Anxiety, and morning routines

[monkey]

Hi all. I have felt lately that the anxiety I used to feel all the time has returned. I have a great dread of something being 'wrong', I can feel that it is wrong. I have a constant listing in my head about the things I have to do, the feeling that if I can't hold on to them and control them that the terrible thing will happen. I wake up each morning with all this very insistent in my mind. I find it very hard to be still or let go of the idea that I have to be doing something at all times when in this mindset.

I can see the anxiety, and to some extent just breathing and feeling the weight of my body and relaxing dissipates it. Does anyone else practice with this kind of thing? How do you deal with it? And does anyone else have a routine in the morning for helping to let go of these thoughts? I can't practice in the morning because I am getting children their breakfast (and if I wake up earlier so do they). But I would welcome any advice as I find it hard right now.

[Peter]

Hi monkey,
If this becomes too bad, I'd advice you to seek professional help.
Peter

[JonW]

Hi monkey.
Could you remind me of how your mindfulness practice shapes up at present? Sitting meditations? Body scans? Mindful movements? Loving-kindness? Walking meditations? How often? Do you meditate with others? Do you have friends you talk to about meditation? Let's recap.
Cheers,
Jon

[EnergyCloud]

Hi Monkey,

It seems that your mind has found a way to get the anxiety back to you, and it starts first thing in the morning. Luckily for you, you discovered this and can see the pattern. So now you know when you open your eyes its presence time You say that breathing and feeling your (inner?)body helps, so you might have to do this the moment you wake up.

Your attention then can go to all the thing you do and your sense perceptions. For example: feeling your feet on the floor, feeling the clothes you put on, hearing the sounds when you walk or put on clothes etc. It might even help if you name in your head what you are doing, in that case your mind is forced to think about the things your are doing. This action, with the awareness of your sense perceptions can be very powerfull.

In regrets to the anxiety: you can allow it when you feel it, and maybe you can be with it. So this means your not labeling it and also not giving it all the attention it wants. So don't deny or fight it,acknowledge it and try to be present.

And I do believe a lot of ("succesfull") people have morning routines: breathing techniques, meditation, yoga, etc. So its normal that you have to get in the right state each morning.

With love, EnergyCloud

[monkey]

Hi all. It does seem to have eased since I posted, so not feeling so overwhelmed with it now. @Peter, thank you. I haven't been to the GP becuase I know they will offer me antidepressants and online CBT and nothing else. But it does seem to have eased anyway.

Thanks, Jon - my practice is yoga in the morning and sitting meditation in the evening, plus mindfulness during the day. I am not all that comfortable with metta - I wanted to ask you how you teach it actually as I find it hard to get into. I think that by the time I come to sitting I've usually had a whole day looking after children and my general empathy towards others is worn pretty thin, so I tend to just sit and do choiceless awareness or awareness of breathing etc. I don't practice with others although am going to try to get to the group that someone mentioned on another thread soon. I don't know anyone else who practices really so no, I don't talk to others about meditation except on here!

EnergyCloud - that is what I try to do, but it's very hard sometimes. I was thinking of starting to write something first thing, list gratitudes etc. I know this isn't really mindfulness, more positive thinking, but I think that the general negative track of my mind could be countered by cultivating a kinder habit.

Any suggestions welcome. I would like to have more of a loving kindness practice, that could help I think. But I have little time in the morning, it would be five minutes at most.

[frazzled37]

Hi Monkey

I too suffer with morning anxiety. The moment I wake I feel refreshed and then a second later, when reality dawns, I can feel the stress beginning to surge through my body. By the time I get to work I am so mentally exhausted I could sleep standing up. My mind has clearly associated waking with an impending threat and I have this most mornings. I have been doing a lot of reading on how to deal with morning anxiety and tips on what to try.

The very worst thing I can do on mornings like this is snooze. This gives my mind time to go full force into ruminating mode, as I call it. The problem is with stress comes lethargy and with lethargy comes the momentous task of getting up on time in the mornings.

To help myself I put the mobile phone across the room and set the alarm to a soothing alarm, something that grows in volume and doesn't startle-wake me (triggering the stress response). I have to get up and turn the alarm off and I force myself to begin my day. If I don't make this decision within around 5 seconds I'm doomed. I then force myself to have a positive dialogue in my head along the lines of wow you done great, you're going to have such a nice day today etc etc and then I force myself to try and do everything mindfully. How many steps does it take to get to the bathroom, how cold does the floor feel, counting in seconds how long it takes for the shower to get hot etc.

I also try to eat wholegrain/wholemeal carbs in my breakfast. I find these give me a nice clean stable energy for the next couple of hours and my tendency to stress diminshes.

Before I know it my mind has calmed and I don't view the list of things to do in the day as a huge stress burden any more. I think more clearly and decide which tasks I can drop and which tasks are most important.

Hope these tips are helpful!

[monkey]

Hi Frazzled. Thank you, it's good to hear from someone who's experiencing similar things. Since I posted I've experimented a bit with trying different things. I don't get a lot of snoozing because my daughter often wakes about the same time I do (or wakes me, I should say!).

But, like you, I find that saying kind things to myself when I first wake up makes a big difference. So now I try to say a few things to myself 'I am ok, I am safe, I am enough' as soon as I wake up. Then I do as you suggest and just try to focus on sensations, and on love and kindness for the other people who are awake in the house. Then as I make breakfast I gradually try to come up with three things I am grateful for that day.

I think that the mindfulness on its own can ground me a bit but I need the other things to reorientate myself away from this 'you're not going to manage all this, there's so much to do, you're going to let everyone down' mindset that happens first thing. I find that then I can get back to a feeling of openness and kindness which is a better start! I've been reading 'Boundless Heart', about lovingkindness, which Jon recommended on here and that's also been a big help.

[Mindsfull]

Hi monkey,
If this becomes too bad, I'd advice you to seek professional help.
Peter

Hi Peter, just wondering what you mean by this comment? Do you mean professional help mindfulness wise or others... CBT, medication, etc. I only ask as I imagine people are interested in mindfulness for the purpose that other things haven't worked? And this comment seems that mindfulness shouldn't be looked at in such a way?

This is a genuine question if this come across any other way.