Braving the Hot Mess
Check out Braving the Hot Mess on Facebook
  • Blog
  • My Story
  • Documentaries and Videos Worth Your Time
  • Books I Love
  • Vegan Recipes
  • Meditations
  • Affirmations
  • Tracy's Upcoming Events
  • Contact
  • Testimonials

Anxiety Is The Worst Use Of Your Imagination

3/14/2022

 
Picture
I love this quote by Deepak Chopra ... "The best use of imagination is creativity. The worst use of imagination is anxiety." Anxiety is something that I hear people mention frequently as more and more people are experiencing its grip. 

Anxiety can cause excessive and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations. It's the body's natural response to stress. Anxiety is a feeling of fear or apprehension about what we imagine is to come. 


When struggling with anxiety, the brain has the incredible ability to think of the worst-case scenario, to predict the worst possible outcomes and explanations for things. It doesn’t know for certain what will occur, but nevertheless it imagines, predicts, and then feels certain of this awful explanation or outcome. 

​Because anxiety involves imagination, we can also intentionally choose to use our imagination to help ourselves. We can use the same skill that makes us anxious to make us less anxious. I'm not trying to minimize or make light of anxiety, however for basic anxiety we can serve ourselves by not letting our natural negativity bias and imagination run rampant. 

​Anxiety wants to imagine an awful, terrible outcome or explanation, but with intention we can use our imagination to consider other possibilities. By doing this, we can take what feels certain and make it less certain.  We can open the door to new possibilities allowing our anxiety to settle ... creating the opportunity for a shift. This shift will help us to attract a more positive reality into our life. 

​Imagination involves creative thinking and problem solving, identifying new and different ideas, thinking outside of the box, stretching beyond our initial ideas and finding new ones.

We can start by letting ourselves to imagine the worst. But then challenge yourself to imagine as many other explanations and outcomes as you can. No matter how silly, small, or unlikely you might think it is, name it and imagine it as a possibility.

The act of imagination is a tool to counter anxiety. It’s how to cast doubt on negative outcomes that seem certain in our brain. It's how we begin to manifest a new and improved reality.

The next time anxiety starts to get the better of you, I invite you to use your imagination as a tool for good, not just for bad. Let it guide you toward possible options that are uplifting and squelch the 
tendency to allow it to only focus you only on the worst case scenario.
Tay
10/18/2023 09:33:54 pm

This is such a beautiful post! I have always had the struggle of anxiety and the fears that come with it! I'm on a new journey that requires me to look at things in the positive light, while trying to shut out the negative thoughts. This post most certainly helped! Imagination is such a beautiful thing but it can be a nightmare if we use it to feed our fears! Feed the imagination good thoughts not bad! :) and who knows what the future will hold ;)

Tracy
10/19/2023 07:33:39 am

Thank you for your lovely comment. Intentionally using our imagination is a wonderful tool. Good luck to you on your journey!

Sandra Vaughan
2/7/2024 08:38:28 pm

New to mindfullness

Los Angeles Depression Treatment link
12/28/2024 04:23:16 am

Effective depression treatment programs in Los Angeles offer a combination of therapy, medication management, and lifestyle changes to help individuals overcome depression and improve their quality of life.


Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Archive 

    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015

    Picture

      Please sign up to receive weekly new blog posts. 

    Submit
Proudly powered by Weebly