In today’s fast-paced, hyper-connected society there’s an undeniable increase in people experiencing varying degrees of anxiety.  From the student sitting for their exams to parents facing rising household expenses or the businessman planning his next career move, anxiety can strike anyone at any time.  In fact, anxiety has become so commonplace that according to a study by Black Dog Institute up to 14% of Australia’s population are affected by this insidious condition, and the numbers are only set to rise. Is it just our mind playing tricks on us or is there something more to it?  With World Mental Health Day on 10 October it’s time to look a little deeper.

According to leading human behaviour specialist Dr John Demartini who is out in Australia in October, anxiety is a form of secondary or tertiary fear. He claims:

“Fear is the assumption that you’re about to experience in the near or far future through your senses or imagination, more pain than pleasure, more negative than positive, more disadvantage than advantage, or more challenge than support from someone, some event, or something.”

He adds :

“by uncovering the original event that induced the initial fear and balancing out the perceptions of the event to dissolve the fear, you can dissolve anxiety in many cases immediately. When you are experiencing anxiety, there may not appear to be an obvious emotional trigger to your response, but there actually is. It’s just not obvious due to it being a secondary association derived from a seemingly unrelated painful event. If you are in the grips of anxiety there is hope.”

Dr Demartini suggests using the following techniques to help turn the tables on anxiety:

Identify the triggers: The simplest way to deal with anxiety is to first identify what specifically it is that triggers your anxiety reactions, and then identify the original fearful event or stimulus behind it.

Know the benefits: Once the original stimulus is identified you need to discover what the benefits were that it provided. How has it served you and helped you fulfil what is most important to your life?  There’s nothing in life that doesn’t have a way of helping us.

Perception vs reality: It’s never what happens to you, it’s how you perceive it. If you can perceive an initially frightening event in a way that’s not in the way, but now on the way, it can turn into a life fulfilling opportunity.  The key is to balance out the initial emotional equation.

Dig deeper: One of the greatest questions we will ever ask is “how is whatever I am experiencing today helping me fulfil what is most meaningful to me?”  If you ask that question each day and never give up on that question, you liberate yourself from a lot of baggage and anxiety can be melted away.

“We don’t have to be victims of our history we can be masters of our destiny by taking command of our perceptions.  We can make a mountain out of a mole hill or a mole hill out of a mountain.  We can transform our once assumed hell into an opportunity if we take the time to find out what’s behind it and how it serves us.” he maintains.

About Dr John Demartini

Dr John Demartini is a human behaviour specialist, International best-selling author, educator, founder of the Demartini Institute and the author of 40 books that have been translated into 31 languages. He has featured in films including The Secret, appearing on Larry King Live, and regularly contributes to Oprah Magazine. Find us online and chat to our team LIVE on www.DrDemartini.com