Soulsong #257 - You CAN Get There from Here Panic attacks. Anxiety attacks. Bouts of low self-esteem, self-disparagement, and guilt. If I sometimes feel helpless in the grip of painful thoughts and emotions, I can assure myself there IS a way out. Bouts of emotional upheaval are like anything else that I don't want: the secret to moving beyond them is to minimize the attention I give them and increase the attention I give to their opposite. In the throes of a negative, perhaps inexplicable, emotional state, I can tell myself: "This too shall pass," "I survived this before, and I'll survive it now," "I'm an eternal being and this is a drop-in-the-bucket of my overall experience," "This helps me appreciate all the times I'm NOT in this state-of-mind," and "I'm happy to have this human experience even WITH these emotional bumps in the road." As I stop making negative emotional states a huge deal, they WILL start to shrink. And I'll speed the process by giving increased attention to the times I feel emotionally good or at least neutral. With gratitude I then affirm, "Yes, I want more of THIS!" "It feels so good to feel good!" and "I'm going in an upward direction." More attention to what I want more of. Less attention to what I want less of. Lousy grammar, but it will take me anywhere, ANYWHERE, I want to go. ***To subscribe (free): soulsongkaren###bellsouth.net