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 A
client recently asked me if it was possible to use “the
Secret” -- also called The Law of Attraction -- to cure
anxiety and panic attacks. And while at first glance this
may sound like a bit of a stretch, when you think about it,
the philosophy presented in the movie, The Secret, is very
similar to the principles many people have used to cure anxiety.
Let's take a look at a few of the similarities.
To begin
with, the Law of Attraction is all about becoming aware of
your predominant way of thinking and viewing the world. For
those of you who are unfamiliar with the Law of Attraction,
in basic terms it says that you attract circumstances, things
and people into your life based on your beliefs and thoughts.
While
many people want to explore the metaphysical aspects of this
philosophy, you can also look at it in a very common sense
way. For example, we've all heard the old saying, "you
catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar."
This is just another way of saying that your state of mind
can either attract good things, people and experiences to
you, or push them away.
I
think that the philosophy of The Secret is applicable to dealing
with anxiety problems, and I don't think that it is a coincidence
that I discovered how to cure my own 20 year anxiety nightmare
after I began reading books related to the Law of Attraction.
One
of the things that I became very aware of when I started to
understand this material was that I was focusing heavily on
stressful and negative things. I also spent a great deal of
time with negative people, read disturbing books, watched
anxiety-filled television programs, and generally filled my
mind with negative, stressful images.
But
I gradually began to change this habit when I began to understand
that I was creating anxiety in my life by focusing on these
things. Anxiety was not something that was happening to me
-- but rather, something I was involved in creating.
As time went by, it became more and more clear to me that
what we focus on is what we get in life. If we focus our attention
on the stressful aspects of life, we WILL attract stress and
anxiety. That's the real secret to understanding anxiety,
and it's just as simple as that sounds.
Learn
More About the EasyCalm Anxiety Video Series
In my
case, I had spent decades focusing on what was wrong in my
life, where the problems were, and what I did not like about
myself, other people, situations, jobs, and life in general.
Common sense will tell you what kind of life I attracted by
focusing on these things (hint: it wasn't good).
In fact,
I focused so much attention on these things that I completely
overlooked what was right in my life, and what was good about
my situation, the people around me, and what I should have
been grateful for. Luckily, I began to understand that this
way of seeing the world is not very realistic.
It
may be true that there are disagreeable, negative, and stressful
things in life. But it is equally true that there are pleasant,
positive, and enjoyable things in life.
By
primarily focusing on the negative, I had developed a very
skewed view of the world -- I was not "facing reality,"
because at least half of the picture was always missing (the
good half). In other words, I was out of balance; and the
anxiety I experienced was only a symptom of this
imbalance.
The
Law of Attraction is a bit too complicated to explain in detail
here, but the basic principles of this "secret"
philosophy are almost exactly the same as those involved in
overcoming anxiety and panic attacks. It is a process that
involves learning a new way of seeing the world and yourself.
The more you get into it, the more you'll see that understanding
the concept of attraction will improve every area
of your life, not just anxiety situations.
So
yes, I believe that The Secret, or the Law of Attraction,
is very relevant to curing anxiety
problems and panic attacks, no matter how serious they may
seem, or how long an individual has suffered with them.
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