Embracing Anxiety

Book excerpt: An in-depth guide for engaging with anxiety—not as an affliction, but as an essential source of foresight, intuition, and energy for completing your tasks and projects. If you're facing anxiety, you've probably got one thing on your mind—how to make it go away. But what if this challenging emotion were actually trying to help? "When we ignore or repress our anxiety,” teaches Karla McLaren, "it can overwhelm us. But when we learn to welcome it with skill, we can access its remarkable gifts." Engaged with wisely, anxiety is your task completion ally—it helps you to focus, plan, take action, and fulfill your goals. With Embracing Anxiety, you'll join this acclaimed educator and researcher to explore: Principles and practices to befriend your anxiety at every level of intensity (before it overwhelms you)Strategies to engage with anxiety as a source of foresight, conscientiousness, and motivationWhy fear, confusion, and panic are not the same as anxiety, and tools to work with each effectivelyHow anxiety blends with anger, depression, and other emotions, and how to clarify these compounded statesUsing McLaren’s Conscious Questioning practice to engage with anxiety and garner its insightsHow to embrace procrastination and get things done "When you identify, listen to, and act on anxiety skillfully, you support its purpose," teaches McLaren, "and allow it to recede naturally until it is needed again." With Embracing Anxiety, you'll learn how to get this powerful emotion on your side.