Today, we are starting our month-long discussion of A.S.K. with the first step of the system: Acknowledge Your Feelings. 

But first, I have a confession: I dislike 3 step self-help systems. 

Not because they don’t work but because they overly simplify very nuanced and individualized processes. 

This can be challenging for people with High Functioning Anxiety. We love rules. We love a guide–a simple system that we can follow to the exact letter, making everything feel better. 

A.S.K.–my very own 3-step system for reducing your anxiety–appears to do that. It seems to offer a simple solution to our struggles with anxiety.

But, as you will hear this month, there is complexity below the surface this seemly simple solution. 

This is why I encourage you to think of the system of A.S.K. as the bare minimum–the basic foundation, from which you can jump off of to make this process your own. 

After 2 years of teaching these concepts, I wanted to revisit them and expand on what I talked about previously, adding in some fresh tips. Once you have listened to this episode, you can revisit where I have talked about these 3 steps in previous episodes (episodes 72, 73 and 74), 

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• A basic overview of the 3 steps of A.S.K.
  • Acknowledge what you are feeling
  • Slow down and get into your body
  • Kindly pull back to see the big picture
• Some scenarios of the practice of acknowledging your feelings in action
• What role self-loyalty plays when acknowledging your feelings
• What it looks like when people with High Functioning Anxiety avoid feeling their feelings (are you a brooder of bottler?)
• How owning your feelings after years of avoidance and pushing them down takes time

Links:

• Emotional Agility by  Dr. Susan David
• My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor

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