Linda N. Edelstein, Ph.D.

I am excessively fond of this phrase.  It is simple and true – how could you not like it?  Anxiety tells you that there is danger, either within or without.  If you are so inclined, you begin to believe that your body is in trouble (heart, cancer, whatever your vulnerability happens to be).  If you tend to see danger from without, you worry that you made a mistake, offended someone, behaved badly or other non-body fear.  Most of the time, these are lies.  Sure, some day you will get sick and, I absolutely can assure you that you will make mistakes, but not as often as your anxiety tells you that all this will happen.   Anxiety lies. It tells you that life is much worse than it really is; it convinces you that your behavior is worse than it is; it insists that a situation is far more dire than it really is.

 Imagine that it is not your precious anxiety that lies to you or exaggerates, but a friend.  Certainly, you would distance yourself from the nonsense; you would treat the information with many grains of salt, and also, you would discount the information you hear (or feel). Treat your anxiety like that lying ex-friend.

 A is for Anxiety  (Part 1) was posted here on 12/17.  You may find it helpful.

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