Soulshine

I’ve come to belief that there is a real difference between an anxiety attack and a panic attack. When I have an anxiety attack I feel unusually warm, almost like I’m coming down with a fever or the flu. My forehead doesn’t feel warm or feverish, however, and so I know I’m not really physically sick. I know it’s a mental/emotional discomfort that’s fueling a physical reaction. During an anxiety attack, my mind is relatively under control on a conscious level, but subconsciously, I know that I am facing some choices that mean taking a risk and possibly facing rejection or abandonment. So it’s really about learning to move past my comfort zone and to grow more into the real me, which is always frightening. A panic attack for me is like an anxiety attack times 10. My conscious brain is running on full-throttle with anxious, devastating, out-of-control thoughts that wind me up inside till I feel like I’m going to implode. There’s a sense of despair and hopelessness and there ...

“’What is real?’ asked the Rabbit one day… ‘Does it mean having things buzz inside and a stick-out handle?’ ‘Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse, ‘It’s something that happens to you.’ ‘Does it hurt?’ asked the Rabbit. ‘Sometimes,’ said the Skin Horse.” Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit    Discovering our true God-encoded purpose in life requires that we become authentic or real people. It means we stop hiding behind our fears and allow ourselves to be vulnerable— to open up to ourselves, to life, to others. It means we recognize that we alone are the stewards of the life God gave us. It means learning to honestly love ourselves.    Becoming real, as the Velveteen Rabbit learned, means we must own our thoughts and choose them wisely (Choosing the kind over the critical). It also means we must open-up to   our feelings and be willing to accept them, even when they do hurt. It likewise means that we must learn to treasure our bodies...