I will recover, I am recovering, each and everyday I am more recovered. I have everything I need inside of me in order to recover and face any problem or limitation I will ever encounter. EAch day I become stronger with my skills and I can access more and more of my inner resources
Ok so I got a little excited and decided to create this thread a little early. I'm excited for this next week with what it will have to offer in the way of experience and progress. I guess you could say i'm anxiously awaiting this next week but i'm seeing it as excitement instead of fear.
Well to start this week off I have a music video which well it makes me feel really good about myself and I'm hoping it will do the same for you guys too.
Beautiful by Christina aguilera
Mike
The Challenge...Lesson 3
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NinjaFrodo
- Posts: 1263
- Joined: Wed Aug 18, 2004 3:00 am
Here is the link to the Letting Go thread which is designated for venting
http://forum.stresscenter.com/viewtopic ... 52&t=25087
You can follow me on Twitter, same username or check out my blog
http://ninjafrodo.blogspot.com/
http://forum.stresscenter.com/viewtopic ... 52&t=25087
You can follow me on Twitter, same username or check out my blog
http://ninjafrodo.blogspot.com/
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Guest
Mike -
What is the planned schedule? Are we planning to always start the next session on a Tuesday? I wasn't sure if last week was an exception because of the holiday.
BTW, I enjoyed the song you selected. It definitely goes with the theme this week of positive self talk, and in this case, positive self image. We are what we believe ourselves to be.
Thanks,
Jamie
What is the planned schedule? Are we planning to always start the next session on a Tuesday? I wasn't sure if last week was an exception because of the holiday.
BTW, I enjoyed the song you selected. It definitely goes with the theme this week of positive self talk, and in this case, positive self image. We are what we believe ourselves to be.
Thanks,
Jamie
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Guest
I will recover, I am recovering, each and everyday I am more recovered. I have everything I need inside of me in order to recover and face any problem or limitation I will ever encounter. Each day I become stronger with my skills and I can access more and more of my inner resources
I didn't want to cut the lesson short. It doesn't bother me if we start on a tuesday instead of a monday but what do you guys think? We could cut lesson 5 short and then start on monday's from lesson 6 if you want. Lesson 5 is about eatting and exercising.
I was hoping you'd like that song. It makes me feel good. Maybe I can find some other ones like it.
Mike
I didn't want to cut the lesson short. It doesn't bother me if we start on a tuesday instead of a monday but what do you guys think? We could cut lesson 5 short and then start on monday's from lesson 6 if you want. Lesson 5 is about eatting and exercising.
I was hoping you'd like that song. It makes me feel good. Maybe I can find some other ones like it.
Mike
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Guest
I will recover, I am recovering, each and everyday I am more recovered. I have everything I need inside of me in order to recover and face any problem or limitation I will ever encounter. Each day I become stronger with my skills and I can access more and more of my inner resources
Mike,
That is a good idea, to start on Tuesday until lesson 5 and then go to Mondays.
I really like the song. It took me a little to understand the video, however once I got the message, I really liked it. Thanks for sharing.
Jamie,
Don't worry about having to respond to every post. We only have so many hours in a day and usually we have more things to do than hours. To me the most important thing is that you keep working on your progress.
My personal goal for this week is to meditate and exercise every day. No matter what, I will not go to bed without exercising and meditating.
I'll let you know how I did.
Mike,
That is a good idea, to start on Tuesday until lesson 5 and then go to Mondays.
I really like the song. It took me a little to understand the video, however once I got the message, I really liked it. Thanks for sharing.
Jamie,
Don't worry about having to respond to every post. We only have so many hours in a day and usually we have more things to do than hours. To me the most important thing is that you keep working on your progress.
My personal goal for this week is to meditate and exercise every day. No matter what, I will not go to bed without exercising and meditating.
I'll let you know how I did.
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Guest
Perfect timing to start "self talk". 
I found myself having more anxiety today. I woke up with some minor aches and pains. Took my animals to the vet for their shots. My teeth were hurting. My mother took her "friend" to the hospital, possible blood clot in his leg.
I felt the uneasyness starting and muscle tension. Its my health anxiety building. I filled my 300 negitive thoughts early in the day! LOL... Worked all day at letting go, relaxing, putting my worries to rest.
Whats wrong with me? I am healthy, strong and able.
What if I need a root canel? I've had them before and my teeth are fine. Maybe its the weather change. The fall air is coming in.
My knee is so sore? See how it feels in a couple weeks. I have been riding my horse more and maybe just weak muscles. Weather change too.
My mother has anxiety too, these are her problems. I can only help when she will allow me to. I do not need to step in and solve their problems.
Mike, thats cool with me when ever. Tuesday, Monday... 5 would be a good one to cut short.
I liked the song too. Same for me, once I got the video I liked it too. Glad it makes you feel good!
SeaRunner, no worries! You did great with your bike.
My goals with session 3
1.I will look for the good.
2.Negative thinking is a bad habit that I can break.
I found myself having more anxiety today. I woke up with some minor aches and pains. Took my animals to the vet for their shots. My teeth were hurting. My mother took her "friend" to the hospital, possible blood clot in his leg.
I felt the uneasyness starting and muscle tension. Its my health anxiety building. I filled my 300 negitive thoughts early in the day! LOL... Worked all day at letting go, relaxing, putting my worries to rest.
Whats wrong with me? I am healthy, strong and able.
What if I need a root canel? I've had them before and my teeth are fine. Maybe its the weather change. The fall air is coming in.
My knee is so sore? See how it feels in a couple weeks. I have been riding my horse more and maybe just weak muscles. Weather change too.
My mother has anxiety too, these are her problems. I can only help when she will allow me to. I do not need to step in and solve their problems.
Mike, thats cool with me when ever. Tuesday, Monday... 5 would be a good one to cut short.
I liked the song too. Same for me, once I got the video I liked it too. Glad it makes you feel good!
SeaRunner, no worries! You did great with your bike.
My goals with session 3
1.I will look for the good.
2.Negative thinking is a bad habit that I can break.
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Guest
I will recover, I am recovering, each and everyday I am more recovered. I have everything I need inside of me in order to recover and face any problem or limitation I will ever encounter. Each day I become stronger with my skills and I can access more and more of my inner resources
Today was a good day. This morning I had a little trouble getting my productive day started, however I did pretty good the rest of the day.
I excercised and meditated, it felt good. 34 minutes on the treadmill, which is great for me.
I will listen to the cd before going to sleep, that seems to be a peaceful time.
THH
I'm with you on the aches and pains. I think it is going to rain because my knee has been acting out. Usually I just take ibuprofen and forget about it.
Sometimes it seems like a ton of things get together to make us anxious. It is like we are capable to handle 1 or 2 at a time, but more than that seems overwhelming. Don't feel bad, it is understandable to feel anxious with so many things.
Practice, practice, practice... that is what we need. Practice thinking positive, practice the breathing and relaxation... Practice, practice, practice.
Hope
Today was a good day. This morning I had a little trouble getting my productive day started, however I did pretty good the rest of the day.
I excercised and meditated, it felt good. 34 minutes on the treadmill, which is great for me.
I will listen to the cd before going to sleep, that seems to be a peaceful time.
THH
I'm with you on the aches and pains. I think it is going to rain because my knee has been acting out. Usually I just take ibuprofen and forget about it.
Sometimes it seems like a ton of things get together to make us anxious. It is like we are capable to handle 1 or 2 at a time, but more than that seems overwhelming. Don't feel bad, it is understandable to feel anxious with so many things.
Practice, practice, practice... that is what we need. Practice thinking positive, practice the breathing and relaxation... Practice, practice, practice.
Hope
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Guest
I will recover, I am recovering, each and everyday I am more recovered. I have everything I need inside of me in order to recover and face any problem or limitation I will ever encounter. Each day I become stronger with my skills and I can access more and more of my inner resources.
I may actually make these weeks longer instead so we don't feel rushed. I'm thinking we can prolong this lesson and it finish on tuesday and then the next lesson start on wednesday and finish on the next wednesday and the next one start on thursday up until the lesson starts on monday....or we can make lesson 5 one day short or just keep it as it is now....Which one would you guys suggest? Keep in mind it doesn't have to be perfect.
I'm glad you guys liked the video. I figured it just fit the best!
mcshope
Thats a good goal to have but make sure its a goal and not an expectation. There still needs to be some room for error and such.
THH
I agree about the timing. I also had tons more anxiety today and I actually pushed myself too much again. Not on a specific activity but with several activities and I also didn't get good sleep. I likely got to like 5000 negative thoughts
Good thought replacements too
By the way, what does the carry-a-long card say for this week? I lost that one and its probabbly diffrent anyways.
Mike
I may actually make these weeks longer instead so we don't feel rushed. I'm thinking we can prolong this lesson and it finish on tuesday and then the next lesson start on wednesday and finish on the next wednesday and the next one start on thursday up until the lesson starts on monday....or we can make lesson 5 one day short or just keep it as it is now....Which one would you guys suggest? Keep in mind it doesn't have to be perfect.
I'm glad you guys liked the video. I figured it just fit the best!
mcshope
Thats a good goal to have but make sure its a goal and not an expectation. There still needs to be some room for error and such.
THH
I agree about the timing. I also had tons more anxiety today and I actually pushed myself too much again. Not on a specific activity but with several activities and I also didn't get good sleep. I likely got to like 5000 negative thoughts
Good thought replacements too By the way, what does the carry-a-long card say for this week? I lost that one and its probabbly diffrent anyways.
Mike
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Guest
Mike, PBS (wviz) Has a special on Buddha tonight. About 2 hours. I don't know if you get it where you live, but I know you would like that.
My card that looks like a 2 years old had it reads:
Self-Talk: Key to healthy self esteem
* I can choose the thoughts I entertain.
* I know positive thoughts
* I know positive thoughts produce possitive feelings.
* I will look for the good.
* Negative thinking is a bad habit that I can break.
* I am a great problem solver.
* I am worthy of inner peace.
* I am alive & participating in my day.
* I am action oriented.
* I am proud of my accomplishments.
Side 2
1. Recognie - makes us feel bad - stop sign
2. Question - is it true, reasonable, rational, realistic?
3. Re-Structure - state the positive.
4. Transport - negative state to positive one.
5. Problem Solve - what can you DO to improve the situation?
6. Write - change negative dialogue to positive. 4 each day
Positive feelings can't coexist with negative thoughts.
Change your miind, change your mood.
"As a man thinketh, so is he." Proverbs 23:7
----------------------------------------------
mcshope,
You did great on keeping your goals today! I do like the meditation and the cd is great before bed.
I so agree on the multipals. I ended up taking some motrin too! Thanks! Tommorow will be a better day.
Heres to a Great! Wednesday!!!!
My card that looks like a 2 years old had it reads:
Self-Talk: Key to healthy self esteem
* I can choose the thoughts I entertain.
* I know positive thoughts
* I know positive thoughts produce possitive feelings.
* I will look for the good.
* Negative thinking is a bad habit that I can break.
* I am a great problem solver.
* I am worthy of inner peace.
* I am alive & participating in my day.
* I am action oriented.
* I am proud of my accomplishments.
Side 2
1. Recognie - makes us feel bad - stop sign
2. Question - is it true, reasonable, rational, realistic?
3. Re-Structure - state the positive.
4. Transport - negative state to positive one.
5. Problem Solve - what can you DO to improve the situation?
6. Write - change negative dialogue to positive. 4 each day
Positive feelings can't coexist with negative thoughts.
Change your miind, change your mood.
"As a man thinketh, so is he." Proverbs 23:7
----------------------------------------------
mcshope,
You did great on keeping your goals today! I do like the meditation and the cd is great before bed.
I so agree on the multipals. I ended up taking some motrin too! Thanks! Tommorow will be a better day.
Heres to a Great! Wednesday!!!!
-
Guest
I will recover, I am recovering, each and everyday I am more recovered. I have everything I need inside of me in order to recover and face any problem or limitation I will ever encounter. Each day I become stronger with my skills and I can access more and more of my inner resources
Tuesday;
Practice opportunities
1)I woke up extremely anxious and I used the relaxation cd and that helped but I was a little late with leaving to go treat my great aunt with shiatsu. I felt really anxious and I knew that I was already feeling that way because I felt I needed to rush. I gave myself 1.5 hours to get ready to leave but it took me awhile to get out of bed. I used my breathing technique and reminded myself to slow down and that helped to bring my anxiety down but it didn't go completely away. This however was still a partial accomplishment.
2)Walking to my great aunt's place, I decided not to put my headphones on to try to distract myself and I focused on my surroundings. I did a little of the active meditation where i would breath in for 2 and out for 4 while mentally counting and then focus on my surroundings. I think I did that twice and my mind kept wanting to wander and several times it would wonder to something that would trigger anger feelings. I then just decided to breath slowly and look at my surroundings and asked myself questions about the things i saw to keep myself engaged and that seemed to help. It caused anxiety but I didn't let it get too high and I lived through it.
3)Was doing another shiatsu treatment with a friend whom had never had shiatsu before and I was struggling alot with explaining things. I'd say i was at a level 7 or 8 when it came to explaining things and I was feeling really anxious while doing the treatment. I kept thinking...it isn't going right, Its not going how it's suppose to go. I kept using the breathing techniques and I reminded myself that people's bodies are going to react in diffrent ways while treating and I cannot predict that. Just because it reacted in a diffrent way then i'm used to doesn't mean that it didn't work at all. I learned from the treatment and I did the treatment despite the anxiety so it was a great accomplishment.
4)I was having a very hard time getting the routine down in hip-hop. There was some foot work that I just couldn't seem to get and I started to beat myself up for it and I felt horrible because I couldn't get it. I started to think in the whole victim way and felt sorry for myself. I was getting depressed and then I thought back to what Carolyn had said about how if she learns even one thing from a presentation when she does public speaking, how can that be a failure it just doesn't add up. I had learned lots of things from the routine and got at least 60-70% of it down and so I decided to focus on that and I felt more better. It didn't take it away completely but I felt better and better and kept reminding myself. I left feeling alright about how I did things but still frustrated. It was cool to see myself change how I thought in the middle of a choreographed routine though. I couldn't really do too much slow breathing, visualizing calm imagry or anything else. Replacing thoughts is really starting to work well for me.
Relaxation
Relaxation cd in the morning;
I woke up just exhausted and it was extremely hard to focus on the words being said in the tape. I mostly just went on autopilot but it did make me a little less anxious and overwhelmed.
Relaxation on my way home;
I listened to it while walking home again in a robotic fashion and it slightly helped but nothing too major. At least it's going to become a more conditioned response.
Relaxation before bed;
Suprisingly I was able to focus more on the relaxtion cd this time and I felt good about getting it done. I fell a sleep shortly after using it.
Sleep
In bed at 12:30 and prolly fell asleep by 1am ish. I set my alarm for 8:30am because of some things i had to do the next day. I woke up (wednesday) and felt really exhausted but immediately listened to the relaxation cd, stopped those thoughts about how bad I felt and made myself jump out of bed and start my day. I felt a little bad but I didn't stay with it as long as I normally would have.
Lesson 3
A couple things that jumped out at me were how Lucinda had said how can you be good at doing this or that (parenting your children, getting through a difficult day at work, getting through a difficult flight...) if you keep giving yourself messages about how bad you feel, how anxious you are, how depressed, how incapable and incompetent that you are. Well I think I spend so much time thinking about how bad I feel and how i'm feeling anxious and depressed. Its another set of negative thoughts that I'd like to address. The other thing was when Carolyn said how can it be a failure if she had learned 1 thing from a presentation...it just doesn't add up. This helped me to see partial accomplishments and it helped out when I was poopooing on myself about how I couldn't get a certain part of the hip-hop routine.
Action Assignments
Walking meditation;
Did that for a bit longer and I could keep it up for a bit longer. I'm considering getting a watch, timing how long I can keep it up and measure my progress that way.
Tic Mark;
The exercise suggests to make a tick mark everytime you stop yourself from having a negative thought. I had bought a tally counter last year and started to use that instead of doing tick marks. I was able to stop 95 negative thoughts today and I was noticing that I was automatically replacing some of those negative thoughts when I decided to put that stop sign up with the negative thought. I had so many negative thoughts and it was very difficult for me to catch most of them but it still felt good to stop them. I have in the past created entire threads to this exercises and kept it up for I think up to a month. I can give the link if you would like to see, I wouldn't mind rereading what I had typed.
Comments
One fear I recently realized while using the 6 steps is that I'm afraid that I may push myself to do tasks way beyond the level of overwhelming. I get afraid I won't allow myself to relax and take care of myself. I may have limitations and I will still face them, some of them I face on a daily basis but I don't feel comfortable with them because of this fear. Also that same fear has stopped me from facing limitations before when I would get to a point in the program where it says to start facing limitations. I didn't realize i was already facing limitations but I kept thinking that I would have to go out and just jump into those limitations and face them full force instead of doing them in little increments. I was afraid I would force myself into doing the most scariest of limitations and force myself to endure it for hours and hours on end. After all I wouldn't have an excuse not to face that limitation. How do you guys feel about this?
Goals for the week
Ok so I see so many things that give me anxiety. I'm going to buy myself a watch and then i'm going to face several of these things that give me anxiety and I will time myself to see how long I can do the activity before I need to calm myself down or before It becomes too much. I'll then use some of the calming techniques we've learned from lesson 2 and 3 to reduce my level of anxiety and then try again until it gets too high and then stop for the day. One good thing about generalized anxiety that i'm finding is that I have an incredibly long list of things I can use for practice opportunities and I'm going to work alot with the ones I have the most control over.
I'm also planning to use the tally counter each time i stop a negative thought and do this everyday this week.
Mike
Tuesday;
Practice opportunities
1)I woke up extremely anxious and I used the relaxation cd and that helped but I was a little late with leaving to go treat my great aunt with shiatsu. I felt really anxious and I knew that I was already feeling that way because I felt I needed to rush. I gave myself 1.5 hours to get ready to leave but it took me awhile to get out of bed. I used my breathing technique and reminded myself to slow down and that helped to bring my anxiety down but it didn't go completely away. This however was still a partial accomplishment.
2)Walking to my great aunt's place, I decided not to put my headphones on to try to distract myself and I focused on my surroundings. I did a little of the active meditation where i would breath in for 2 and out for 4 while mentally counting and then focus on my surroundings. I think I did that twice and my mind kept wanting to wander and several times it would wonder to something that would trigger anger feelings. I then just decided to breath slowly and look at my surroundings and asked myself questions about the things i saw to keep myself engaged and that seemed to help. It caused anxiety but I didn't let it get too high and I lived through it.
3)Was doing another shiatsu treatment with a friend whom had never had shiatsu before and I was struggling alot with explaining things. I'd say i was at a level 7 or 8 when it came to explaining things and I was feeling really anxious while doing the treatment. I kept thinking...it isn't going right, Its not going how it's suppose to go. I kept using the breathing techniques and I reminded myself that people's bodies are going to react in diffrent ways while treating and I cannot predict that. Just because it reacted in a diffrent way then i'm used to doesn't mean that it didn't work at all. I learned from the treatment and I did the treatment despite the anxiety so it was a great accomplishment.
4)I was having a very hard time getting the routine down in hip-hop. There was some foot work that I just couldn't seem to get and I started to beat myself up for it and I felt horrible because I couldn't get it. I started to think in the whole victim way and felt sorry for myself. I was getting depressed and then I thought back to what Carolyn had said about how if she learns even one thing from a presentation when she does public speaking, how can that be a failure it just doesn't add up. I had learned lots of things from the routine and got at least 60-70% of it down and so I decided to focus on that and I felt more better. It didn't take it away completely but I felt better and better and kept reminding myself. I left feeling alright about how I did things but still frustrated. It was cool to see myself change how I thought in the middle of a choreographed routine though. I couldn't really do too much slow breathing, visualizing calm imagry or anything else. Replacing thoughts is really starting to work well for me.
Relaxation
Relaxation cd in the morning;
I woke up just exhausted and it was extremely hard to focus on the words being said in the tape. I mostly just went on autopilot but it did make me a little less anxious and overwhelmed.
Relaxation on my way home;
I listened to it while walking home again in a robotic fashion and it slightly helped but nothing too major. At least it's going to become a more conditioned response.
Relaxation before bed;
Suprisingly I was able to focus more on the relaxtion cd this time and I felt good about getting it done. I fell a sleep shortly after using it.
Sleep
In bed at 12:30 and prolly fell asleep by 1am ish. I set my alarm for 8:30am because of some things i had to do the next day. I woke up (wednesday) and felt really exhausted but immediately listened to the relaxation cd, stopped those thoughts about how bad I felt and made myself jump out of bed and start my day. I felt a little bad but I didn't stay with it as long as I normally would have.
Lesson 3
A couple things that jumped out at me were how Lucinda had said how can you be good at doing this or that (parenting your children, getting through a difficult day at work, getting through a difficult flight...) if you keep giving yourself messages about how bad you feel, how anxious you are, how depressed, how incapable and incompetent that you are. Well I think I spend so much time thinking about how bad I feel and how i'm feeling anxious and depressed. Its another set of negative thoughts that I'd like to address. The other thing was when Carolyn said how can it be a failure if she had learned 1 thing from a presentation...it just doesn't add up. This helped me to see partial accomplishments and it helped out when I was poopooing on myself about how I couldn't get a certain part of the hip-hop routine.
Action Assignments
Walking meditation;
Did that for a bit longer and I could keep it up for a bit longer. I'm considering getting a watch, timing how long I can keep it up and measure my progress that way.
Tic Mark;
The exercise suggests to make a tick mark everytime you stop yourself from having a negative thought. I had bought a tally counter last year and started to use that instead of doing tick marks. I was able to stop 95 negative thoughts today and I was noticing that I was automatically replacing some of those negative thoughts when I decided to put that stop sign up with the negative thought. I had so many negative thoughts and it was very difficult for me to catch most of them but it still felt good to stop them. I have in the past created entire threads to this exercises and kept it up for I think up to a month. I can give the link if you would like to see, I wouldn't mind rereading what I had typed.
Comments
One fear I recently realized while using the 6 steps is that I'm afraid that I may push myself to do tasks way beyond the level of overwhelming. I get afraid I won't allow myself to relax and take care of myself. I may have limitations and I will still face them, some of them I face on a daily basis but I don't feel comfortable with them because of this fear. Also that same fear has stopped me from facing limitations before when I would get to a point in the program where it says to start facing limitations. I didn't realize i was already facing limitations but I kept thinking that I would have to go out and just jump into those limitations and face them full force instead of doing them in little increments. I was afraid I would force myself into doing the most scariest of limitations and force myself to endure it for hours and hours on end. After all I wouldn't have an excuse not to face that limitation. How do you guys feel about this?
Goals for the week
Ok so I see so many things that give me anxiety. I'm going to buy myself a watch and then i'm going to face several of these things that give me anxiety and I will time myself to see how long I can do the activity before I need to calm myself down or before It becomes too much. I'll then use some of the calming techniques we've learned from lesson 2 and 3 to reduce my level of anxiety and then try again until it gets too high and then stop for the day. One good thing about generalized anxiety that i'm finding is that I have an incredibly long list of things I can use for practice opportunities and I'm going to work alot with the ones I have the most control over.
I'm also planning to use the tally counter each time i stop a negative thought and do this everyday this week.
Mike
Last edited by NinjaFrodo on Wed Sep 15, 2010 6:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Guest
"I will recover, I am recovering, and each and every day I get closer to overcoming my fears. I have everything I need inside of me in order to recover and face any problem or limitation I will every encounter. Each day I become stronger with my skills and I can access more and more of my inner resources."
Thanks everyone for you encouragement and understanding. I do tend to let myself get overwhelmed thinking that I need to respond to everyone and then I end up closing up and not responding to anyone. I need to learn to pace myself and recognize that I can only do so much.
DEALING WITH ANXIETY
My day was a bit more difficult than yesterday. It wasn't that I was more anxious or depressed but just fatigued and exhausted. I couldn't seem to get enough sleep. I finally got out of bed and up doing things at nearly 3 PM. I'm not sure why I was so tired. But I believe my body was telling me that I needed the rest.
Once I got going, I actually did pretty well. I drove into the office at rush hour and took the freeway again the entire way there. I didn't go into the building, but I was very happy with getting there and managing my anxiety well in the process. I even handled the traffic well.
I also went bicycling again tonight. I went the same route as before and didn't have any trouble with my anxiety. It's nice to see that just because I had anxiety or panic before in the same situation does not mean that I will experience it again. I did myself a great service by not running away last Sunday when I was faced with anxiety doing the same activity.
THOUGHTS ON SESSION 3
There are some sessions in the Program that I believe are much more important than others, or at least that have a greater impact on my ability to cope. Session 3 is one of them. I have the keep reminding myself that my internal anxiety is not something that is independent of me; it is the result of my own thoughts and responses and I have the power to control the outcome. Lucinda sums it up perfectly with the simple phrase "you are what you think."
This session works well into the last session with in terms of making a decision in the first few moments of an experience. How I react and what I tell myself is so powerful. I can turn something into a great accomplishment or a horrible trial just by how I choose to think. It's amazing that such a simple technique can have so much power.
GOALS FOR THE WEEK
I will continue to push myself to get hours billed from the office. I'd really like to meet my goal of 30 hours this week, which means I need to work at least 10 hours from the office. I think that I can make that goal or least come close. So far this week has been very positive and there's no reason to believe that it won't continue that way. Even if I have a bad day, I have to remind myself that it doesn't mean that the bad day will ruin the week.
Thanks everyone for you encouragement and understanding. I do tend to let myself get overwhelmed thinking that I need to respond to everyone and then I end up closing up and not responding to anyone. I need to learn to pace myself and recognize that I can only do so much.
DEALING WITH ANXIETY
My day was a bit more difficult than yesterday. It wasn't that I was more anxious or depressed but just fatigued and exhausted. I couldn't seem to get enough sleep. I finally got out of bed and up doing things at nearly 3 PM. I'm not sure why I was so tired. But I believe my body was telling me that I needed the rest.
Once I got going, I actually did pretty well. I drove into the office at rush hour and took the freeway again the entire way there. I didn't go into the building, but I was very happy with getting there and managing my anxiety well in the process. I even handled the traffic well.
I also went bicycling again tonight. I went the same route as before and didn't have any trouble with my anxiety. It's nice to see that just because I had anxiety or panic before in the same situation does not mean that I will experience it again. I did myself a great service by not running away last Sunday when I was faced with anxiety doing the same activity.
THOUGHTS ON SESSION 3
There are some sessions in the Program that I believe are much more important than others, or at least that have a greater impact on my ability to cope. Session 3 is one of them. I have the keep reminding myself that my internal anxiety is not something that is independent of me; it is the result of my own thoughts and responses and I have the power to control the outcome. Lucinda sums it up perfectly with the simple phrase "you are what you think."
This session works well into the last session with in terms of making a decision in the first few moments of an experience. How I react and what I tell myself is so powerful. I can turn something into a great accomplishment or a horrible trial just by how I choose to think. It's amazing that such a simple technique can have so much power.
GOALS FOR THE WEEK
I will continue to push myself to get hours billed from the office. I'd really like to meet my goal of 30 hours this week, which means I need to work at least 10 hours from the office. I think that I can make that goal or least come close. So far this week has been very positive and there's no reason to believe that it won't continue that way. Even if I have a bad day, I have to remind myself that it doesn't mean that the bad day will ruin the week.