In the last post I talked about how anxiety is the negative emotion that is trying to wake up confidence in yourself. Confidence is the ability to embrace the positive abilities that you already have developed so that you can put them into action. It is almost like a feeling of being grounded in yourself. I like to have people actually feel their bodies especially their feet on the ground when they are developing confidence. Anxiety tends to throw you into an airy space that is a bit nauseating.

Here are a few examples.

Being a workshop leader in a class. Anxiety tells you that you have the skills already to lead a successful workshop, but something is making you feel like it is all going to go wrong despite your preparation. It often happens when you change jobs or locations or the groups you are working with. You focus on the uncertainty of the new environment and not on the ability you already have. You can remember positive experiences in the past, embrace the positive energy, and then be present, being aware of what adjustments you need to make in the new environment.

The condition of the world. Today there is a war in Israel and another one in the Ukraine. When you put your focus on it and blow it up, your mind has a tendency to think that your world is going to fall apart, you are going to lose all of your resources, and then you have to be protective in the way you live your life and manage your resources. When you have confidence in your own abilities and embrace them, then they are going to work where you end up next even if you are a refugee or have to move entire continents. It is the emotion of anxiety that puts you in the air and sees negative, but it is the confidence that when you do what worked before, you are going to get great results again.

Anxiety is not fear. Fear lets you know that you have to develop something new in order to be successful. Worry lets you know that what worked before will work again. It is an important distinction. Fear is more of full bodied experienced. Anxiety is an up in the air feeling.

Your children’s or spouse’s future. When you worry a lot about your children or spouse, it really messes up the relationship with them because they want to have no part of being with you. Your worry causes a rift because your energy is so nauseating. If you are worried, it means you already know what what works with them. You just do not know how to embody or embrace the positive abilities that you have and keep practicing. You probably know that being supportive, being a good listener, being encouraging, and having good boundaries work. But worry makes you do things that don’t work. Then distance grows between you, and they have to figure out things on their own.

If you have fear for their future, then it means you haven’t developed an ability, usually being more encouraging. It usually means that you are very critical.