1 January

How to be stress-free and anxiety-free in 2018. Something I’ve researched for many years, so in case it’s of any use. (There are other dimensions to it as well.) Nearly all the approaches that work with stress and anxiety use the same insight. The secret that can make you completely immune to both stress and anxiety is knowing that there are TWO feelings of stress, and TWO feelings of anxiety. People mix them up, and it’s then they feel stress, and anxiety. The first feeling is the most well known. Your body generates adrenalin mostly, to help you cope with challenging situations. That’s a perfectly healthy process, you get the same rush when you go on a rollercoaster or if you have to run for the bus, or if you have a challenging situation at work. The second feeling is much less recognised, and is the one that is responsible for us ‘feeling stressed/anxious’. This is the feelings you have ABOUT the first feelings. When you start to worry about the first feeling, about that adrenalin rush and the feelings it creates in your body. It’s that worrying that creates stress, and anxiety. The simple (but you may need practice) way out of all stress and anxiety is to work on the SECOND feelings, not the first. The first are healthy and normal. Enjoy that extra energy, use it, always remember it’s like you’re on a rollercoaster, your body is giving you more energy to help you through a situation. That can help you head-off the second feelings, of worry about the first feelings. Or to put it another way, anxiety and stress are the fear of fear. The fear (2nd feeling) of the feelings of fear (1st feeling). Lose the 2nd fear, and everything looks after itself.