Greenbelt – artistry and activism (faith, arts and justice)
It’s a real issue of concern, but ANXIETY is never a helpful position to come from. We need to come from a place of knowing that we ourselves are ENOUGH – that what we are doing IS ENOUGH and that in learning how to live within our limits of ENOUGH – we will THRIVE – as individuals and as society
Think about 5 things:
Managing your STATE – physiology – breath, positive thoughts (cortisol) – develop practices that help you with the physicality of anxiety.
Be the PRESENT. Anxiety is not in the present – it’s worry about the future or the past. The present is the only thing we have real choice over – develop practices that keep you in the here and now.
Resource yourself and others – make sure you are kind to yourself and think about what you need to be the most effective. This may mean doing practical things like CURATING your news input – or make sure that you connect with or follow some of the good news stories that don’t make it to the front page news, but are there (e.g. ‘it’s the garbage queen’ on Insta) – because it gives you hope.
Focus on your AGENCY. There’s a lot to be concerned or even angry about now – you want to be able to focus your energy on ACTION. 2 types of anger – one is sometimes called PRIMARY – If you can channel your anger to meet it’s mark, it lands. The one associated with anxiety is sometimes called Secondary anger – it’s ultimately powerless – it goes round and round like a washing machine and never goes away – like anxiety.
CONNECT – to your deepest self, to others and to nature. Isolation and loneliness can exacerbate anxiety – when we work together we give each other hope, and harness the good that we have.
Ultimately, if we ourselves are coming from a place of what I call internal SCARCITY – where we’re not enough, or we don’t have what it takes – then we can’t be of our best. Make the shift to knowing that YOU ARE ENOUGH AS YOU ARE – basing your mindset on the belief in love, abundance and accepting things as they are so you can make a contribution – will really help to keep you HOPEFUL and BELIEVING THAT YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. It’s an inside out movement.
First discussed on BBC Radio 5 live.
