Virtually all of your panic is caused by the obsessive thoughts you have. Whenever you’ve had anxiety in the past, it started with an obsessive thought, guaranteed. And then it gained momentum and went on to become the anxiety-related problem you experienced or the panic attack you had.
You might be thinking that this isn’t how anxiety works with you and that obsessive thoughts aren’t to blame, and if that’s the case I’d like you to begin paying attention to your own anxiety and to what you’re feeling and thinking right before it gets out of control.
Most people are very surprised at the results when they study themselves in this way, and I think there’s a good chance you will be too. And there’s a good reason why I can predict this kind of outcome: because for many years (almost 20, in fact) I suffered with exactly the same problems you’re living with right now.
The really awful thing about having an anxiety disorder is that you can’t just shut off your horrible thoughts like a lot of non-anxious people can. So you need a different option. And that option is to find ways to bring an instant halt to a potentially harmful thought before it ever has a chance to become an obsession.
So I’m gonna share a quick 3 step system you can start using TODAY anytime you have a harmful or negative thought that you need to stop before it becomes obsessive and causes you real problems. And here are the 3 steps:
Step One is to retrain your brain, ASAP. You need to get it to a place where it can spot a negative or potentially damaging thought the moment that it begins. This includes thoughts that start out very tiny and seem to be no problem at all. These small thoughts can grow into huge ones that cause serious problems, so these need to be treated just as the obviously terrible thoughts are treated.
Second Step: You need to become exactly like people with no anxiety problems. For them, it’s easy to stop a bad thought anytime they want to. For you, it takes a little more work. The only way to stop one thought is by having another thought, so to stop the damaging thoughts you simply need to have a new thought that takes its place. You might be wondering what you should be thinking. The answer is simple: think of anything it takes to stop that original and damaging thought.
Okay, step three is to make this new positive way of thinking a habit that happens automatically, just as your harmful thoughts are happening automatically for you right now. The only way to make this happen is to think positive thoughts as frequently as possible. In time, your brain will automatically think these positive thoughts when your mind wanders, where once it would have gone immediately to the damaging thoughts you experience right now.
I truly believe that if you can use and stick to these 3 steps that your anxiety and panic and obsessive thoughts will be in better shape than they’ve been for many years.
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