FH Anxiety or Fears

Something to think about, Something to do

What is anxiety?

* Anxiety is a NATURAL, useful and healthy response to stressful situations.
* Anxiety puts us on the alert and can help us find strength and inner resources to cope with difficult situations.
* Anxiety is a sense of worry and concern which is very real and often not linked to anything specific.

Signs of growing Anxiety

* Smoke and drinking more
* Eating a lot more or a lot less
* Sleeping badly
* Behaving nervously
* Feeling continually tense and on edge
* Finding it difficult to think clearly or make decisions
* Acting aggressively with family or friends.

How can I lower my anxiety?

* We need to WANT to do something about it. We are better to choose a plan of action and resolve to see it through.
* Learn to RELAX. Relaxing is a skill that needs to be learned and practised, e.g.
* Meditation, prayer, walking. Set aside an hour or two each day to do this.
* Eat a balanced diet of good nourishing food on a regular basis.
* Exercise regularly
* Have a decent holiday when your holiday time comes around. Plan your holiday time in advance.
* Do a workshop in Assertiveness Training to help build your confidence and establish a positive approach to life
* Talk about your anxiety with someone you trust
* Join or start a group for mutual sharing and support
* Find a professional person who can assist you to free yourself from the causes of your anxiety and enable you to live more fully and freely.

Anxiety = an abrasion of the Spirit within

Say to yourself
"True happiness is now moving towards me, as I decide to move towards it, I am being peaceful."

A REFLECTION FROM MATTHEW’S GOSPEL

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.

Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

Look to the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not more valuable than they?

Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to his life?