I know I feel it, the cantankerous anxiety that seeps into my soul when I watch the news. How with every murder report, every bomb, every child drowning, every political mudsling; my faith in the future shrivels up a bit. My helplessness fills to the brim. So what is the answer? Not watch it? Avoid all negativity? Pretend it doesn't exist? No.

Flexibility is a main ingredient in countering anxiety Anxiety usually wants us to think that we need something a certain way "or else."  (Not that it tells us what the unsavory consequences are: Anxiety is always vague, never clear. This is how it holds it's power.) So when things don't happen that certain way, darn it, that good-for-nothing Anxiety has us all up in arms. Tied in a knot. Fumbling and immobilized. Discombobulated.

‘Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.’ – Mark Twain The best selling book Feel the Fear And Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers is a must read for anyone suffering with anxiety. Her pearls of wisdom are never ending, and she helps the reader build the confidence they need to act.

If someone is talking about suicide, he or she must still be alive. I take this fact as seriously as I take the desperation I hear behind thoughts about suicide. He or she is still alive. And I want to know why. Being alive means choosing to live, at least for now. The reasons people who contemplate suicide chose to keep living tells a story of what is most important to them.

At some point, we recognize that to live completely, we must live free from fear. Not free from fear of bears or cobras - some fear is practical. But to live free of fear to be yourself, to follow your dreams, to try something new... those are the fears from which freeing ourselves will allow us to live completely. Practice the following skills and you will live free from fear.

Do you look to nature to ease your anxiety? If not, please try it! Forest Bathing Recently it has been all over the internet how Japanese scientists have discovered that the scent of trees, the sound of brooks, and the feel of sunshine have a calming effect. Japanese engage in an activity they call shinrin-yoku, "forest bathing." And we can all do this.

My anxiety shot through the roof when I became a parent. Everything seemed a little more important. I had a huge responsibility to keep this other human being safe and happy. Not just responsibility, but a strong desire to give him the world and never let him suffer.

Panic attacks suck the reality out of us! I talked two people down from panic attacks recently and both of them had been worrying that they had lost touch with reality. They felt totally disconnected to the world around them. In talking to them, they were so convincing. I almost believed that this episode was different. But I let go of my own fear for them. (My worry doesn't help anyone.) I quickly assessed that they were not, in fact, psychotic. They were speaking rationally and eloquently. And I remember from my panicky days how I felt different and disconnected.

Have you ever felt like a failure? I totally have. But I am not alone. There is an epidemic of feelings of failure in our country. And failure is so definitive. When you think you failed, there is not much wiggle room to be anything other than "a failure." A horrible way to see yourself! This becomes a belief ingrained and tainting everything else we do and try.

Why is fear so powerful that it takes over even our rational mind? The answer to that is that survival is the most important consideration in evolutionary development. In an article in the December 14, 2007 Newsweek, entitled “The Roots of Fear,” Sharon Begley writes: