Turn Anxiety into a Super Power

What if you knew there was a super power lurking behind your anxiety?  You would yearn to uncover it, and once you did, you would realize its potency and never view anxiety as debilitating again.  Well, I am going to introduce you to that super power.  First, I am going to hand you the key, and then we are going to use that key to unlock the super power within.

The key to unlocking this super power is knowing that, on some level, all anxiety stems from feeling governed by expectations other than your own, even if those expectations are coming from an inner critic.  To simplify it further:  Anxiety exists because there exist outcomes you feel you can’t control.

Now, your mind may be firing back at me, “That’s not true at all.”  I hear your distressed voices clamoring . . . I have an anxiety disorder. My anxiety comes out of nowhere! I am afraid of losing someone. I’m worried I won’t be able to pay my rent. I have a child with a serious illness.  I experienced a hair-raising ordeal last year.  My boss is merciless.  I have had this since I was a child.

I know.  I have been there.  I am not trivializing the gravity and incapacitation of anxiety, which feels mightier than the flesh which houses it.   I am not undermining how anxiety vacuums the vitality right out of our veins.  And, if you feel your anxiety is interfering with your ability to live a productive life, seeing a doctor is certainly a wise decision.  Nonetheless, I am saying there is a priceless gift in the midst of this unsettling feeling, and it revolves around expectations.  If, for example, you are consistently afraid of losing someone, your focus is on your inability to control that outcome.  You lose sight of the soft, joyful moment when you have that beloved one all wrapped up in your arms, because your focus is on the expectation that the universe may take them away from you.  Hence, you start to embody the expectation of loss, instead of aligning with the present laughter and lifegiving love of the moment.  When this happens, you are no longer flowing towards your desire, but imploding with the backwards current of anxiety.

Now, what about all those who suffer immensely not knowing where their anxiety stems from.  Here, there is a strong inclination to control when the veritable heart wants to flow.  We cannot flow and be controlling at the same time.  And if our focus is on something we are doing, creating, or being, there can be flow, which starves anxiety.  If our focus is on what aligns with our ideals, rather than what needs to happen to create it, we starve anxiety.  If we allow ourselves to get caught up in a buoyant idea, there is a letting go and anxiety ceases.   But, when we start to curtail our aspirations and our effervescent thoughts out of fear of what others may think, fear of getting our hopes up, or fear we won’t be able to control all the details, we are disconnecting with our authentic self which starts to build as a reverse current.  In fact, as soon as we willfully exert our analyzing brain to control every subtlety, we have lost control.  For our life is like water.  We cannot govern every particle, nor hold too much of it in our hands.  We need to see the entire ocean to appreciate its purpose in nature.   Even anger, which can build from anxious thought patterns, needs to flow towards a self-acknowledged feeling where we can preserve any message our body is trying to make us aware of.  The electricity of highly charged emotions can feel overwhelming, and it’s empowering to explore those currents via a nondestructive outlet such as writing, painting, playing an instrument, kickboxing, dancing, etc.

What about my child’s illness or my rent bill, I hear you say?  Naturally, the rent being paid is our desire, but if our focus is overwhelmed by the expectation that we can’t manage, we are creating a prison of backflowing energy.  Likewise, your child’s health is not always entirely in your hands.  Hence, our Higher Self, which operates outside the realm of ego and fear, patiently waits for us to let go and flow because that is where appreciation, insightful answers, healings, and resolutions reside.  We will never see all the fortuitous possibilities from the analytically anxious-willed brain.  There comes a breaking point when we have to recognize our willpower is far less omnipotent than the supreme intelligence of the universe, which our subconscious can link up to when we let go in an immersive act of creativity or in rapturously visualizing the optimal outcome of any situation.

To summarize anxiety in the context of our human experience, we came to this planet flowing with joy, flowing with trust, and flowing with being.  Somewhere along the line, we started to pocket experiences which did not meet our joyous expectations.  The more this happened, the more we sought to be the almighty controller.  But we never can be, and when we take this job too seriously, anxiety steps in to let us know, “Let go, I got this.”  But, seldom do any of us do this.  Most of us tighten our grip which increases our anxiety.

Those who are of faith, are usually better equipped to cast their burdens to God in prayer.  And, this immediately releases tension in the body and can restore flow.  Our fears are heard and sometimes we feel the answers we could not hear when we were busy controlling.  Often, this restores equilibrium, if it is done in a personal, fearless manner.  Likewise, meditation can soften the friction of circular chatter and restore balance, which can invite harmonious solutions or acceptance into our hearts.

Overall, anxiety is a window showing us where we are resisting flow, which is mounting because we are attached to the fear of a negative outcome.  This does not mean we should charge ahead, convincing ourselves we are flowing while ignoring fear.  In fact, when we forcibly bulldoze through, we are not cleaning up the belief we still have which is screaming, “This is not going to work out well!” This belief will bite us in the end.  Consequently, we need to honor our anxiety for letting us know –there is a part of us which does not believe in our ideal outcome.  Subconscious limiting beliefs may need to be addressed through journaling, shadow work, NLP, or Hypnosis before we can fully embrace the power of radically flowing our energy towards our desires without hitting resistance.  Hence, anxiety is showing us where and when we are not being true to our desires.  Once we realize this, we can consistently choose to focus on the uplifting emotions and images of our heart’s sparkling vision—the desired outcome—as though it were playing out in our mind and body like a scene in a movie.  This will begin to alter outcomes in our favor and gain greater momentum towards them.  This is why nearly all outstanding athletes engage in some form of visualization.

Red flags versus Anxiety:   When we begin to steadily progress towards our goal, if we get a subtle sense something is amiss, we can pivot our direction ever so slightly which may save us from a poor business deal or from driving down a dangerous alley.  Those are what we call red flags, which is our intuition keeping us on our path.  On the other hand, anxiety triggers emotions which feel like a franticness where we are held hostage by an imploding energy due to the fantasizing of our fears and limiting beliefs.  This is when we need to remember we are the captain of our own body, and we have a choice to seek some playful energy in an area of our life we already feel good about.  Then, once we regain a lighthearted openness, we can return to visualizing the ideal outcome for the situation formerly giving us those dreadful palpitations.

How is all this a key to my super power, you may ask?  Because, this endows each one of us with the psychic mastery on how to steer our life in the most fulfilling direction.  If you knew the street you were going to take to get to your destination was backed up by traffic, but you were also made aware of an ulterior flowing, scenic route of equal length –you would take the ulterior route.  That is what anxiety is.  It is the divine GPS telling you when you are in traffic.  And, you were divinely built to soar!  Hence, anxiety alerts us that too much energy is being spent on analyzing or anticipating the opposite of what we want, which will drag us into heavy traffic and way off course.  Anxiety is essentially showing us where we are resisting what our Higher Self wants us to have.

The secret to using anxiety as a super power is recognizing when we feel it by noticing when we are caught in an endless frenzied loop which can be quite analytical or quite childlike –but, neither one is leading to any resolution.  Here, we recognize our energy is being stifled.  This is the divine apparatus within showing us we have poured too much of ourselves into bracing for something we do not want.  And, before we unwillingly create it, this is when we need to halt, and give our Higher Self permission to take charge of the cockpit.  Our Higher Self or higher mind, unlike our analytical brain, will always guide us to our own personal victory.

The quickest remedy to initiate our flight into our higher mind is through play and imagination.  Imagination harnesses the hyperpower of the subconscious, which is absolutely vital for cultivating desires into full fruition.    Intensely visualizing a desired outcome with detailed imagery, sounds, and emotions utilizes the language of the subconscious mind.  Colorfully writing about how the most splendid version of a scene will play out is another extraordinary way to engage our full mind.  Once we make this visualization ritual habitual, our will does not need to spiral out of control, depleting us of energy in it its hunger to micromanage.  The more we employ our subconscious to work towards our dreams, the steadier the foundation we will have to build our castles upon.  This practice may not come easily if you are in a full flight or fight response.  In those situations, simply be kind to yourself and remember:  The first thing you want to do is let go, which means simply redirect your energy to an area where you always find ease of flow.  This area may have nothing to do with keeping your loved one around or paying the bills.  That’s okay.  You only need to choose feelings and activities which keep your energy flowing, because this enables movement towards the greater good in all areas.  If you flow when writing, write.  If you flow when you hear that song, listen.  If you are stuck in a cab and having anxiety, you can flow by expressing gratitude for those precious parts of your life which bring you great joy.  The more you unblock your energy and get it flowing in the direction of your dreams, not your dread, the sooner you will see the scintillating array of possibilities blossoming around you.  This is why anxiety is a super power.  It alerts you with a holler, “Hey, glorious soul, please look this way, not that way, before you miss the best part of your life!”