Easing Anxiety by Remembering Impermanence. All things change, including anxiety. Remembering that can sometimes soften how heavy a hard moment feels. To bring to mind what impermanence offers, you might try the following mindfulness exercise:
A note from Sean
We are not fear. We feel fear. It comes and goes depending on what we focus on, so notice the moments between.
Try this today. Pick one thing you could not do as a baby, like walking or reading. Feel your feet on the floor, or the page in your hands, and remember learning it. Take three slow breaths. Then tell yourself quietly, “This feeling changes too.”
Keep going: Impermanence Meditation and Softening Anxiety by Grounding in the Present Moment.
This suits ordinary worry and anxious days. If anxiety is intense or constant, or thinking back to early life brings up something painful, go gently and keep working with a doctor or therapist. This practice complements professional care. Stop when you need to.
Here’s a Sample of the “Easing Anxiety by Remembering Impermanence” Guided Meditation Script:
Sitting quietly in a safe place, with your posture tall, but your shoulders relaxed.
If you feel safe closing your eyes, perhaps letting them close
Otherwise, keeping your eyes open, but softening your gaze
Perhaps looking down at the ground ahead of you
Maintaining neutral posture in your back and neck
Breathing gently and slowly in and out through your nose
Allowing your energy to settle by spending some time watching the breath
Letting yourself be fully present with each slow, full breath in
And each slow, full breath out
Breathing in….
Breathing out…
And now thinking back to the earliest months of your life,
When you were only a baby
Going as far back as you’d like to
Recalling how different your body was then
How tiny you were,
How fragile you were
Recalling too, how little you understood of the world
There was a time when you could just barely recognize colors and shapes
A time when you could not feed yourself
A time when you could not stand or walk
A time when you didn’t know how to read, or write
This exercise is meant to complement, not replace, care from a doctor or therapist. If anxiety is getting in the way of daily life, please reach out to a mental health professional.
