Overcoming Anxiety: How to Take Control of Your Mind and Emotions
Overcoming Anxiety: Taking Control of Your Mind and Emotions
How to stop allowing self-induced anxiety to run your life
In today's fast-paced world, anxiety has become a common struggle for many individuals. In a recent podcast episode, Cindy Shaw delves deep into the roots of anxiety and offers practical strategies to regain control over our thoughts and emotions. If you're tired of feeling overwhelmed by anxiety, this post will provide you with valuable insights and actionable steps.
Understanding Anxiety: The Mind-Body Connection
While there can be physiological or nutritional factors behind anxiety, the kind of everyday anxiety most people experience starts in the mind.
Anxiety begins with a thought — often a worry, a fear, or a “what if.” That thought triggers the body’s stress response, creating sensations that reinforce the anxious state. Recognizing that anxiety is thought-driven allows us to approach it with awareness rather than helplessness.
When we accept that our minds are creating anxiety, we also realize that we have the power to change it. By interrupting the mental loop before it escalates, we can stop the cycle and return to balance.
Identifying Physical and Emotional Symptoms
Anxiety isn’t just a mental experience; it shows up in the body and emotions too.
Common physical symptoms include:
Jitteriness or restlessness
Stomach discomfort or nausea
Sweating, racing heart, or shallow breathing
Emotional symptoms often look like:
Irritability or impatience
Withdrawal or hiding
Overreaction or shortness with others
When you start noticing these signs, pause and ask yourself: What thought did I just have?
This awareness helps you trace the feeling back to its source — the original thought that triggered it.
The Process of Overcoming Anxiety
Once you recognize that anxiety starts with a thought, you can interrupt the cycle.
Here’s a simple three-step process I teach my clients:
Awareness: Notice the physical or emotional symptoms of anxiety as they arise.
Breathing Techniques: When you feel anxious, pause and take a few deep, intentional breaths. Breathing helps calm your nervous system and create space between the thought and the reaction.
Seed Thoughts: Replace the anxious thought with a peaceful, intentional one — for example, “I am calm,” “I choose peace,” or “I am safe.” Over time, this retrains your mind to choose clarity over chaos.
The Three Keys to Change
Real transformation requires commitment and consistency. I call these the Three Keys to Change:
Desire: You must genuinely want to move away from anxiety and towards inner peace.
Willingness to Practice: Replace old thought patterns with new ones daily. This is where growth happens.
Accountability: Be honest with yourself when old habits surface. Catch them early and use your new tools to realign.
These three elements help you not only reduce anxiety but also build self-trust and emotional resilience.
The Impact of Anxiety on Daily Life
Left unchecked, anxiety quietly drains your energy, dulls your focus, and clouds your decision-making.
It can make even simple tasks feel exhausting, and over time, it prevents you from experiencing joy, creativity, and ease.
When you understand that your thoughts largely dictate your emotional state, you gain freedom. You can consciously choose to direct your attention toward what feels empowering rather than what feels fearful.
Finding Alignment
The ultimate antidote to anxiety is alignment — when your thoughts, emotions, and actions are in harmony with your true self.
Anxiety often arises when you’re out of alignment — when your inner truth says one thing but your outer behavior says another. Maybe you’re saying “yes” when you want to say “no,” or staying silent when you want to speak up. This internal misalignment creates tension that shows up as anxiety.
As you learn to listen to your intuition and act from a place of authenticity, anxiety naturally fades. Peace becomes your default state rather than something you have to chase.
Closing Reflection
Overcoming anxiety isn’t about fighting your mind — it’s about understanding it.
When you realize that anxiety begins with thought, you reclaim your power to change it.
Here’s your roadmap:
Recognize anxiety’s physical and emotional signs.
Pause, breathe, and interrupt the thought-emotion loop.
Replace anxious thoughts with peaceful ones.
Commit to the three keys — desire, willingness, and accountability.
Align your thoughts and actions with your truth.
Peace is possible — and it starts with awareness.
If you’re ready to begin retraining your mind out of anxiety and into calm, grab my self-paced mini course, “3 Easy Steps to Overcome Anxiety,” for just $27 today.
It includes:
🌅 a morning routine, 🌙 an evening reset routine, 🧘 a guided meditation, and a powerful mantra sheet — everything you need to start living with peace, happiness, and clarity.
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