How to Cure Anxiety

     We live in an ever changing world full of challenges and hurdles. Stress and anxiety are  simply  parts of our daily life. There are many ways to deal with our daily dose of stress and anxiety and depending on the gravity   of such encounters how we INTERPRET and REACT to these situations affect us in many ways more than we are aware of. If unchecked anxiety can lead to recurrent panic attacks which, in the long run, are not only unhealthy and debilitating but are also harder and longer to treat.

     Before we cover deeper ground on how to best deal with our anxiety-ridden life and explore some techniques to lower our anxiety levels as well as reduce stress let's establish a clearer understanding of what anxiety is. How are stress and anxiety related? Well, simply put, anxiety a physiologic response and it is essentially  how our body reacts to stress. Now let's  not confuse Anxiety with Anxiety Disorder because the latter is a disease whereas the former is a natural response  to stressful situations or events. Anxiety Disorders can be broken down into several conditions:

1. Panic Attacks
2. Specific Phobias (i.e. fear of heights, fear of spiders, etc.)
3. Social Phobias
4. Post Traumatic Stress Disorders
5. Obsessive Compulsive Disorders

     Know, however, that constant worrying and anxiety CAN LEAD to any one of the above disorders and would essentially require medical treatment or intervention. Since an ounce of prevention is much better than a pound of cure, as they say, having a systematic approach to dealing with anxiety is crucial before it sets in and converts to a disorder. So, let's cover, in the following order, the key steps in living and dealing with anxiety. They are:

1. Our Perception of Fear and Stress; conditioning our minds
2. Assigning Situational Gravity; what's worse and what's not
3. Filtering and  Subduing; fear reduction 101
4. Increasing our Level of Awareness
5. Optimism; Learn it and Assimilate it in Every Way.

      The first thing we need to tackle is our Perception of fear and stressful situations or events. Our perception ultimately dictates how we interpret and receive data or stimuli from our surroundings and it is how we interpret, in turn, which dictates how we respond. From this first level we need to uncover how we can keep our fears at bay, to assess each situation carefully and eliminate apprehension of any type. The mind is a powerful medium which can ultimately affect our better judgement. What I mean by that is most of us anticipate beyond what is necessary.Our apprehension leads us to conjure possible dangers or risks or even worse case scenarios which, ultimately, cripples us from moving forward or even taking positive action. A method I suggest you try us to imagine yourself in a situation which you know causes a lot of anxiety and stress. Now,with that in mind, imagine walking yourself through such an experience, opening your mind to options you may want to consider or take in order to overcome this event. Now imagine in your mind's eye how you will act or feel at that moment and thereafter as you tackle the said situation. Play this exercise out until you become familiar with how you plan and undertake any course of action. This systematic disensitization is one way which allows us to remove anxiety during a stressful event. Though there is no gold standard in dealing with anxiety and curing it, there is, however, a resounding theme when it comes to overcoming it, and that is how we need to condition our minds as a first step towards anxiety-free living. This mind-conditioning self therapy is effective in many ways but its greatest asset is how it relieves stress in our lives. I had already talked about how stress is debilitating to our health in one of my previous posts and helping yourself cure anxiety is the first step towards stress-free living. Here's a video exemplifying how we have in us the power to overcome our fears and relieve ourselves of unwanted anxiety.

     Conditioning your mind, however, is not enough in order to overcome anxiety. You need to form, out of habit, a method by which you categorize immediate threats ( more gravid) and less severe, more distant threats (less gravid). In other words, you need to do away with worrying about useless stuff and be less mindful of them. Remember what I always say in some of my posts," There are a lot of things in life we absolutely have no control over, hence we shouldn't even bother. The things we do have control, however, we can improve upon and change for the better.". Another thing you have to do away with is how you anticipate dangers or even fear needlessly. When it happens, it happens, and only when it does happen do you need to act accordingly and calmly. Assess each situation you feel causes you uneasiness and anxiety and relegate them to the back of your mind only when you feel that there is no immediate threat from them. You also need to focus more and be more attentive. By doing so you increase your level of awareness significantly. The final thing you need to do is practice optimism on a daily basis. Being optimistic keeps your mind open to options you may not even be aware of initially. Being positive and doing positive action assures optimism. Lastly,know that you are only traveling through the road of life once. Don't let fear, anxiety, and stress limit your potential to exploit life to the fullest. This is JowelMD with yet another post. Signing off but not signing out. Take care guys.

Keywords; key thoughts?

     If you ever tried writing on blogs or even write an article, you'll find that the key question hovering on most writer's heads is," How do I reach my target audience?".Simply put another way, " How does one write well enough and at the same time include a good amount of keywords that search engines search for on a daily basis? If you've ever played around with SEO, you know what I mean. The main challenge, at least I believe, is how do you convey your thoughts across a medium and not be a slave to a slew of keywords you know you'd have to insert somewhere just so someone out there gets to read your work. Where do we strike a balance between a well written piece and one that gets picked up by search phrases? In other words, quality v.s. quantity on a whole different light.

     I write because I like to write. Writing allows me a sense of freedom in sharing my thoughts, my ideas, my ideals, to the world. First and foremost it gives me a medium to put my thoughts down even if only to evaluate them later. I also believe writing is an art. You can say a hundred different things about something but find yourself limited when trying to write those things down. I write on a whim most times so I don't really pay attention to what keywords I type down, if any. As a matter of fact, the question begs to be asked regarding what keywords really are. Key words to what? To whom? Ever try writing poetry while minding what key words you jot down? Of course not! I have a deep respect for poets because writing poetry is like seeing your soul on a mirror and describing what you see. Poets write out of passion and whatever moves them is what gives them lifeblood.

     Going back to our dilemma. A good writer writes for himself or herself, first and foremost, before writing for anyone else. This signature must be established in order to cover deeper ground in writing. Writing, you see, isn't just about putting words on paper. It's so much more than that. Your'e written work must flow and convey your thoughts with clarity. On that note I'd like to say that there are two types of writers who publish on the internet; for every writer who writes for himself or herself is another writer who writes for an audience or a group of audiences. The latter targets a specific demographic and keys in on topics which may have some value to these group of people. The former writes about issues and challenges which have profound effects on their daily lives and offers alternatives or solutions to these ailments. Which one are you? Better yet, which of the two would you most likely read published works on. I prefer being a writer who writes from experience. I can write passionately then. 

     Another key topic most writers concern themselves with is Content. How do you cover ground on the basis of delivering quality content? Well, let's ponder for a minute what quality content is. For me, quality content must cover two areas effectively. These key areas are Substance and Delivery. Let's talk about Substance. Say I was searching through the web and typed in a keyword phrase in the hope of finding a solution to a problem I have. On the first page I open the first 5 websites that are keyed in on the question or keyword phrase I typed. Going through the data I noticed that very few of these websites offered ACTUAL, real-world answers to my problem. Instead, what I got out of them are suggestions and not solutions. I want a road-map to solving whatever it is I want solved, not another referral to yet another possibility. Delivery, on the other hand, is an entirely different ballpark from Substance. You have to grab your audience long enough  to convey your message across and not lose them in translation. Do you write blandly or with gusto? Do you at least keep things interesting enough to arouse your audience's curiosity making them come back for more? A good delivery depends on how you structure your written work. You need to flow into your next paragraph and the next and so forth. Avoid using distractors and thought shifts. Don't jump from one topic to the other. Instead,cover them in terms of relevance tackling the most relevant first and  the least last.

     Write for yourself. Genuine written work is much more appreciated when read. Someone out there will eventually stumble on your article and blog and say, "Wow!". Write from the heart and write your own. Don't rewrite someone else's work just so you can jump in the bandwagon and get some traffic to your site.

Writing is like speaking in front of an audience, in some ways. You can never get everyone's attention but you try anyway. That goes without saying that writing, like speaking, takes patience and practice. You don't need to be a gifted writer. Skill comes with consistency and time. And of keywords? What keywords?