Healing tips 

For additional information on how to manage anxiety in a healthy way, from a secular perspective, we recommend people consider subscribing to the Friday emails of Dr. Gail Brenner. www.gailbrenner.com

 

"Take and accept yourself just as you are, where you are. If you are aggressive, lustful, fearful, or shy and passive, notice your feelings before, during, and after each incident, without emotional reactions of blame, shame, anger or discouragement. Let God work with your faults and limitations. Just recognize them and be with them, without trying to correct them directly. As you watch them, feel them, and accept them, their force and exaggeration will gradually diminish. Keep moving to the center of your being where divine love is and be present to and welcome whatever bodily feeling or emotion that is happening" 

Rev. Thomas Keating

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"As you may know from your own experience, anxiety can be overpowering. The mind loops in worry and fearful thinking, and the agitation in your body won’t let go. It’s just plain uncomfortable. And it grabs us so we’re unable to experience the peace that’s possible.
When we’re caught in the grip of anxiety, we have two choices available to us:

• We can stay trapped in the mind’s cycling thoughts, or;

• We can invite our attention to rest outside the anxious mind…in our present moment experience…in our senses…in the simple experience of being aware

This is how we touch the essence of who we are beyond the limiting ideas of the personal, fear-driven self.I love that this choice is available! We can continue to suffer, or we can begin to come home to ourselves. Here’s how. An essential first step to finding release from anxiety is to recognize that thoughts are present as part of your experience.

If you’re feeling anxious, you will find thoughts running nonstop in your mind— judgments, comparisons, hopes, worries, and doubts. So much thinking.  And if you slow down to explore these thoughts, you’ll notice they’re telling you stressful and negative stories about yourself, other people, and the world—that you’re inadequate, that others are not to be trusted, and that it’s not safe to let your guard down and simply be.

Thinking thoughts means that you’re feeding what they’re telling you with your attention. You believe them and assume they’re real and important. This is what roots the anxiety even deeper in your being—and takes you farther from the peace you’re looking for. Let yourself feel into how persistent these thoughts are and how tense you feel when the mind is chewing on them. Then, as a sacred movement into love and freedom, turn your attention away from the content in the mind. As much as possible, lose interest in the thoughts that are arising. Instead of getting lost in thinking, take a few loving breaths and feel the sensations of the breath in your body. Take a big stretch with your arms, expand your attention to what you see, hear, and feel in the present moment, go out and experience nature. Open to some things you feel grateful for to activate your heart’s capacity. If someone is with you, meet them with presence coming through your eyes. Do anything that shifts your attention away from the content of the anxious thoughts. You will find many possibilities once you look for them. See how your whole experience changes? With your attention now in deep connection with the present moment—and not in your mind—you’re relaxed, open, here, and alive. There’s space to expand beyond your thoughts into the living truth of who you are. Anxious thoughts will take hold again and again, but it doesn’t matter. Each time is an opportunity to find yourself. Because anxiety doesn’t hold a candle to the power of love and truth. Keep trusting in the life force that is infinitely greater than your false personal self. Keep returning to the aliveness that is who you are. This is the anchor that will set you free"

Dr. Gail Brenner

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Experiencing insomnia because of incessant, ruminating, anxious, fearful, worrisome mind stories? We recommend the purchasing of this Sacred Heart of Jesus illuminating image. It helps one 'remember' that Jesus is present 24/7, and it helps one lessen the time their attention is spent on negative stories and commentaries ruminating in their mind.

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Possible practices to use when anxious, fearful, or worrisome thoughts pop up in the mind include: 1) promptly deciding to 'lose interest' in or 'turn away' from the mind's stories and thought content (lie, no thanks, not interested) , 2) promptly responding with Truth (i.e. "I don't worry about my life, body, or tomorrow"), or 3) promptly giving/casting the anxiety/care to God, like a gift, thanking God for taking it whether it feels like God takes it or not. Then after doing any of the above. we can move the mind's 'attention' back to the present moment/our direct experience . . . . . living day to day in a new peace and freedom.

 

​​​Practice the Prayer of Rest as outlined in this website. Twice a day, for 20-30 minutes.

 

Read the spiritual healing classic: The Healing Light, written by Agnes Sanford in 1947.

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Read the book Open Mind, Open Heart, written by Rev. Thomas Keating, to learn about Christian centering prayer.

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Read the book: Word Into Silence, written by Rev. John Main, to learn about Christian meditation prayer.

 

Read the short book Perfect Freedom, written in England by lay person W.D. Kendall in the 1950's. CLICK HERE for a pdf link.​

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​"What prevents us from finding happiness? It's a lack of a sense of the presence of God. We feel alienated from God, so the world is a frightening place. If we had the sense of union with God, we'd not be afraid. But since we do not, we feel alone".

Rev. Thomas Keating

 

The old man/old self that the Book of Ephesians mentions, will continuously create thoughts such as: "You should do everything in your power to fight or get rid of anxious thinking". This is a lie. For whatever one resists, will persist and grow stronger. (Carl Jung). A Christian's faith is rooted in the Truth that God IS mysteriously causing all things to work together for their good.

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"Undesirable thoughts will constantly enter the mind, and at one time I accepted them without question, gave reign to them and was had-ridden by them. The time came when I began to resent them. I learned that the best way was not to fight them, but to repudiate and turn away from them, and if at that moment I could not find a corrective thought to put in their place, I could at least hold my ATTENTION to something else, anything else that directed thought away from self. An evil suggestion has NO power of itself to remain in consciousness. Its appearance of life depends soley on the ATTENTION we give to it. Ignore it and, having no life itself, it must fade out ".

W.D. Kendall

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Agnes Sanford, Rev. Thomas Keating, Bishop Robert Barron, Joyce Meyer, Lucinda Bassett and others, all stress the critical importance of spending the first moments of each day in God's presence.......in silence, solitude, and stillness. The Prayer of Rest, Christian centering prayer and Christian meditation, are all tools one can use. The result for those who practice this regularly? 1. feeling closer to God, 2. having more energy, 3. having a calmer mind, and 4. having a calmer nervous system.

 

"To some, Christian love come as a free gift from God, but MOST OF US NEED TO LEARN IT. By practice. Our Lord suggested that we retire into a closet, or private room for prayer and close the door to all outside distractions. For our success or failure, our health or illness, our triumph in love or our defeat by hate will DEPEND ON THAT TINY EFFORT OF ATTENTION by which we think clearly concerning our choice, shall we keep the appointment with God, or shall we set in aside in favor of the laundryman" .

Agnes Sanford

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Negative or anxious thinking will never totally go away or cease to exist in a person's life because of 'concupiscence' (our inclination or tendency to sin due to the direct consequence of original sin that remains even after baptism - CCC). So why bother renewing our mind? It's because doing so helps us to learn to be more like Christ; loving and merciful towards ourselves and others. From Rev. Thomas Keating: "It's not that negative thinking is going to completely go away, but, it becomes powerless to influence you anymore".

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Resting with an image of Jesus on the body or nearby, such as the Sacred Heart of Jesus, helps one remember/stay in touch with Jesus' loving/infinite presence 24/7.​

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Healthy life-style choices are vital, such as: minimizing the use of caffeine, added sugar, alcohol, and artificial sweetners. Proper hydration, spending time in nature, and a regular bedtime routine are very beneficial. Consider eating more Superfoods, such as Watercress and Liver.  Limiting screen time whenever possible is extremely beneficial, since screen time increases the level of 'cortisol', the stress hormone, in one's body. Walking is man's best medicine (Hippocrates).​​​​​​​​

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"The love-vibrations and the faith vibrations of God enter through our thoughts of life and love. In the same way, the destructive thought vibrations of Satan enter through our thoughts of illness, hate, and death. What are we do to about this? Most of us will immediately think we must fight it. We must resist it. But that is precisely the wrong approach. If we respond to our doubts by thinking I just won't think this way, I won't I won't, we increase the nervous tension and add to the thought suggestion of fear. Jesus did not contend with Satan, He merely turned His back on him. Indeed the power of evil has nothing on us if we turn our backs on it."​​​

Agnes Sanford

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Regularly attending church services (especially if one is Catholic and receives Holy Communion) and attending an individual or group prayer for healing appointment or service, either in person or online, can be an integral part of one's transformation and restoration journey. In the Jacksonville, FL area we recommend Christian Healing Ministries. In the Orlando, FL area we recommend The Inheritance House.​

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A powerful yet seldom known Truth is, we can choose what our mind's attention is placed on. ​​​​And, we can learn to live just fine with random thinking/noise in the background.  Think about shopping at Wal-Mart.  There's music playing in the background, and yet our attention is placed on the task of shopping.

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"Our greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another".  This is consistent with scriptures command to 'hold thoughts captive for Truth'.

William James​

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A common lie instigated by the old man/old self is: "if you were only holier or more spiritual, you wouldn't experience anxiety". This lie can cause a person to work harder and harder to be more spiritual or religious, which only increases anxiety. The proper action or response to this lie comes from St. John of the Cross' classic writing: Dark Night of the Soul, Chapter 10.

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Listening to Christian radio throughout the day, be it EWTN, K-LOVE or the Moody Broadcasting Network, can aide one in their mind renewal journey.

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"OH THAT we can say to ourselves when we notice negative thinking. That's nothing. It's only the old thought habit that hasn't quite faded out. I'm learning a new thought habit and pretty soon I won't think that way anymore. In the meantime it can't hurt me at all, because my REAL SELF is a child of God and is so full of thoughts of faith and power. And by an act of will we can continue to give thanks, quite un-concerned about the other voice that murmurs within us. In so doing, we ignore the old-thought habit, we turn our backs on Satan. But this is not an easy task. We must also gently and patiently teach ourselves a new thought habit. We must re-educate the sub-conscious mind replacing every thought of fear with a thought of faith. Every thought of illness with a thought of health. Every thought of death with a thought of life. In other words, we must LEARN faith. How often we have heard a person say I guess I just haven't the faith to get well. Of course we haven't. That's why we are learning it. Surely this is worth a little mental training".​

Agnes Sanford

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Engaging in Christian 'Welcoming Prayer' is another helpful tool one can use when faced with regular intense/strong emotions. Search for Mary Dwyer, Welcoming Prayer, Contemplative Outreach.​

 

A Christian's Soul has moved from being united/one with the old man/old self, to becoming one with the new man/new self (Spirit). Therefore, knowing that negative, anxious, obtrusive thinking stems from the old man/old self, and not from 'them' (new man/new self) is a believer's highest level of liberation and path to freedom.​

         

For most, in the first half of life, the old man or ego becomes the dominant motivational influence in one's life, producing (often unconciously) thoughts and behaviors such as: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath (anger), sloth and so on. In the second half of life, we're called by God to transform ourselves through the renewing of our minds, by gradually dying or letting go of the old man or ego. Yes this requires God's graces, but, it also requires a conscious, willful, personal effort. The first to second half of life transition is often preceded by a catalyst, such as a major loss or pain event. This is why we consciously choose to keep believing in Romans 8:28, and to remember that it's often through weakness that God's power is perfected in us (2Corinthians 12:9).

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A good first practice in the renewing of the mind journey, is to just lose interest in the content of ALL thinking. This is done by using one's OBSERVING or AWARENESS mind faculty, to see what the mind's ATTENTION is focused on periodically throughout the day. If we observe it's focused in the mind on thinking/thoughts, we use our will to say: "not interested, no thanks",  and gently and willfully move our ATTENTION back to sense living (what we're seeing, what we're hearing, what we're touching, etc). .

 

"At its core and in its natural state, life is simple—in this moment now, and always. There is just what’s here and happening...with no commentary, judgment, or resistance that complicates things. It’s like stripping the moment down to the barest experience of what is: just seeing, reading, breathing, sitting, hearing, talking, moving, life emerging… But don’t take my word for it. See if this is true in your own experience. Take a look right now and delete the mind’s interpretations. What is actually here in your direct experience?

Continue with this contemplation, and you’ll start to notice how simple life is.

If something needs to be taken care of, it will become obvious. If you’re hungry, you’ll get something to eat. If the car is running out of gas, you’ll stop at a gas station. If someone asks you for help, you’ll say yes or no. Can you imagine carrying out these activities without paying attention to the spinning commentary of the mind? There is a natural, utterly simple unfolding of things that is completely apparent—when you can see it clearly without the mind’s complications. But for many of us in our normal everyday lives, we’re distracted by mental and emotional noise…and we overlook the simplicity of the moment.

• We go into our heads trying to solve endless problems;

• We feed sad and anxious stories about things not going our way;

• We think about getting the attention and approval we crave;

• We judge ourselves for not being perfect.

The mind entices us into believing that the present moment is lacking. We believe that whatever is happening now isn’t good enough—and we’re not good enough.

And this leads to “if only” thinking. “If only I had more confidence, if only everything was just right and I felt comfortable.” Then we scramble to find solutions to this perceived lack…and things quickly get complicated. See how our thinking spins out of control? We move away from reality (so simple in its clarity) and into the made-up stories in the mind. But here’s what’s always possible—to rediscover the simplicity of the moment.

Practice ignoring the commentary that takes you away…and return to the bare experience of what’s actually here. This is where we find freshness and insight: “Oh, it’s just a thought! Oh, there’s nothing here that needs to be fixed.” Peace and ease are always available—in this and every moment. But we can only know that outside the complexity of our thoughts. The sacred invitation is to lose interest in the content of our thinking—just turn away from it, and, like a miracle, we discover the peace we’re looking for. If there is action to be taken, we can trust that we’ll know just what to do.

Once we realize that life is simple, we might have the brilliant insight that nothing is missing and things right now are perfectly okay as they are.

Dr. Gail Brenner

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​The more one uses electronic devices or spends time on screens, the more cortisol and adrenaline, the stress hormones, are released into the blood stream. And, the more stress hormones in the blood stream, the more negative physical and mental health issues one is likely to experience in their bodies (tension, inflammation, dis-ease, anxiety, depression, etc.).​​​​​​

 

A calmer body typically experiences less physical sensations, and less bodily physical sensations typically leads to a reduction in the number of anxious stories and commentaries in one's mind.  For individuals experiencing a high level of bodily anxiety and tension, a progressive-bodily relaxation audio/exercise 2 to 3 times a day is sometimes necessary. Here is the best one we've found.  It sometimes requires re-starting: https://gailbrenner.com/wp-content/uploads/relaxationsleep.mp3​