How Gratitude Can Help You Defeat Your Anxiety

What I’m about to tell you here can literally change your life for the better and I’m not kidding about that. You see, I’ve been struggling with my anxiety for a big part of my life and during that time I have found a way to defeat that anxiety and prevent it from ever happening again.

I’ve been reading a lot on the subject of personal development and I came across the book called “The Secret”. I’m sure you’ve already heard of it before and you have probably read it as well. You might even have an opinion that it works or that it doesn’t, but the good thing is that it doesn’t matter what you believe right now, to make this work.

You see, there is one thing that made me think more than anything else and it was the art of gratitude that was presented in this book.

At first I was skeptical about this having any power at all, but I was surprised when I found out how powerful it truly is.

At that time I decided that I will try to be grateful for everything that happens in my life. I have decided to be grateful for wonderful things that happen and for everything else that made me anxious up till that point in time.

I really didn’t believe that it will work, but I also had nothing to lose, so I decided to do it and be grateful.

So, one day, when I was walking through the city center I began to experience the anxiety. But as soon as I caught myself engaging in my automatic negative thoughts, I switched my focus to being grateful for everything that comes across.

I told myself: “I’m grateful to have the opportunity to learn something from this experience and grow as a person.”

After 10 minutes of doing this I noticed my reflection in a nearby window and I saw that I was smiling. At that point I was actually walking through the city center with a smile on my face without worrying about life.

I switched my focus from my negative internal dialogue to being grateful and my anxiety practically disappeared.

I know that it might sound so unreal, but if you suffer from any sort of anxiety, you really should try this out. You’ll be amazed by the results. I know I was and I was very skeptical about it before I tried being grateful.

Hopefully, I didn’t bore you too much with my story and you’re still with me, because now I will show you how you can do the same. I will show you how you can get similar results by following a simple technique I’m about to show you.

Deepest Gratitude Technique

This is a very simple, yet incredibly powerful technique that helps you prevent anxiety and panic attacks.

Follow these steps:

1. Sit in a comfortable position, someplace where you can be alone. You don’t want to get disturbed right now.

2. Close your eyes and focus your attention to your heart area.

3. Put your right hand on your chest and imagine a feeling of warmth radiating out of your chest. Really focus on that feeling.

4. Now, focus on something in your life that gives you a real sense of appreciation. This can be anything that you really appreciate to have in your life (family, friends, a beautiful day, a wonderful sunset, your own home, ….).

It’s important that you focus on something that really makes you grateful.

5. Begin to really feel the feeling of appreciation. Notice where in your body this feeling appears and notice if it’s a moving sensation or is it stable. Notice, how it makes you feel. Stay in that moment for a while and enjoy that feeling.

6. When you feel like you have enjoyed the feeling enough, slowly open your eyes.

After completing this exercise you will feel much more relaxed.

Now, if you want this to really work, you need to find a few minutes every day to practice this. It’s like working out. If you want to get in shape and stay in shape as well, you need to work out regularly. It’s completely the same with this. If you want to defeat your anxiety, you have to start doing things differently and keep doing them for as long as needed to get over your anxiety.

After a while you will be able to recall this positive feeling almost at will. This will help you to stay relaxed and positive whenever you find yourself in a situation that usually provokes your anxiety and panic attacks.