How to treat anxiety? For many of us, serene living is our ideal. Unfortunately, this is not our reality. In fact, on a day-to-day basis, we often feel anxious. Anxious at work, anxious at home, anxious about the present and the future… That’s why I’d like to share 6 tips with you.

1 – Accept the unexpected, accidents, illness and even death to cure anxiety

Today, we live as if we could control everything. We can’t stand the unexpected and we resist illness, not to mention death, which we completely deny.

In fact, we live as if we were all-powerful and immortal. Yet deep down, we’re anxious about everything. All we think about is accidents, illness, everything that could go wrong…

Let’s take a deep breath.

There are things we can control: the way we move, eat, talk and think. But there are some things that depend partly or totally on others: the way we’re spoken to, what people think of us, what we’re given…

No matter how kind we are, others may not react the way we’d like them to, or give us what we’d like to receive.

And then there are all those things that don’t depend on us at all: accidents, bad weather, illness and death.

These events make us anxious. And yet, they are completely natural events. After all, we were born to die.

I know that reading it this way can make us want to revolt, or on the contrary, paralyze us. But life is like that: it gives and then takes away.

“Although I am of the nature to die and there is no way to escape death, I don’t need to fear death. Death is natural and normal and makes way for new life” – Thich Nhat Hanh

How to cure anxiety? By learning to accept!

Stop feeding your anxiety by refusing to let things happen that are out of your control. Lift your head, breathe and accept.

When you feel anxious, ask yourself: does what I feel anxious about depend on me or not?

2 – Cultivating the feeling that we are part of a Whole to heal anxiety

There’s a widespread belief that makes us anxious. We believe that we are alone against everyone and everything. We feel we have to fight for everything and about everything.

How do we cure anxiety? By acknowledging and cultivating the belief that we are part of a Whole, that within us shines a divine light that connects us to the Universe.

Some will raise their eyebrows, be skeptical or even get angry. But aren’t you tired of fighting? Aren’t you tired of feeling alone?

This belief that we’re alone against everyone, that we have to fight, is just that – a belief. A belief inherited from our parents, teachers or culture. We can choose to think differently today.

It’s a choice, nothing more, nothing less. A choice you’ll have to make every day.

Close your eyes and imagine thinking differently, accepting and cultivating the belief that you are part of a Whole. How would you live your life? What would you do differently?

Being part of a Whole, harboring a divine light within you, can you see how different you’d be? You wouldn’t think the same, you wouldn’t think bad things about yourself and others, you’d be benevolent and confident. What’s more, you wouldn’t act the same. You’d pay attention to your actions so that they benefit you and others. You’d eat better, take better care of yourself and those around you.

How can you cure your anxiety? By living each day, each minute, as if we were part of the Whole.

We would no longer waste our time being anxious, being selfish. No, we’d take the time to be good, honest and serene.

3 – Detach yourself from the result and concentrate on the action

One thing that makes us very anxious is when we think about the outcome of something.

Indeed, when we do something, we usually have a lot of expectations. For example, when we speak in public, we want others to find us interesting, intelligent or funny. Or when we study, we want to graduate.

What happens the whole time we’re preparing our speech, speaking or revising? We’re anxious.

How do we cure anxiety? By detaching ourselves from the result. In other words, by doing things for the sake of doing things.

When we speak in public, speak in public, when we study, study. Let’s apply ourselves to doing things well, doing them from the heart. Indeed, thinking too much about the result prevents us from finding joy in our actions, because anxiety devours us.

We’re not machines for achieving goals, and we have the right to enjoy our efforts and progress. Let’s stop putting conditions on our happiness: “I’ll be happy when others like the way I express myself, or when I graduate…”.

How do you treat anxiety? By concentrating on what you’re doing, doing it from the heart, and stopping imagining what you’ll get out of it.

4 – Review your outlook to cure anxiety

Why is it that in the same situation, some people will be sad, others angry or still others amused? Quite simply, because how we feel depends on how we interpret reality.

This is exactly what happens when we’re anxious. We interpret a situation or an event in such a way as to feel anxious.

How can we treat anxiety? By changing the way we see things.

I invite you to list all the things that make you anxious: events, situations, relationships. Take the time to observe why you feel anxious. Then ask yourself how you could change your way of seeing things to feel something other than anxiety.

Let’s understand that it’s normal to be anxious, because nothing is immutable, nothing belongs to us. Yes, we can lose everything at any time, even our lives.

What can we do then? Enjoy it, savor it, say thank you for everything we already have. Change your way of seeing things, don’t think that everything is owed to you, that everything is normal. In fact, everything is a gift.

Far from being fatalistic and depressing, this new way of looking at things will invite magic into your everyday life.

5 – How to treat anxiety? By paying attention to your desires

To have desires is human. We all want something. Unfortunately, it can be dangerous when we don’t want the right things.

By the right things, I mean things that depend on us. We may want to play more sports, speak better, get up earlier…

Desiring something is dangerous when that something doesn’t depend on us. We want a relationship to last a lifetime. Yet in a relationship, there are two of us, and the other is free to leave whenever he or she pleases. We want to live in a particular city forever, but life may lead us to move.

In fact, when you think about it, all our desires are in vain, because it’s rare that everything depends on us. For example, we want to get up in the morning, but our alarm clock may break during the night… In the end, the key is to wish for what’s happening to happen…

How can we cure anxiety? By learning to let go of our desires and to desire what’s happening to us.

This is no easy task for us, as beings with hearts and minds who desire so many things. That’s why it’s important to regularly take stock of our desires and our situation, so as not to harbor anxiety and frustration.

6 – Sort out your habits to treat anxiety

All too often, we maintain our anxiety through bad habits. We watch the bad news several times a day, we eat too much, we don’t exercise enough, we lock ourselves up at home, we have toxic relationships…

How can we cure anxiety? By freeing ourselves from bad habits.

How can we do this? Can you take stock of what you do during the day and even the week? List absolutely everything. Then look at the actions that are good for you and those that aren’t. See how you can do more of the things that are good for you. See how you can do more of what’s good for you and less of what’s not.

Remember that to free yourself from bad habits, you need to do it one day at a time. All too often, when we want to break a habit or start a new one, we set ourselves a 30-day challenge. But if we’re unfortunate enough to miss a day, we question everything and give up.

Every day is a victory. Savour it. And renew your desire to have more and more beautiful habits that keep you away from anxiety every day!

How can you treat anxiety by applying these 6 tips?

These 6 tips may seem more or less obscure to you, and above all, you may be wondering how to apply them concretely on a daily basis.

I invite you to choose one of the six tips and summarize it in one or two sentences. Then write these one or two sentences on a piece of paper. Read it every day.

Anxiety isn’t something you can cure overnight, and I’m not even sure it can be cured 100% of the time. It’s totally human to worry about illness, death, accidents and the unexpected. Don’t feel guilty about it.

On the other hand, it’s up to us not to feed our anxiety. Yes, we feel anxiety, but what are we going to do about it now? Let’s not let it consume us, let’s take action to feel better.

When you feel anxious, breathe and put words to your anxiety: why are you anxious, what do you need? And do something to feel better right away. Don’t wait!

Find out more:

I invite you to read these 2 complementary articles:

Discover How to find inner peace: 10 thoughts that do good
Discover How to deal with anxiety: 6 tips for calming down

I recommend this inspiring book:

Dare: The New Way to End Anxiety and Stop Panic Attacks by Barry McDonagh

The author offers a refreshing approach to treating anxiety, guiding you to face and overcome your fears. The book introduces the DARE (Diffuse, Allow, Run Towards, Engage) technique to help you reframe your relationship with anxiety. McDonagh offers practical strategies for moving from an avoidance mindset to one of acceptance, enabling you to face and manage anxiety proactively and, ultimately, to have a more fulfilling, anxiety-free life.

Have hope and faith that you can heal from anxiety. It’s simply a matter of learning to do everyday things even if you don’t like how they make you feel, and reteaching your brain that these activities aren’t dangerous. It’s simply your nervous system overreacting because it’s sensitized. I’ve seen many people improve quickly with this program, within weeks or months. Long-lasting results, take longer, a year or more, but you can expect to feel better and better throughout this journey, so that when you look back, you always see that you’re making progress.

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you liked it, let me know in the comments.

Take care of yourself