@Eilis Pippenger You're welcome!

@Emma Jones Hi Emma, Thanks for your reply. What you’re describing is very common. When anxiety shows up with strong physical sensations like nausea, a racing heart, or overwhelm, it can feel like the body has completely taken over. It can even seem impossible to step back and observe. But that is a thought. Still, the practice is always to allow everything to be as it is – whether mental or physical. Pain and suffering are two different things. As long as we are in these bodies, pain is inevitable. It's an unavoidable part of being alive. Painful thoughts, feelings and emotions are inescapable. Suffering is resistance to what is happening. We suffer when we label our experiences as bad or wrong; when we believe they shouldn't be happening. I undestand that when physical sensations are intense they seem to hijack our attention and remaining as the observer is not easy. The more you resist what is happening however, the more suffering you create for yourself. Surrendering to what IS, is always the way forward. I'm happy to discuss this further if you like.

@Rich Light A lot of people suffer from negative self-talk.... most people to some extent or other. There are several ways to turn the volume down. Questioning the mind, recognising that the voice in your head is just old programming playing on repeat, and recognising that there's nothing 'wrong' – the mind is just doing what the mind does. It's not you!!

@Bhavika Jhaveri Hi Bhavika. And welcome to the group. C and D seems to be the two most common. Have you tried different ways in the past to resolve this? Were they successful? I'd love to help.

@Eilis Pippenger I'm really happy you are here too. I'm glad you found Kick the Thinking Habit helpful. The path to breaking free of the mind is quite simple (as most profound things are) ... but not always easy. The thinking habit is quite ingrained in most people. Know that I am here to help however I can. I'll probably start a weekly live Q&A call in the next week or two.

@Eilis Pippenger You're welcome 🙏

@Bridgette Burnett Yes. We have no control over the self-arising thoughts, feelings, moods etc.The mind has a mind of its own. The only thing we can control is how we respond to them. As I said to Brian above resistance = suffering. The more we fight the mind, the more we suffer. And if we offer no resistance, it's perfectly possible to be anxious, fearful, self-critical etc and remain at peace. The mind is not you!

That's great Sandi. Gardens and sunshine certainly help!