like a nice warm bath after a long day.

When left unmanaged, stress becomes anxiety. I don't want to
assume that I know what your anxiety feels like. Mine sneaks in quietly
at first, and puts the things I have shuffled into the back of my mind
under a microscope. A big one. It starts singing - you know this should
have been done a LONG time ago. Then this knowing that something really
needs to get done is joined by the chorus of people who are potentially
going to be let down because I haven't taken care of it. The chorus of
course includes everyone else I have ever let down calling me bad names
like incapable, a dreamer, lazy or useless. IT takes about 24 hours of
this off-key chorus singing in my head for me to get into full
down-on-myself, can't-do-anything-right, what-the-hell-am-I-good-for
panic attack.
Otherwise known as anxiety.

Ick. I don't even like to venture into the memories. But there
is a point to my long and painful description. You see...I have gotten
to KNOW my anxiety. I know the tricks it plays, and I know the below
the belt shots it will throw to bring me to my knees. It is not my
enemy, however, it just is what it is.  I know the words to the song it sings.

And I have learned that even though it seems incredibly
powerful at times, it is a feeling, like any other, and I need to
accept it as important, embrace it, and let it go.

How is anxiety important? A worthy feeling? Something you would
embrace rather than run away from?

Aha! That, my friends, is the key to getting to know yourself,
and getting to love yourself better. If I did not have anxiety, it
would not have coaxed out those negative voices in my head telling me
how "bad" I am. The voice of anxiety attracted voices like it that
contribute to my dis-ease, and dis-like of my self. When I embrace
anxiety, I embrace all those voices with love, when I release them, I
know that they have no power over me.

I do let some things get put on the back burner. I need a day
to simply create the list of tasks that need to get done! But I don't
let tasks, or stress, run my day, because a large chunk of my life is
spent being mindful, and living in the moment. Learning, and growing,
and loving.

And when I hear my friend anxiety clearing its throat and
humming the first few notes of its chaotic tune I say, Oh hello, there
you are! Tell me, what is it that is troubling you? What do you want to
do today?

And I do it. My feelings are my friends you see, if I will only
let them be.

By Rebecca Twiss

Rebecca Twiss is a mother to four children and runs a single-boat charter business with her man as well as being a writer, a bodyworker, and an intuitive. 

http://www.healingtreeintuitve.com/Home_Page.html

Comments(1):

1. Great Article

   A good reminder to one and all to pay attention to your bodies it knows what it is talking about. In my fast paced day to day life your article is a good source of practical advice to prioritize and do what needs to be done but not to let myself get overwhelmed. I love it!! Thanks!

   Saturday, April 24, 2010 Terence