To stop stress and anxiety from arising in the first place, we must look at where those feelings are originating from. And in almost every case, the cause is thoughts and beliefs. You've probably heard the term "seeing the world through rose colored glasses". Well, with anxiety, you're seeing the world through lenses of fear. It is not situations themselves that cause stress - it is your perception of how they may affect you. Thinking of and imagining feared outcomes excessively eventually causes the body to react to the images as if they are reality, resulting in feelings of anxiety and stress. Thoughts, being the filters of perception, are the manufacturer of feelings. And the emotional quality of everything you do during your day is going to reflect those feelings that you have created with your thoughts.
Sometimes the reverse can occur, where a feeling influences thinking. A good example is a panic attack, or anytime we're afraid of an emotion. Fear of the feeling itself causes us to imagine something bad. It's for that reason that this program began with developing your ability to handle all feelings so that you don't ever have to fear them. But in most cases, the downward thought-feeling cycle usually begins with thoughts.
Do you wonder why you feel better when you're with certain people, or in certain situations? It's because you think differently in those situations. If you're with good friends that accept and appreciate you and make you think well of yourself, you're probably going to feel fine. But if you're in a "stressful situation" that poses a lot of "negative possible outcomes", you're probably going to do a lot more "what if" and "catastrophe" thinking. But you could instead be exerting a sense of control by imagining and implementing positive solutions. Why do you feel better when you're reading an inspirational book? Because it's giving you inspirational thoughts. But you can start producing your own inspirational thoughts! Why do you reach out for, or even cling to, certain people when you're feeling fearful? Because their presence or supportive attitude enables the type of thinking within you that makes you feel safe and secure. But you can do the same thing for yourself.
Whether in words, images or both, we're involved almost constantly in an inner dialog with ourselves. And to find anxiety relief we need to control the direction of this communication. Rather than continuing to blindly follow the programming we've passively accepted from un-enlightened people and experiences, we can choose to start taking conscious control of deciding the type of thoughts that we'll produce and speak to ourselves.
Improving the quality of your thoughts is a critical step toward defeating anxiety. It's the mental preoccupation with images of things you fear or "bad" things happening, that causes your body to get nervous, release adrenaline, and create other anxiety sensations. The fact is, if your mind didn't have a tendency to dwell on negative thoughts and possibilities, the fear reaction of anxiety would have no basis on which to grow, and avoidance behaviors leading to depression would be much less likely to occur. Stress and anxiety cannot exist without the thoughts that create them.
The conclusion? Reverse your thinking and you will reverse your anxiety. In principle, it's really that simple. (In actuality, it will help greatly if you first master the method taught in the audio program, so you're not so mentally pre-occupied with feared possibilities.)
Those who stagnate in life, those who resist change, and of course those who tend toward anxiety, are the ones who dwell on negative possibilities. If you expect bad things, or nothing, to come of your efforts, you're probably not going to do much to better yourself - you act in accordance with your beliefs. But people who are successful and emotionally free have their minds focused on the positive possibilities and act toward manifesting those possibilities. Don't cheat yourself out of all that your life could be. Know that if you continue thinking and acting in your current manner, this is what your life will be. But it can be so much more. Know that you are the creator of your life, and start to choose more constructive thoughts and beliefs for yourself.
The “speaking” aspect of Self Therapy involves taking back conscious control of your thoughts, which are essentially your communication to yourself. You stop passively sustaining old self-limiting messages, and decide what thoughts and beliefs you need to internalize in order to reach your objectives, even if your only objective is simple inner harmony and freedom from anxiety. To reverse the cycle of negativity and anxiety, be aware of the walls that improper thinking builds between you and your true goals, and begin to re-arrange your thoughts and beliefs in a more constructive manner. Start with a fully committed decision to produce as many positive, constructive thoughts from this point on as possible.
Sure, "bad" things will sometimes happen. But your mental energy would be much better spent on manifesting positive possibilities and solving problems that really do arise, rather than imagining the myriad situations that could, but probably won't, arise.
