in your child mind, where your deepest beliefs are, you unconsciously believe the worries are keeping you safe, and you are afraid to let them go.

unfolds, the pain you feel is not coming from the anxious thoughts of your mind but from a sense of alarm stored in your body.

For many of us worriers, the self-imposed obligation to look after others before we were ready was a way we could feel more like grown-ups and, thus, be imbued with the perception that we were adults—and, thus, in control.

We avoid places, people, and things that may create an undesirable reaction in us.

doing nothing, other than holding the thoughts in non-emotional, conscious curiosity in the present moment, is actually the best reaction to worrisome thoughts.

Until then, we are at the mercy of the alarm-anxiety cycle—where the anxiety thinking in the mind feeds the alarm feeling in the body and the alarm feeling feeds back into more anxious thoughts.

“There’s nothing to hold on to.”

The trouble starts when, instead of seeing our worries as merely intrusive thoughts, we unconsciously accept them as true.

Consciously bringing yourself to the present moment and affirming that you are safe