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If you're struggling with anxiety and searching for ways of calming your feelings, this episode is for you.

I break down why the most popular strategies for calming your feelings - like using logic to talk yourself out of anxiety, trying to replace negative emotions with positive ones, attempting to control your body's responses, or avoiding triggers - often backfire when you're dealing with anxiety disorders.

Drawing from mindfulness principles and acceptance-based therapy approaches, I explain a counterintuitive truth: calming your feelings often happens when you learn to be with difficult emotions rather than fighting them. Using the metaphor of a loving parent comforting a crying child, I explore how harsh judgment and control attempts often increase distress, while kind acknowledgment and acceptance can lead to genuine relief.

You'll learn why calm follows capacity rather than control, and how developing the ability to tolerate and navigate through difficult internal experiences can reduce the fear of your own thoughts and feelings. I address the reality that this approach is challenging to implement when you're triggered, while offering practical insights into building emotional capacity over time.

This episode focuses on working with the reality of being human rather than fighting against uncomfortable emotions - an approach that may help you discover how to move through anxiety and distressing feelings in a more adaptive way.

Topics covered:

• Why common calming strategies fail for anxiety sufferers
• The difference between capacity and control in calming your feelings
• How acceptance can lead to genuine relief from emotional distress
• Practical insights for building tolerance to difficult emotions
• Learning to navigate through anxiety rather than against it

Perfect for anyone dealing with panic disorder, generalized anxiety, OCD, health anxiety, or agoraphobia who wants to move beyond quick fixes toward lasting change.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/326

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Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.