New Morning Anxiety Meditation - (22 Minutes)

Good morning.

This meditation is designed for anybody who wakes up feeling anxious, nervous or overwhelmed about the day ahead.

I used to struggle with anxiety and mornings were definitely the hardest for me at one point in my life.

What I want you to know is that even though it feels like things may always be this way.

Your thoughts and your feelings are not facts.

And you can overcome this anxiety that is showing up for you, whether it's in the morning, the afternoon, or the evening.

Sometimes the anxious thoughts or negative thoughts about the day or whatever is going on in your life.

Can show up before you even open your eyes.

One of the important things to remember is that your thoughts are not facts and you are not your thoughts.

We all get negative, uncomfortable, fear based thoughts.

But the most important thing to learn is how we need to respond to them.

Because how we respond either makes them better or or worse.

Unfortunately, most of us don't learn growing up how to respond to negative thoughts, feelings or uncomfortable situations.

We learn to seek comfort.

We learn to avoid.

And we learn to run away from situations that are difficult, scary or uncomfortable.

And when we do this, we're teaching our brain that we can't handle it.

Whether it's thoughts, feelings, or real life situations.

We need to learn to train our brain and our nervous system that we can handle it, that we are strong.

And create the mental strength.

No matter how not strong you feel in this moment.

I want you to understand that this can completely change.

I want you to take a few very deep breaths.

Focusing on breathing in for four seconds.

Holding it at the top for two.

And breathing out for another four seconds.

You're going to do this two or three times.

Which teaches your brain and your body to slow down.

To relax.

And to be in the present moment.

You may still feel anxious.

Uncomfortable.

Or any other feeling that's showing up in your body. But that's okay.

We're actually not trying to get rid of these feelings.

Because trying to get rid of them gives them power.

It tells our brain again that we can't handle it.

But when we start to allow them to be there.

And we start to react differently.

We get a lot less of these thoughts and these feelings over time.

So I want you to have the mindset of allowing discomfort.

And the mindset of I'm learning to respond differently.

This is how you're going to get to your goal of feeling better.

As any thoughts enter your mind.

You'Re going to practice allowing them to come.

But not giving them any attention and removing any meaning behind them.

Like clouds in the sky, they're just going to come and go.

Maybe that's fast.

Maybe it's slow.

We're going to accept them and let go.

If you are feeling really anxious right now, this may be difficult.

And that is perfectly fine.

Everything that we do takes time and practice to get good at.

One thing that I have learned in my life, that the most difficult things that I've done have the biggest payoff.

And for me, overcoming anxiety and OCD was hard at times, many times.

But I feel confident and strong.

And so much better.

After a lot of practice of new ways of responding to intrusive thoughts.

Anxiety.

Uncertainty.

And even life's imperfections.

Continue letting those thoughts come in.

And go.

Just because you get a negative thought about what the rest of your day is going to look like.

Doesn'T mean that that's what's going to happen.

The brain will give us a lot of negative thoughts, and it will use past experience as proof that this is going to come true.

The brain will also look for evidence in your current environment.

Or in your body currently that it will come true.

This is called confirmation bias.

But again, it doesn't mean that this is what's going to happen.

Or what's true.

I want to take a moment to tell you a story that's happened to a lot of us to prove this point.

Have you ever been walking down the street.

And you see a dog? Maybe it's a pit bull and it looks mean, and you feel an initial moment of fear. You want to run, you want to get far away from this dog.

But you keep going.

And the closer you get, you notice that this dog is actually very friendly.

It's excited to see you.

It wants to to lick your hand.

And you realize that your initial perception was wrong, maybe based on a past experience.

This is how the brain works. It takes our experiences and it wants to protect us in the future.

But it doesn't actually protect us most of the time.

It causes us to be afraid.

To avoid.

To change how we behave.

To stop taking risks that could be very, very beneficial.

And our life shrinks more and more.

And we become more and more anxious.

I stopped living this way, and I want you to stop living this way.

So we're going to allow any thoughts or feelings that decide to come.

And we're going to start reacting differently.

When you get a thought that says something negative about you or someone else.

Or the future.

You'Re going to practice leaning in.

You're going to practice saying, yep, maybe that'll happen.

Okay, maybe that's true.

Followed by But I'm not going to give this thought or this feeling any more attention.

We'll see.

We'll see what happens. I can handle what happens.

The most important part is then to let go.

The more we give these thoughts and feelings attention, the bigger they get, the stronger they get, and the more we believe them.

We are creating mental strength.

We are choosing healthy responses.

Instead of unhealthy responses.

The ones we didn't know were unhealthy.

The ones we didn't know were hurting us.

But we now know.

And our job is to practice, practice, practice.

There's going to be a long version of this meditation and a short version of this meditation.

That way, if you have to get up and go this morning, you can listen to the short one. Or if you need more time to just relax, listen to the long version.

You're going to let those feelings be in your body.

You're going to stop trying to get rid of them.

You're going to stop judging them.

You're just going to let them be there.

And refocus your attention either on my voice.

Or on your breath.

Mindfulness.

Otherwise known as being in the present moment, is crucial to stop obsessing, overthinking, and worrying.

The present moment is all we have.

This is where happiness lies.

I want you to take a moment to think about what you're grateful for in this moment.

Maybe you're grateful to have this meditation to listen to.

Maybe you're grateful for a pet that's laying next to to you.

Maybe you're grateful for friends, a partner or family who is trying their best to be supportive.

Do you have a job that pays the bills.

A roof over your head.

A car to take you to your favorite coffee shop?

These are all things that we can focus on that make us feel good.

Instead of letting the mind take us to things that don't feel right or aren't perfect. Perfect.

This takes practice for everybody.

The human brain will naturally focus on what isn't going right because it wants to fix.

But the reality is there's always going to be something to fix.

So instead of focusing so much on that.

Let'S focus on what is going well.

What we do have.

What we like about our lives.

The progress that we are making.

It is all there in front of you.

Nobody has a perfect life.

Everybody has challenges.

Maybe your friend is going through a very wonderful moment in their life.

But they are going to have challenges someday.

Because that is part of being human.

So if this is your challenging time.

Just understand that this is part of life.

But what makes us strong.

Is overcoming our challenges.

It's pushing through.

Is learning new skills.

And I know it's hard when it takes time.

And with something like anxiety and ocd, that can take a lot of practice.

But on the other side is a lot of joy.

And strength.

And confidence.

In yourself.

And in. In these new skills that you have that are going to help you overcome anything in life that's challenging, that's uncertain.

Or that's imperfect.

We are going to start learning to move towards discomfort.

Not that's challenging, it's uncertain, or that's imperfect.

We are going to start learning to move towards discomfort.

Not obsessing about it, not worrying about it.

But moving towards things that are uncomfortable.

That are challenging, because that's how we learn to overcome the discomfort and the challenge itself.

Running away only trains our nervous system that we can't handle it and that we have to avoid more and more and more.

I'm with you.

There's help out there if you need it.

I see people do it every single day, single day in my work.

And I absolutely know that you are going to do it too.

So keep coming back to this meditation as often as you need it.

Maybe it's in the mornings.

Maybe it's at night.

Anytime during the day.

Ingrain these messages more and more.

And you can train your brain and relax your nervous system.

I'm so proud of you for being here today.

Just know that I'm with you through this journey.

And we'll talk to you very, very soon.

Just know that I'm with you through this journey.

And we'll talk to you very, very soon. Soon.