Whenever I find myself near-crippled by anxiety, I tend to do one of two things. I either cry and rely on my body to tire itself out, or I distract myself with television or social media. These “solutions” tend to put my problems on hold, but they rarely lead to an actual resolution. I often realize that I must fix my problems after exhausting these initial emotional outlets, and my general solution is to talk to a friend or mentor. By this time, I am relying on others to pull me out of the darkness…but what if I had reacted differently at the initial moment of panic? My initial reactions are very predictably avoidant, so the one thing that I definitely do not do is take a break and feel the present moment. It turns out that this unlikely reaction is one of the only ones with the potential to reset my thinking patterns and bring logic back into my life.
“One Day at a Time!”
Figure 1. Neill, Doug. Finding the Present Moment.
My anxiety is worst when I project far into the future. I rarely panic about events occurring in the present moment because I generally have at least one thing to appreciate, whether it is related to my physical or emotional health. As Oprah Winfrey once said, “living in the moment…means living your life consciously, aware that each moment that you breathe is a gift.” This is easier said than done, though. So many people tell me to take one day at a time, or one moment at a time, and it sounds so beautiful and possible! But the problem is that when those days and moments arise, I find myself in the past or the future, rather than in those days and moments.
Figure 2. Gunningham, Charlie. The Dangers of Short-Termism.
Scientists have recently discovered that one of the main traits that separates humans from other animals is our “power of prospection,” an ability to look ahead and seek out the future. We tend to look into the future because that was evolutionarily favored (as the humans who prepared for the future were more likely to survive). It is one of the main adaptations, if not the main adaptation, that prepared us to progress so effectively as a human race. It is easy to see why: the idea of short-termism (living in the short-term) can actually be dangerous, especially in the business world. We need to prepare for our futures by making plans because otherwise, we would rarely get anywhere we wanted to go. This tendency was evolutionarily favorable and is still important in many contexts, but living completely in fear of the future is actually quite destructive.
What We Can Do
One way to overcome the temptation of living in the future is through mindfulness. This topic has already been introduced in previous posts, but I am returning to a slightly different strategy in this post. After exploring mindful walking, mindful eating, and mindful meditation, I realized that one of the most powerful types of mindfulness is more of a disaster-avoidance breathing strategy. There are many breathing techniques that can bring you into the present moment, but some of the most useful ones I’ve found involve counting the length of my breaths.
The easiest technique to use in a moment of panic is making the lengths of your inhales and exhales equal. Another technique, lengthening your exhale, can be helpful after a little bit of equal breathing. I find “lion’s breath” to be the most entertaining technique because it involves not just long exhales, but loud and strong exhales. By focusing on the exhale, you can enable your body to fix the length and power of your inhale and bring yourself into a calm present moment. The present moment is a beautiful place, and whether you access it through your breathing or through your mind, I hope that you can enjoy and find comfort within it.