A Prayer to Soothe an Anxious and Worried Heart: "Dear Lord, I thank you that I can come to You always for any reason. I’m grateful that when I pray to You, You answer me. Help me to come to You at the beginning of my fears and anxieties instead of waiting until I can’t stand them anymore. The quicker I come to You the better. You want to free me from ALL my fears. Help me look to You for help more often so that I can be radiant with Your joy. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen." For more guided prayers to use when you feel anxiousness begin to rise, use our collection provided here: 25 Prayers for Anxiousness To Trade Your Worries and Fears for God's Peace
For more verses on worry and anxiety: https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/worry-and-anxiety-bible-verses/
Here are 15 Surprising Ways to Find Relief from Anxiety:
1. Ramble to someone next to you. Monologue it if you’re alone. This is great for when I’m freaking out in the car. My counselor recommends deliberate breathing, but that takes focus I don’t always have. Talking is a good way to change the way I’m inhaling and exhaling naturally.
2. Sing along with the radio or risk it and go acapella. This is another great way to change up your breathing without trying that also comes in handy in the car.
3. Stand up—comedy that is. Find your sense of humor. What’s funny in your situation—or what will be funny once you’re out of it?
4. Get creative. Paint. Draw. Write. Play an instrument.
5. Organize. Cleaning, sorting, and rearranging gives me a goal to set my eyes on and something to focus on. Bonus—you also get a completed project to feel proud of. In desperate moments, I’ve impromptu-organized everything from my jewelry boxes to my husband’s underwear drawer to the closet underneath my stairs.
6. Take a shower. Or a bath. Warm water relaxes me.
7. Distract yourself. Read. Watch TV. Play a video game. Plan your grocery list. Clean up the emails in your inbox. Anything that gets your focus off what’s going on in your body and mind and puts it somewhere else.
8. Take a tour. A mental tour. Growing up, I lived in a lot of different houses. When my mind refuses to turn off at night, I mentally walk through each one and see what details I remember—the pink flowers on the wallpaper of my house in Ohio, the deep end of the pool we had in Florida, the creepy basement of our first house in Wisconsin. Replay a visual of your favorite places.
9. Wave bye-bye to obligations. Yes, there are certain things we have to do. There are also lots of things we only think we have to do. Prioritize. Step away from what you can and conserve your mental energy for what you can’t.
10. Turn off the noise. Sometimes you need to isolate temporarily. My anxiety gets worse with stimulation. I’ll let you in on a secret even my friends don’t know. If I’m going somewhere to meet other people, I drive myself so I have an escape plan. Most of the time I don’t need to use it, but it makes me feel safe to know I have an immediate getaway.
11. Pinpoint focus. Social anxiety is a problem for some of us and backing out of an event—which I’ve done on numerous occasion—or leaving isn’t always an option. Plan C? Pick one person in the crowd you feel comfortable with and ask them about themselves. If you’re focused on them and work on actively listening, you’ll spend less energy focusing inward on yourself.
12. Fail. Give yourself permission to fall from perfection. A lot of us who suffer from anxiety also suffer from perfectionism. Give it a try. Failing really isn’t the end of the world.
13. Go there. Make a plan. Visualize the worst thing that could happen in the situation you’re in, or with the fear consuming you, and plan what you’d do. I like to be prepared. Just knowing I’ve already thought a situation from beginning to end calms some of my anxiety.
14. Pray for someone else. If I focus on someone else’s needs, I slowly begin to forget about myself.
15. Memorize Scripture that speaks to you. God’s word is a living, breathing gift to us. Verses I may find deep meaning in, you may not. We read the Bible where we are in life. Pick words that dig deep into your heart and stay there.
-Excerpted from 15 Surprising Ways to Find Relief from Anxiety by Lori Freeland
Originally published Thursday, 30 May 2019.
