Dealing with Anxiety, Fear and Panic

Worrying about money, being anxious about job security, worrying about children, fearful of personal security, feeling inadequate - these are the things that occupy the normal mind. Unfortunately, psychology has proven time and time again that the normal mind is plagued by negative thought. This negativity is formed in the subconscious - that part of the mind that was inculcated with this form of negative thinking during our formative years - and is fed by the ubiquity of bad news, negative comment and the horror stories on which the mass media thrive.

We are surrounded - from within and without - by negativity.

For many, that negativity leads to anxiety - we become anxious about all the things that we don't want to befall us. Anxiety often leads to fear - again, fearful of the things that we don't want to happen. And, for some, that anxiety can lead to outright panic - and that panic often overtakes us without any prior warning.

The first thing that you need to realize is that, if you are feeling anxious, fearful or panicked, it has nothing to do with you - it is the product of an over-active personality. Your personality - the person that you think you are - is a fiction comprised of all the psychological 'snapshots' that you took during your formative years. You took snapshots of events that made an impression on you at the time and, now, your subconscious mind is using those snapshots to create what you perceive to be your reality. And, because your subconscious automatically pours your energy into these negative emotions, you generally end up proving yourself right - you were right to worry, right to be anxious, right to be fearful - your life becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Psychology tells us that we can only perceive and experience what we expect to perceive and experience. In other words, if we change our expectations, our experience of life will change. This, however, is easier said than done because, as I have already said, not only is your subconscious mind occupied by the long-term squatters of negative thought, you are surrounded by other people who are similarly minded. It is difficult to believe that life could be so different.

What you have to do is start re-building your innate ability to ignore useless, se