January 29, 2025 • 15 mins
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How to Accept Anxiety: Opening Up to New Options
In this episode, we explore the second component of the ACT Triflex framework for anxiety acceptance: opening up to new possibilities. Learn why considering options when triggered—even without knowing what to do next—is a crucial step in recovery.
Key Points:
- Understanding the ACT Triflex framework for anxiety acceptance
- Why mindfulness is essential for breaking automatic responses
- How psychological flexibility develops through small moments of choice
- The paradox of opening up to new options
- Why confusion can actually be a sign of progress
Download A Free Guided Mindful Acceptance Exercise
https://learn.theanxioustruth.com/practical-mindfulness-in-anxiety-recovery
Full Show Notes On This Episode
https://theanxioustruth.com/310
Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated!
Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.
Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
How do I accept anxiety?
This week on the Anxious Truth,we're continuing our little
mini-series on how to acceptanxiety by looking at the need
to open up to other options whenyou're triggered.
So let's get at it.
Hello everybody, welcome backto the Anxious Truth.
(00:22):
This is episode 310 of thepodcast we are recording in
January of 2025.
I am Drew Linsalata.
I am a therapist practicingpre-license, under supervision
as of January 2025, specializingin the area of anxiety and
anxiety disorders.
Author on this topic, apodcaster, an advocate, a
(00:43):
psychoeducator and a formersufferer for many years of my
life, on and off, but thankfullydoing better now.
Thank you very much.
And today on the Anxious Truth,we're going to talk about the
idea that we need to be able toopen up to other options before
we can actually say that we areaccepting anxiety.
So, of course, if this is yourfirst time here listening to the
(01:05):
Anxious Truth as a podcast orwatching as a YouTube video,
then welcome.
I hope you find what you gethere useful today and applicable
in your own anxiety recoveryjourney.
And, of course, if you are areturning listener, then welcome
back.
I appreciate you spending yourtime with me every two weeks, as
always.
So let us get back to it.
How do I accept anxiety?
(01:27):
What are the steps?
This is what we started talkingabout last week on episode 309
of the podcast.
What are the steps to acceptanxiety?
Because while you might want toadopt acceptance or surrender
or willful tolerance or floating, you might not really even
understand what that looks likeand you cannot even imagine how
you can accept the thing thatyou really hate.
(01:48):
And you're looking for steps,and if you haven't listened to
episode 309 of the podcast,which we did two weeks ago, you
should go check that out becauseit lays the foundation for this
one.
So here's the thing there are,in fact, no steps, but there is
a framework and, like I said inthe last episode for this little
series, we're using the ACTTriflex, which has been made
(02:08):
famous by Dr Russ Harris.
He's an Australian physicianwho does a lot of work in
acceptance and commitmenttherapy.
Russ is awesome, he's reallyfriendly, he has a really
easy-to-access delivery abouthim and he talks about the ACT
Triflex.
He simplified this.
That does, in fact, have stepsthree steps but they're still
not kind of steps.
(02:32):
The first step that we talkedabout last week on episode 309
is to get present, and todaywe're looking at sort of the
second rung of the act triflexladder, or the second point in
the act triflex and that wouldbe opening up In episode 311, in
two weeks we'll talk about thefinal bit of sort of
instructions, which is doingwhat matters, based on our
values, based on, rather thanblindly following fear.
So the act triflex tells usthat part of acceptance is get
(02:54):
present, which we talked abouttwo weeks ago, open up, which
we're going to talk about today,and do what matters, which
we're going to talk about in twomore weeks.
This is how we accept surrenderto and willfully tolerate
anxiety and panic and scarythoughts, etc.
Etc.
So today we're going to examinewhat it means to open up, and
that means to at least considerthat there might be other
(03:16):
options in front of you, evenwhen triggered and feeling
anxious or afraid.
Accepting surrendering, floatingthrough, tolerating or
otherwise, not fighting orresisting anxiety, a thing that
you absolutely hate or even fear, is really about challenging
the belief that it totallycontrols you and makes you react
by running or fleeing orbegging to be saved or avoiding
(03:39):
anything that might actuallytrigger you.
We challenge that belief.
Then we put that challenge intoaction by interrupting what
might feel like an automaticsequence that you will say you
have no say in.
So when people like Russ Harrisor Stephen Hayes or I if I may
be so bold as to put myself intheir company say that part of
accepting is to open up to lookat other options, you might want
(04:01):
to react by saying that isimpossible.
You must go to the emergencyroom if you panic, or you must
never be left alone, or you mustargue against your scary
thoughts until you're absolutelyexhausted.
These are automatic things thatyou have no choice in, and
remember that everyone gets togo in the direction that they
think is best for them.
(04:22):
So while from a clinicalperspective I might say that
this belief is misguided or evenwrong, if you are sort of dug
in here deeply and you insistthat you have zero say in the
matter when triggered, but alsowant to know what the steps are
to accept and overcome anxiety,you may wind up frustrated by
this topic.
And, oddly, may wind upfrustrated by this topic and
(04:48):
oddly, in a very meta way,before you can open up, you kind
of have to open up, that is,open up to the possibility that
your belief about having no saycould potentially be wrong.
But before we can put oursecond principle into action,
before you can stop and look atyour options when triggered, you
have to be able to see themachine working, which we talked
about in episode 309.
We have to be able to recognizethat we've been triggered and
(05:11):
watch our knee-jerk resistanceinstantly kick in and rise in
intensity.
That's why we don't start withdon't run, which is an active
opening up to another option, ofcourse, but we start with the
first principle of gettingpresent from episode 309 two
weeks ago and, surprise, that isin fact a mindfulness construct
.
Now, virtually all third orfourth wave treatments and yes,
(05:35):
there are people talking about afourth wave now based on values
and compassions, every one ofthose treatments have a strong
element of mindfulness in them.
So we don't really get to talkabout acceptance, which is also
part of the third wave, withoutautomatically dragging
mindfulness into the picture.
And wouldn't you know it if, infact, you are frustrated or
confused by the idea ofmindfulness or acceptance?
(05:59):
I am working on a practicalmindfulness skills group that
runs for six weeks with a verysmall group of participants at a
very low cost.
It's geared specifically foranxiety recovery.
This is six weeks of practicalmindfulness where we meet weekly
.
We practice mindfulness skillstogether, talk about the
experience, we have a little bitof lecture and we work on
practicing every day to buildour awareness and, ultimately,
(06:23):
our choice.
Part of opening up is firstbuild the awareness, and I've
created a free introductoryguided mindfulness practice that
you can download to see if thisstrikes a chord with you.
So feel free to go check outlearntheanxioustruthcom, grab it
, download it and see if itworks for you.
You are certainly welcome to it.
So if you are working on yourmindful awareness and you're
(06:46):
watching that escape andavoidance machine working rather
than automatically and blindlyjumping in to let it take you
for a ride, then logically inthe acceptance chain, if we are
working on not fighting orresisting, then we ultimately
wind up asking okay, so thenwhat do I do instead of
resisting?
And that is, in fact, anexcellent question.
(07:06):
This is where we look atopening up to other options.
If you have been sure for avery long time that running or
being saved, or fighting orescaping is your only option
when anxious or afraid, then youalmost have to ask this
question right, what do I do now?
I'm in a triggered state.
The machine is cranking awayhere and it wants me to follow
(07:27):
it, like I always do.
But what else might I do here?
The answer to that question isactually going to change.
It's going to change frommoment to moment, situation to
situation.
It's going to vary for a verywide degree, but generally
speaking, we're going to addressit through the lens of values,
what is important to us inepisode 311 of the podcast in a
couple of weeks.
But for now, I want you to stayfocused and mindful, if you will
(07:51):
pardon the pun of the actualmoment, where you stop and pause
and consider that you mayactually have another way
forward.
And all I really want you toconsider today is that you don't
have to be able to identifythat other way or all those
other options right this second.
You really only have to engagein the act of opening up.
(08:14):
Metaphorically, if we try anddescribe what that might look
like, it might look like thatsilly John Travolta Pulp Fiction
meme where he's sort ofwandering around, he's walking
back and forth, he's superconfused.
That's the Vinnie Vegacharacter from Pulp Fiction.
It's okay, so I won't pick theold option, but I'm not really
sure what new option to pickeither.
(08:34):
And guess what If you can findyourself in that position,
actually wondering what to donext, then you are in fact
winning.
You're not resistingautomatically.
You're in the moment of choice.
You can only get to the momentof choice when you get present
and find the courage to watchthat machine, the fear machine,
rather than to jump into it andride it into avoidance like
(08:56):
you've always done.
And I know that this is likesuper micro and it is at some
level.
But if you were my therapyclient and you were consistently
looking like the John TravoltaVinnie Vega character, sort of
wondering where to go next, evenwhen anxious and afraid and
really uncomfortable and in astate of distress, I would give
(09:16):
you a huge fist bump, becausejust getting there means that
you are no longer reacting in aknee-jerk way to your scary
thoughts or powerful emotions orphysical anxiety symptoms.
So we might want to stop for asecond.
Forgive the mindfulnessreference.
Take a moment to appreciate themoment, shall we Like?
You're in the middle of whatfeels like a raging storm and
(09:39):
you are actually asking yourselfwhat to do next.
It's not automatic.
You're actually asking what todo next.
I mean that's a big deal.
Let it sink in.
I mean it's a really big deal.
So this sort of brings us backto that sort of psychological
flexibility thing that if youhang around here long enough or
you work with me in therapy, youget really tired of hearing me
(10:00):
talk about.
But in my view of this issue,recovery is largely based on
developing increasedpsychological flexibility.
That might be a very set ofsort of rigid rules and beliefs
and standards that you startwith and those things drive a
very highly avoidant approach toanxiety and it creates a life
that you hate Over time.
And recovery slowly.
That gives way to flexibility.
(10:21):
Flexibility the way we defineit is the ability to be with
your experiences, even thereally difficult ones, without
automatically running from themor pushing back against them.
And really, if we want to get alittle bit philosophical here,
even anxious moments are yourmoments and you are in fact
entitled to them.
(10:41):
So building psychologicalflexibility is a great way to
sort of take your moments back,and as humans, unfortunately, we
have a finite number of themallocated to us in our lifetime.
So this is a way to access allof them, good and bad alike,
like just reacting blindly,automatically and saying you
have no choice gives away a lotof those moments and we don't
(11:03):
get an unlimited number of them.
So, opening up our topic today,the second part of that, act
triflex, the acceptanceframework.
It's 100% an act of being lessrigid and more psychologically
and behaviorally flexible.
And, by the way, thepsychological flexibility, in my
opinion and my experience, isactually harder than the
(11:25):
behavioral in most cases.
So don't be angry and impatientwith yourself when you're
acting in new ways but your mindis still insisting that it has
to stay in the old ways, likepatience.
Please just chill out.
Your protective bits sort ofneed time to really get with
that program to repetition.
So this is opening up First, getpresent.
(11:46):
That was episode 309.
Watch the machine rather thanautomatically engaging in
evaluation and assessment andjudgment and prediction and
resistance.
And if you're not going to dowhat you usually do because
you're getting good at gettingpresent and observing your
experiences, then you have tofind an alternate path, which
means you open up and start toconsider what can come next.
(12:08):
And yes, this all happensreally quickly because brains
are fast, but even though thingsmight only take a second or two
to play out, that is both ashort amount of time and a very
long amount of time for acomputer as powerful as this
thing between our ears.
Do not discount the tiny slicesof time.
The path to recovery is reallyjust stitching those together.
(12:29):
So next time, on episode 311,which will come out in two weeks
, we will look at the last thirdof the ACT-TRI-FLEX, and that
is do what matters.
That's a discussion of values,values that inform our actions
rather than fear calling theshots automatically, and I find
that discussion superinteresting and helpful in this
process.
So don't forget to come backfor that again in about two
(12:52):
weeks.
And also don't forget to checkout my website, which is
theanxioustruthcom, because, asI am very fond of saying, the
Anxious Truth is more than justthis podcast episode or this
YouTube video.
There's a ton of otherresources there, most of which
are free, even the ones thatcarry a cost, or at a very low
or reasonable cost.
I'm not $6,000 mastermind guyand I'm never going to be, so
(13:13):
check it out at the anxioustruthcom, certainly avail
yourself of all the resourcesand, yeah, people tell me it's
useful.
So go check it out.
And in the end, that is episode.
What did I say?
This was 310 of the anxioustruth in the books.
I'm not doing music this week,or maybe I will, I'll put it in
editing, I don't know.
So I will wrap it up, as Ialways do, with asking you a few
(13:35):
favors, one of which is, ifyou're listening on Apple
podcasts or on Spotify or someplatform that lets you rate and
review the podcast, maybe leavea five-star rating if you really
dig the podcast and if youreally really like the podcast,
take a moment and write a quickreview to tell people why,
because it helps more peoplefind the podcast and then more
people get the help that they'relooking for, and that's really
(13:55):
why I started doing this tobegin with.
Anyway.
And, of course, if you'rewatching on YouTube, maybe
subscribe to the channel, hitthe notification bell so you
know when I upload new contentlike the video.
Leave a comment.
Leave a comment.
I am starting to get back infinally, to checking out
comments and answering the onesthat I can, and then I will just
remind you that we're talkingabout how to accept anxiety,
which is a pretty big order.
(14:16):
I totally get that.
It is not easy to do.
It's going to take some time,but if you can work on these
first two steps getting present,opening up at least consider
that there might be another wayto do this.
If you can turn toward thattoday just a little bit more
than you have been turned towardyour fear forever long, then
you are winning.
(14:36):
These steps count.
Open up, let the experiencesteach us things.
Challenge those rigid beliefsthat are so closely held about
being unsafe because you feelunsafe.
That will all add up.
It will all start to matterover time.
Keep going, even if the stepsare little.
Anyway, that is it, guys.
I will be back in another twoweeks with episode 311, where we
(14:59):
will finish this three-partminiseries by talking about
doing what matters as the thirdpart of acceptance in the ACT
Triflex.
Thanks for hanging around today.
I hope you found it useful.
We are out.
I will see you in two weeks.
How do I accept anxiety?
This week on the Anxious Truth,we're continuing our little
mini-series on how to acceptanxiety by looking at the need
to open up to other options whenyou're triggered.
So let's get at it.
Hello everybody, welcome backto the Anxious Truth.
(00:22):
This is episode 310 of thepodcast we are recording in
January of 2025.
I am Drew Linsalata.
I am a therapist practicingpre-license, under supervision
as of January 2025, specializingin the area of anxiety and
anxiety disorders.
Author on this topic, apodcaster, an advocate, a
(00:43):
psychoeducator and a formersufferer for many years of my
life, on and off, but thankfullydoing better now.
Thank you very much.
And today on the Anxious Truth,we're going to talk about the
idea that we need to be able toopen up to other options before
we can actually say that we areaccepting anxiety.
So, of course, if this is yourfirst time here listening to the
(01:05):
Anxious Truth as a podcast orwatching as a YouTube video,
then welcome.
I hope you find what you gethere useful today and applicable
in your own anxiety recoveryjourney.
And, of course, if you are areturning listener, then welcome
back.
I appreciate you spending yourtime with me every two weeks, as
always.
So let us get back to it.
How do I accept anxiety?
(01:27):
What are the steps?
This is what we started talkingabout last week on episode 309
of the podcast.
What are the steps to acceptanxiety?
Because while you might want toadopt acceptance or surrender
or willful tolerance or floating, you might not really even
understand what that looks likeand you cannot even imagine how
you can accept the thing thatyou really hate.
(01:48):
And you're looking for steps,and if you haven't listened to
episode 309 of the podcast,which we did two weeks ago, you
should go check that out becauseit lays the foundation for this
one.
So here's the thing there are,in fact, no steps, but there is
a framework and, like I said inthe last episode for this little
series, we're using the ACTTriflex, which has been made
(02:08):
famous by Dr Russ Harris.
He's an Australian physicianwho does a lot of work in
acceptance and commitmenttherapy.
Russ is awesome, he's reallyfriendly, he has a really
easy-to-access delivery abouthim and he talks about the ACT
Triflex.
He simplified this.
That does, in fact, have stepsthree steps but they're still
not kind of steps.
(02:32):
The first step that we talkedabout last week on episode 309
is to get present, and todaywe're looking at sort of the
second rung of the act triflexladder, or the second point in
the act triflex and that wouldbe opening up In episode 311, in
two weeks we'll talk about thefinal bit of sort of
instructions, which is doingwhat matters, based on our
values, based on, rather thanblindly following fear.
So the act triflex tells usthat part of acceptance is get
(02:54):
present, which we talked abouttwo weeks ago, open up, which
we're going to talk about today,and do what matters, which
we're going to talk about in twomore weeks.
This is how we accept surrenderto and willfully tolerate
anxiety and panic and scarythoughts, etc.
Etc.
So today we're going to examinewhat it means to open up, and
that means to at least considerthat there might be other
(03:16):
options in front of you, evenwhen triggered and feeling
anxious or afraid.
Accepting surrendering, floatingthrough, tolerating or
otherwise, not fighting orresisting anxiety, a thing that
you absolutely hate or even fear, is really about challenging
the belief that it totallycontrols you and makes you react
by running or fleeing orbegging to be saved or avoiding
(03:39):
anything that might actuallytrigger you.
We challenge that belief.
Then we put that challenge intoaction by interrupting what
might feel like an automaticsequence that you will say you
have no say in.
So when people like Russ Harrisor Stephen Hayes or I if I may
be so bold as to put myself intheir company say that part of
accepting is to open up to lookat other options, you might want
(04:01):
to react by saying that isimpossible.
You must go to the emergencyroom if you panic, or you must
never be left alone, or you mustargue against your scary
thoughts until you're absolutelyexhausted.
These are automatic things thatyou have no choice in, and
remember that everyone gets togo in the direction that they
think is best for them.
(04:22):
So while from a clinicalperspective I might say that
this belief is misguided or evenwrong, if you are sort of dug
in here deeply and you insistthat you have zero say in the
matter when triggered, but alsowant to know what the steps are
to accept and overcome anxiety,you may wind up frustrated by
this topic.
And, oddly, may wind upfrustrated by this topic and
(04:48):
oddly, in a very meta way,before you can open up, you kind
of have to open up, that is,open up to the possibility that
your belief about having no saycould potentially be wrong.
But before we can put oursecond principle into action,
before you can stop and look atyour options when triggered, you
have to be able to see themachine working, which we talked
about in episode 309.
We have to be able to recognizethat we've been triggered and
(05:11):
watch our knee-jerk resistanceinstantly kick in and rise in
intensity.
That's why we don't start withdon't run, which is an active
opening up to another option, ofcourse, but we start with the
first principle of gettingpresent from episode 309 two
weeks ago and, surprise, that isin fact a mindfulness construct
.
Now, virtually all third orfourth wave treatments and yes,
(05:35):
there are people talking about afourth wave now based on values
and compassions, every one ofthose treatments have a strong
element of mindfulness in them.
So we don't really get to talkabout acceptance, which is also
part of the third wave, withoutautomatically dragging
mindfulness into the picture.
And wouldn't you know it if, infact, you are frustrated or
confused by the idea ofmindfulness or acceptance?
(05:59):
I am working on a practicalmindfulness skills group that
runs for six weeks with a verysmall group of participants at a
very low cost.
It's geared specifically foranxiety recovery.
This is six weeks of practicalmindfulness where we meet weekly
.
We practice mindfulness skillstogether, talk about the
experience, we have a little bitof lecture and we work on
practicing every day to buildour awareness and, ultimately,
(06:23):
our choice.
Part of opening up is firstbuild the awareness, and I've
created a free introductoryguided mindfulness practice that
you can download to see if thisstrikes a chord with you.
So feel free to go check outlearntheanxioustruthcom, grab it
, download it and see if itworks for you.
You are certainly welcome to it.
So if you are working on yourmindful awareness and you're
(06:46):
watching that escape andavoidance machine working rather
than automatically and blindlyjumping in to let it take you
for a ride, then logically inthe acceptance chain, if we are
working on not fighting orresisting, then we ultimately
wind up asking okay, so thenwhat do I do instead of
resisting?
And that is, in fact, anexcellent question.
(07:06):
This is where we look atopening up to other options.
If you have been sure for avery long time that running or
being saved, or fighting orescaping is your only option
when anxious or afraid, then youalmost have to ask this
question right, what do I do now?
I'm in a triggered state.
The machine is cranking awayhere and it wants me to follow
(07:27):
it, like I always do.
But what else might I do here?
The answer to that question isactually going to change.
It's going to change frommoment to moment, situation to
situation.
It's going to vary for a verywide degree, but generally
speaking, we're going to addressit through the lens of values,
what is important to us inepisode 311 of the podcast in a
couple of weeks.
But for now, I want you to stayfocused and mindful, if you will
(07:51):
pardon the pun of the actualmoment, where you stop and pause
and consider that you mayactually have another way
forward.
And all I really want you toconsider today is that you don't
have to be able to identifythat other way or all those
other options right this second.
You really only have to engagein the act of opening up.
(08:14):
Metaphorically, if we try anddescribe what that might look
like, it might look like thatsilly John Travolta Pulp Fiction
meme where he's sort ofwandering around, he's walking
back and forth, he's superconfused.
That's the Vinnie Vegacharacter from Pulp Fiction.
It's okay, so I won't pick theold option, but I'm not really
sure what new option to pickeither.
(08:34):
And guess what If you can findyourself in that position,
actually wondering what to donext, then you are in fact
winning.
You're not resistingautomatically.
You're in the moment of choice.
You can only get to the momentof choice when you get present
and find the courage to watchthat machine, the fear machine,
rather than to jump into it andride it into avoidance like
(08:56):
you've always done.
And I know that this is likesuper micro and it is at some
level.
But if you were my therapyclient and you were consistently
looking like the John TravoltaVinnie Vega character, sort of
wondering where to go next, evenwhen anxious and afraid and
really uncomfortable and in astate of distress, I would give
(09:16):
you a huge fist bump, becausejust getting there means that
you are no longer reacting in aknee-jerk way to your scary
thoughts or powerful emotions orphysical anxiety symptoms.
So we might want to stop for asecond.
Forgive the mindfulnessreference.
Take a moment to appreciate themoment, shall we Like?
You're in the middle of whatfeels like a raging storm and
(09:39):
you are actually asking yourselfwhat to do next.
It's not automatic.
You're actually asking what todo next.
I mean that's a big deal.
Let it sink in.
I mean it's a really big deal.
So this sort of brings us backto that sort of psychological
flexibility thing that if youhang around here long enough or
you work with me in therapy, youget really tired of hearing me
(10:00):
talk about.
But in my view of this issue,recovery is largely based on
developing increasedpsychological flexibility.
That might be a very set ofsort of rigid rules and beliefs
and standards that you startwith and those things drive a
very highly avoidant approach toanxiety and it creates a life
that you hate Over time.
And recovery slowly.
That gives way to flexibility.
(10:21):
Flexibility the way we defineit is the ability to be with
your experiences, even thereally difficult ones, without
automatically running from themor pushing back against them.
And really, if we want to get alittle bit philosophical here,
even anxious moments are yourmoments and you are in fact
entitled to them.
(10:41):
So building psychologicalflexibility is a great way to
sort of take your moments back,and as humans, unfortunately, we
have a finite number of themallocated to us in our lifetime.
So this is a way to access allof them, good and bad alike,
like just reacting blindly,automatically and saying you
have no choice gives away a lotof those moments and we don't
(11:03):
get an unlimited number of them.
So, opening up our topic today,the second part of that, act
triflex, the acceptanceframework.
It's 100% an act of being lessrigid and more psychologically
and behaviorally flexible.
And, by the way, thepsychological flexibility, in my
opinion and my experience, isactually harder than the
(11:25):
behavioral in most cases.
So don't be angry and impatientwith yourself when you're
acting in new ways but your mindis still insisting that it has
to stay in the old ways, likepatience.
Please just chill out.
Your protective bits sort ofneed time to really get with
that program to repetition.
So this is opening up First, getpresent.
(11:46):
That was episode 309.
Watch the machine rather thanautomatically engaging in
evaluation and assessment andjudgment and prediction and
resistance.
And if you're not going to dowhat you usually do because
you're getting good at gettingpresent and observing your
experiences, then you have tofind an alternate path, which
means you open up and start toconsider what can come next.
(12:08):
And yes, this all happensreally quickly because brains
are fast, but even though thingsmight only take a second or two
to play out, that is both ashort amount of time and a very
long amount of time for acomputer as powerful as this
thing between our ears.
Do not discount the tiny slicesof time.
The path to recovery is reallyjust stitching those together.
(12:29):
So next time, on episode 311,which will come out in two weeks
, we will look at the last thirdof the ACT-TRI-FLEX, and that
is do what matters.
That's a discussion of values,values that inform our actions
rather than fear calling theshots automatically, and I find
that discussion superinteresting and helpful in this
process.
So don't forget to come backfor that again in about two
(12:52):
weeks.
And also don't forget to checkout my website, which is
theanxioustruthcom, because, asI am very fond of saying, the
Anxious Truth is more than justthis podcast episode or this
YouTube video.
There's a ton of otherresources there, most of which
are free, even the ones thatcarry a cost, or at a very low
or reasonable cost.
I'm not $6,000 mastermind guyand I'm never going to be, so
(13:13):
check it out at the anxioustruthcom, certainly avail
yourself of all the resourcesand, yeah, people tell me it's
useful.
So go check it out.
And in the end, that is episode.
What did I say?
This was 310 of the anxioustruth in the books.
I'm not doing music this week,or maybe I will, I'll put it in
editing, I don't know.
So I will wrap it up, as Ialways do, with asking you a few
(13:35):
favors, one of which is, ifyou're listening on Apple
podcasts or on Spotify or someplatform that lets you rate and
review the podcast, maybe leavea five-star rating if you really
dig the podcast and if youreally really like the podcast,
take a moment and write a quickreview to tell people why,
because it helps more peoplefind the podcast and then more
people get the help that they'relooking for, and that's really
(13:55):
why I started doing this tobegin with.
Anyway.
And, of course, if you'rewatching on YouTube, maybe
subscribe to the channel, hitthe notification bell so you
know when I upload new contentlike the video.
Leave a comment.
Leave a comment.
I am starting to get back infinally, to checking out
comments and answering the onesthat I can, and then I will just
remind you that we're talkingabout how to accept anxiety,
which is a pretty big order.
(14:16):
I totally get that.
It is not easy to do.
It's going to take some time,but if you can work on these
first two steps getting present,opening up at least consider
that there might be another wayto do this.
If you can turn toward thattoday just a little bit more
than you have been turned towardyour fear forever long, then
you are winning.
(14:36):
These steps count.
Open up, let the experiencesteach us things.
Challenge those rigid beliefsthat are so closely held about
being unsafe because you feelunsafe.
That will all add up.
It will all start to matterover time.
Keep going, even if the stepsare little.
Anyway, that is it, guys.
I will be back in another twoweeks with episode 311, where we
(14:59):
will finish this three-partminiseries by talking about
doing what matters as the thirdpart of acceptance in the ACT
Triflex.
Thanks for hanging around today.
I hope you found it useful.
We are out.
I will see you in two weeks.
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