Managing Anxiety

  1. Practice Wise Mind
  2. Practice wordless watching
  3. Unplug the facts from your interpretations
  4. Practice one-mindfulness
  5. Practice opposite action
  6. Use problem solving skills
  7. Use crisis survival skills
  8. Practice radical acceptance
  9. Practice interpersonal skills
  10. Acculumate positive emotions
  11. Establish a consistent sleep routine
  12. Create balance with routines
  13. Get in touch with your compassionate self
  14. Miscellaneous Techniques

1. Practicing Wise Mind

Imagine your mind as having three states: Emotion Mind (where feelings dominate), Rational Mind (where logic prevails), and Wise Mind (the balanced intersection of both). Wise Mind recognizes that both emotional and rational thinking have value.

2. Practicing wordless watching

Watch thoughts come into and out of your mind like waves in the ocean, neither pushing any thoughts away nor clinging to any thoughts. Pay attention to your bodily sensations.

3. Unplug the facts from your interpretations

Only describe the facts (who, what, where, etc.) of any situation. If something can't be observed through bodily senses, don't describe it. Be nonjudgmental. You can acknowledge the difference between helpful and harmful things, but don't judge them as good or bad.

4. One-mindfulness

Do one thing at a time. Instead of multitasking, avoid distractions and be present in the current moment.

5. Opposite action

When your emotions don't fit the facts or acting on your emotions isn't effective, change the emotion by acting opposite to its action urge.

6. Problem solving skills

  1. Describe the situation.
  2. Check the facts to ensure you have described the problem correctly.
  3. Identify what you hope to achieve in solving the problem.
  4. Brainstorm solutions.
  5. Choose one that will probably work.
  6. Put the solution into action, one step at a time.
  7. Evaluate the result.

7. Crisis survival skills

8. Radical acceptance

Accept painful events all the way, completely and totally. Reality is as it is and rejecting reality does not change it. In fact, to change reality, you first have to accept it. Radical acceptance is not approval or passivity.

9. Practicing interpersonal skills

DEARMAN: Describe the sitation (if needed), express your feelings about it, assert yourself by asking or saying no, reward the person ahead of time and after the fact, maintain your position, appear confident and be willing to negotiate.

GIVE: Be gentle, interested, validating and easy-going.

FAST: Be fair to yourself and the other person, don't overapologize (e.g., for making a request or for disagreeing), stick to your values and be truthful.

10. Accumulating positive emotions

Identify values that are important to you and plan on working on one.

Engage in something pleasant, like:

  1. Doing pottery
  2. Texting someone
  3. Recycling old items
  4. Organizing files
  5. Lying in the sun
  6. Playing with animals
  7. Engaging in a hobby
  8. Watching a movie
  9. Gathering natural objects
  10. Arranging flowers
  11. Learning a foreign language
  12. Cleaning
  13. Playing cards
  14. Planning a career
  15. Riding a bike
  16. Playing a video game
  17. Watching stand-up comedy
  18. Gardening
  19. Going on vacation
  20. Working on a jigsaw puzzle
  21. Sightseeing
  22. Going hiking
  23. Reading magazines or newspapers
  24. Going to the mountains
  25. Reading fiction or non-fiction
  26. Going thrifting
  27. Photography

11. Consistent sleep routine

Maintain a regular sleep schedule by going to bed and waking up at the same time daily, even on weekends. Avoid caffeine and alcohol before bed. Practice sleep entrainment and avoid using an alarm clock. Create a relaxing bedtime routine, avoid screens before sleep and ensure your sleeping environment is comfortable and quiet.

If you can't sleep, don't catastrophize. It's still much better to be in a state of reverie and to rest your brain than to get up.

On macOS, you can set a downtime in Settings > Screen Time. On elementaryOS and GNOME, you can use Screen Time and Digital Wellbeing, respectively.

12. Creating balance with routines

You can use a piece of paper or any number of other tools to fill out morning and bedtime routines.

13. Getting in touch with your compassionate self

Remember that you deserve to be here and to provide yourself with a compassionate presence. Attempt to connect with your compassionate self's voice. How can your compassionate self show its commitment to your well-being? What do you need from your compassionate self to feel a sense of safety? If you shared everything you're going through with your compassionate self, what would you like them to say to you?

Miscellaneous Techniques

Visualization Techniques

Other Techniques