The Cycle of Anxiety - How to Interrupt the Pattern
If you examine yourself closely, you’ll realize that your anxious energy is not caused by what’s going on in your life, but by the repetitive thoughts running through your mind.
The thoughts make you anxious. And the anxiety produces more anxious thoughts, and so the loop continues.
Your brain prepare you for fear
When you feel anxious about a situation once, your brain prepares for the next similar event by making you nervous and tense. This happens because the amygdala, the brain’s fear center, learns from past experiences and triggers the same response in the future.
This means that if you get anxious every time you speak in public, check your mailbox, meet a specific person, or in some other context, your nervous system repeats the same emotional trigger to “prepare” you for the perceived danger. This is why it’s not the actual events that scare us—it’s the feeling of fear itself.
Because your mind cannot distinguish between actual danger and imagined danger, it assumes you are about to enter a threatening situation and produces chemicals to activate a fight-or-flight response each time.
The Brain’s Outdated Survival System
This reaction is not a flaw in you—it’s an evolutionary survival mechanism. Our ancestors needed it to survive real physical threats. The problem is that our brains haven’t evolved at the same speed as our environment. The same stress response that helped early humans stay alive is now being triggered by harmless activities like taking the subway, going to a party, reading emails, or even imagined scenarios. And the very same mechanisms that protected us, have now become a threat it self.
In the modern world, this misfiring survival system is both harmful and painful. Chronic stress and anxiety flood our bodies with stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which, over time, can lead to fatigue, insomnia, weakened immunity, and even chronic illnesses.
How We (Unknowingly) Make It Worse
We all experience this to some degree, and many of us handle it in ways that make it worse. We often suppress anxiety through addictive or compulsive behaviors—overeating, drinking alcohol, scrolling endlessly through social media, or using other distractions. These coping mechanisms give temporary relief, but reinforce the cycle of anxiety, and often leads to habits and behavior that cause even more stress and unease.
Suppressed feeling can also manifest in the body as tension, headaches, digestive issues, or chronic pain.
Breaking the pattern.
The key to breaking free from this outdated survival response is to release resistance, calm the body through breath, and become fully aware of emotions without being consumed or identified by them.
Why Breathing Helps
Breathing is easily dismissed because it’s so simple. But it’s not just about relaxation—it’s a way to signal safety to your brain and body. When you breathe deeply and intentionally, your nervous system receives a message that there is no immediate threat, allowing it to shift from fight-or-flight (sympathetic state) to rest-and-digest (parasympathetic state).
Studies show that slow, deep breathing stimulates the vagus nerve, which lowers heart rate, reduces cortisol levels, and promotes a sense of calm. However, the first few breaths may not feel effective. It’s tempting to give up when you still feel tense, agitated, or impatient.
But if you continue, releasing tension from your body and scanning it for tightness in your muscles, you will start to feel a shift.
Observing Emotions Without Judgment
In this calm state, you can observe your emotions without trying to change them. This doesn’t necessarily make the feelings vanish, but it removes their power.
Sit upright with a straight back and breath deeply, in though your nose and exhale slowly through your mouth. Breath with your stomack, not your chest.
Locate the feeling—Where in your body do you feel it? Your chest? Stomach? Throat?
Fully allow it to exist—Don’t resist or suppress it. (Easier said than done)
Observe with curiosity—Be as neutral as you can while you examine the feeling
This approach is backed by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which show that detaching from thoughts and emotions reduces their intensity.
The mind always fights for your attention, looking for solutions, but true freedom comes when you stop engaging in the fight.
Letting Go of Resistance
Releasing resistance requires courage. And your mind will not like it. It will make you feel impatient, and probably try to get your attention with thoughts. We are so used to finding solutions through thinking, that it feels unproductive and “wrong“ to focus on the breath and presence. That’s just another thing you need to observe and accept. Instead of arguing with your thoughts, let them appear and pass—like a dull conversation you overhear on the street. This is essentially what meditation is, and it can help you disidentify and bring awareness to any negative thought patterns or emotions.
Paradoxically, it is in this state—when you seek nothing—that insights and answers naturally come to you.
Tools to help you find stillness
Because of the seductive nature of the mind, getting into an accepting, still and meditative state is hard for most people, especially if you’re not experienced in meditation or mindfulness.
Being guided through a session can be very helpful in the beginning, and it can also be helpful to plug in your headset and play deep calm repetitive music, white noise or nature sounds.
Some sounds are even scientifically proven to decrease the fight or flight response and lower stress. Sounds and music can also help silence the mind, calming down racing thoughts.
Feel free to download the sounds below and test for your self while practicing mindful meditation and acceptance. These are 100% free to download and no, you don’t need to give your email.
