When my anxiety comes back, I know a few things.
I know that I have a few options to help myself and lower those anxiety levels – that includes my mental wellness journals, deep breathing or meditation exercises, talking to someone I trust or turning to gratitude.
But there’s also one undeniable truth – no matter what you do, sometimes you just have to float with your anxiety. It came, it’s there and there’s simply nothing you can do to get rid of it. You have to be with your feelings and emotions until they simply burn out.
Trust me, I know how hard it is. But there’s a way to ride it all out without losing your mind.
As strange as it may sound, allowing yourself to be anxious actually lowers your anxiety and worry really well! I have learned this trick in therapy. I found out that the more I try to stop my anxiety, the more I try to make it go away, the stronger it will get.
It’s like trying to tame down a fire by blowing on it – not only it doesn’t work – it makes it worse!
If this idea clicks for you, Dare by Barry McDonagh is a well-loved book built around exactly this approach of letting anxiety be there instead of fighting it.
So here’s what I do when all those emotional self-care, mental wellness, and calming ideas don’t help – I allow myself to be anxious and wait until it simply passes. And to make it all easier for myself, I love to read this mindfulness script that helps you to accept your feelings and let them pass smoothly…
You can use this mindfulness script too! Simply save this text (there’s a link at the bottom of this page) and meditate on it for a while whenever your anxiety feels out of control.
And don’t forget – you don’t really need to control it, even if simple measures like journaling don’t help… It’s okay to feel negative emotions and on the upside – they always pass. ALWAYS.
So here it goes!
Calming Mindfulness Script For Anxiety
1. Recognize and allow
I feel (…..insert emotion name here…..). There’s nothing wrong with it – it’s just an emotion or a feeling. I allow myself to feel it. I allow this emotion to overflow me. I don’t have to be afraid of it. I don’t have to stop it, but if I do some activities, it will pass sooner.
It is okay.
Sometimes I like to read through this part wrapped up in a weighted blanket – the gentle pressure makes it a little easier to sit with whatever I’m feeling.
2. Be a watcher
I can simply be a watcher of this feeling. I can spectate. I can notice how it feels, what it does to me. I don’t have to associate myself with it. It is just a feeling, just an emotion. Nothing more, nothing less.
I look at this feeling. I notice where I feel it in my body. I am not my emotions… I’m just a watcher of them.
These feelings are just like an ocean wave. I can float on it until I reach the shore.
Or maybe they’re – a train that has to pass by.
Maybe they’re like little people that come in and out of a room in my head. They stay here for a longer or shorter period of time… But they eventually leave.
3. Get back to the present
I bring my attention back to the present moment. I notice what I hear, see, touch, smell. I focus on my breath. My breath is my anchor to the present moment.
A soft scent can be a lovely anchor too, and an essential oil diffuser with a few drops of lavender gives your senses something calm to notice.
4. Deal with the comebacks
I can feel emotions coming back. It is okay. This is just what feelings do – they are meant to be felt. They sometimes come again and there’s nothing wrong with that. I can simply notice and witness them again.
It’s just another wave.
And that’s it. I hope this calming mindfulness script helps. You can get it as a free 5-page printable: the full script, cut-out pocket cards, a ‘riding the wave’ page, a practice log and a page to write your own calming script.
This script is a self-help tool, not a substitute for professional care. If anxiety feels unmanageable or you feel unsafe, call or text 988 (US) or your local emergency number.
> Distress Script / Mindfulness Activity For Anxiety PRINTABLE <<
*Personal use only.
