This week on the Anxiety Slayer Podcast, we're continuing our discussion on how to work with

unwanted thoughts and responding to a couple of questions from our private Facebook group.

Welcome back, Ananga.

Hey Shen, always good to be with you for another episode.

And I'm really enjoying digging into themed questions. I know you are too and our

listeners are giving us some great information to dig into and untangle.

And the first question is,

I would love some tips on how to better or more rapidly

process anxious thoughts rather than just trying to distract myself from them?

That's a great question, isn't it? It really is. And it starts with a conscious decision to stay with the thought often we have an anxious thought come up and uncomfortable thought come up and our hand will reach for something something diverting and nowadays it's easier than ever to do that because it's probably right

by the end of our arm a phone or something that we can just pick up and take our mind away.

So I think to notice where we're reaching for a distraction.

We might find ourselves in the kitchen with a bag of potato chips or on

Instagram or something, so to just notice, where are we going to distract?

And that's the time to stop and take a breath

and make a conscious choice to respond rather than react by distraction.

And then we get to choose how we want to process the thought,

whether that be through journaling, sitting with it and breathing,

going for a walk to help our mind clear and settle, or my favorite go to just nipping out in the garden for a minute.

We can also use questions to check in with ourselves by asking, where is this thought coming from? Why is it snagging me and what do I need?

Yeah and when we talk about nipping out in the garden or going for a walk, the intention there is still to be with the thought.

And there's a subtle difference, isn't there, between allowing it to exist and taking care of ourselves

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