Why is Anxiety needed?

Without anxiety you would put yourself at risk because anxiety’s role is to keep you safe. However, sometimes it’s perception of safety and risk goes wrong leading to the fight or flight instinct being regularly triggered.

If anxiety is affecting your life negatively, your risk radar needs re-calibrating. And this is what Anxiety Alchemy is all about. It provides the help you need to understand how your risk radar is working and what level of calibration works for you. It is not magic – it is learning about the chemistry of your mind.

You can do this through reading, doing an online course or one-to-one or using some of my resources. We are all individuals and my work with you will be unique to you too.

How I help you re-calibrate anxiety

Every experience is stored away in an infinite database in our minds.  But our minds are not good filers and sometimes experiences become mis-filed and literally get stuck and keep triggering the anxiety response.  And the more those files are triggered, the more sensitive they become.

In very simple terms, our work together is re-filing!  It is about identifying what files are in the wrong place (such as recognising spiders don’t belong in the scary folder!) and refiling them in a more appropriate way (the ‘no-big-deal’ folder).

What is really important for you to understand is that I don’t do the filing – you do.  This is your database.  My role is purely to show you how to access that database and provide suggestions if you are not sure where to file something.

“Why is my Anxiety escalating?”

Anxiety is there to keep you safe. The more it’s actions keep you safe, the better job it thinks it’s doing and so tries even harder. So you may start with being scared of driving at night because you got lost once. So, your mind makes it hard for you to drive at night and by giving up, you are ‘safer.’ Then it starts to wonder if you would be even safer by only driving places you know. Success! Next step, even safer if you don’t drive at all!

These types of escalations are very common but when you look at it from ‘anxiety’s’ perspective, it is doing a great job in keeping you safe!

More on anxiety

“Why is teenage anxiety increasing?”

My personal view – social media! Not negating it has some benefits but……Before social media, our ‘frame of reference’ (who we compare ourselves to) was typically people we knew, and the comparison was based on reality. Now, however, the basis of comparison is effectively global. Girls are now not trying to be the ‘prettiest’ in the class, but competing on a global stage – and of course, find themselves falling short. And to make it worse, what they are basing that comparison on is often digitally enhanced so not even real.
This leads to feelings of low self esteem – something anxiety thrives on!

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“Is it anxiety that makes me over-eat or causes my insomnia?”

It will be having an impact, yes. We have the term ‘comfort food’ which is a subconsciously driven way of attempting to feel more secure as a response to perceived fear. However, the pleasure felt for the few seconds the donut is in the mouth, is soon replaced with regret, and so the negative cycle goes on.
Similarly, if a part of the mind decides the best way to stay safe is to stay awake (so that you are on high alert) then insomnia can be the result.

More on hypnosis

Why am I struggling to get to the next level?

Most people hit a ceiling at some point, be it in their careers, their sports or other areas of life. No amount of learning, training or practice appears to make much of a difference.

Whilst the conscious mind – the rational, logical part of us may be keen for progress, there can sometimes be a part of the subconscious mind that is actively putting the brakes on. The Immersion day is all about understanding what is causing that part of the mind to be holding you back and then releasing the brakes.

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How can we improve the mental health in our organisation?

Anxiety and stress are responsible for millions of pounds of lost revenue to businesses. It is the reason many teenagers miss out on long periods of their education. However mental health techniques are still not part of our academic system.

When simple, practical techniques are introduced to organisations and become part of the culture, a competitive differentiator can be created that can make a massive difference to productivity, staff retention and ultimately the bottom line

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Working with me

It starts with a conversation. I can tell you much more about how the mind works and you can tell me more about your anxiety and from there, we see what the best path forward is. Let’s talk.

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