Our Brain is Our Obedient Servant

Hello!

I am writing to let you know how inspiring and how lucky I feel to have come across your book, DEPRESSION IS A CHOICE..I am almost at the end of the book, and already everything you write makes perfect sense to me. I am eager to move on to the next one, on brainswitching, and put in practice some of the exercises.

Also, I am not at present dealing with depression really, but more with anxiety and panic, generalized. It is all quite recent, since several months ago after an operation..

At first I didn't know what it was, I thought something physically wrong was going on: palpitations, difficulty breathing, feeling numb and just very scared. After many exams nothing seems to be wrong health-wise. As a woman in my late 30s I should be healthy.

I am currently starting cognitive therapy and I also started reading your book, which is a blessing for me. I know that anxiety and panic can easily lead to depression, but fortunately, I think I started to address the problem early so I hope I can manage the problem before I can find myself depressed. I was wondering if you have specific exercises or advices for managing panic and anxiety. What really bothers me is that I can't stop thinking about my health, I worry all the time even though my exams are perfectly ok. Have I developed some! kind of hypochondriac psychosis?
Also I have never worried about my health before and so this is the more overwhelming. .

Thank you in advance for you answer and thank you for your books and insight
R

Dear R

Our brain is our obedient servant. The reason you can’t stop thinking about your health is that you keep choosing that same thought over and over again. It is human nature for nameless worry, old repressed fears and daily stress to build up, trigger the stress chemicals to start coursing through our body, and in order to feel better we choose something to blame it all on. If it weren’t for THAT, we could get on with our lives.

If we would just stick with the little stuff, maybe we could fix something. But most of us roll it all up into one BIG PROBLEM which is unfixable and it kind of gets us off the hook of actually doing something about moving ahead with our day-to-day lives. I think what might help you right now is meditation. Even if you only have 5 minutes a day to spend. Find a quiet spot where you won’t be interrupted, close your eyes, let your body relax, especially make sure your shoulders drop down and your tongue relaxes and just be a witness to all that’s going on in your body and mind. As an objective observer. As if you are just an onlooker with no urgent interest. Just notice the thought, don’t choose it over and over and rethink it. Or if that is going on, just be a witness to your choosing. If there is anxiety somewhere in your body, just notice it as if it doesn’t really matter that it is there. Just notice that it is there within a framework of total acceptance as if you were a stranger that was just curious, accepting, but not terribly involved.

If you go to my website www.abcurtiss.com you will find some exercises, and you might find some helpful things in my blog. Hope this helps. A. B. Curtiss

Dear AB

,

Thank you so much for your answer! I will try with mindful meditation and read your BRAINSWITCH OUT OF DEPRESSION book for more exercises! I know our minds are very powerful both ways, good or bad, and I say to myself if I can make myself feel this anxious I can also make myself feel very good also, as you say, it is a matter of choice. 

I will let you know abouy my progress,

thanks again!

R

Dear R,

Sounds like you are coming from a solid place. Keep up the good work and keep in touch. A. B Curtiss