Anxiety is a symptom

Quarantine Diaries- Anxiety is not a feeling. Anxiety is a symptom.

Like a boiling pot of water, anxiety roils inside us, alerting us to pay attention. Bravely lift the lid to see what’s inside. Look with curious compassion beneath the symptom and you will find suppressed EMOTION...fear, grief, anger, shame.... Simply identifying the emotion helps ease the symptom. “Name It To Tame It” says psychiatrist and Interpersonal Neurobiology co-creator, Dan Siegel.

Literally naming the emotion creates space between you and your feeling. With some distance you now gain perspective. You’ve got out of your limbic brain and back into the executive brain, thus allowing you to act on your emotion in accordance with your values.