Lesson One - Journal into Acceptance

In this lesson you will learn to honor and accept your anxiety. The first place to start to heal is recognizing and accepting where we are, and making peace with where we are and making peace with where we are.

About Anxiety

Anxiety is real as you know. It is a response from the amygdala found in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. It is responsible for responding to fear, you may know as fight/flight or freeze response. It informs us when we should move for the oncoming vehicle, which means it is important. The problem can come when the response becomes a habit, becoming fearful when there is no potential danger. The beauty of this is when you become aware of how uniquely designed the body and mind are you can find ways to overcome anxiety, living in the present moment. Anxiety is dangerous to the mind, body and soul.

Journaling to Make Peace with Anxiety

The fight/flight response is not a negative part of our make-up, it is a natural response to real fear. That distinction alone allows us to pause to pose questions about anything that we are fearful, or anxious about. Anxiety is living too far ahead into the future. Again, the only time we really have is here and now. Not that we can’t plan, but plans are able to be adjusted and changed as needed to fit the appropriate time and situation.

Activity; Journaling: If you're experiencing anxiety, or can recall a time you had experienced anxiety stop, take a deep breath and think about what is really taking place or took place at this moment in time or in the past. Journaling is a way to connect with the self, including emotions and feelings. In your journal one that you have or if you need one you can download from the Tranquil Course Material button to respond to the following questions. Allow yourself to be completely honest with your own thoughts and feelings and know you are safe. There is no one to judge you, nor should you judge yourself, you are perfect just as you are, this is all about you. Remind yourself that you are safe, positive self talk. The more you allow yourself to connect with your authentic self and experiences the easier it is to make peace with where you are.

Answer these following questions in your journal:

What are you thinking about, what are you currently responsible for, what do you have to do or not, what is coming up for you that you have to take part in?
If you are not experiencing anxiety at this moment in time, to connect with the feeling to make sense of what is taking place in your body, think back to a time that you felt anxious. (Don’t be afraid you are safe they are just thoughts)
What is/was going on in your life at that moment in time? Is/Was there really any real immediate danger present?
Anxiety is a fear response to danger. What danger were you in, if any?
If there is real danger, how did you overcome the situation and became safe?
If there was no real danger, what were you thinking, doing, experiencing that was causing you fear? (Where was it coming from).
Accept how you were feeling, founded or unfounded, write to yourself letting yourself know that it is alright to feel how you feel. Remind yourself that you are taking steps to help yourself feel the way you want to feel, empowered to go beyond your fears. You are worthy to feel how you feel. The beauty is if you don’t like where you are you do not have to remain there by allowing yourself to make choices for yourself that bring you what you do want and how you do want to feel.


Connecting with these experiences gives you the opportunity to allow you to connect with yourself, so that you can recall how it feels or felt to experience anxiety. With knowing that anxiety is a fight/flight or freeze response or fear based, you can connect with yourself and decide whether there was any founded reason for experiencing anxiety/fear at that time. Being aware of how it feels in the body and what brings it on, when it arises again, even if for another reason, you will understand what is happening. Then you can stop, take a deep breath, acknowledge it, and ask yourself, “what am I afraid of right now”, is what I am experiencing fear founded?” Just like with any other behavior it can become addicting, a habit, when we are unaware, or out of balance, not living in the present moment.

When we make peace with where we are we are able to allow ourselves to make decisions to better address what really is taking place. If we are anxious/fearful, or stuck and there is a founded reason, as adults we can find safety and take care of ourselves. If there is no founded reason for fear, then we can make a choice; to continue to feel fearful or release the fear. Releasing fear will be covered in the next lesson.

The goal of this lesson is making peace with yourself. Journaling your way to accepting where you are. You learned or recalled that anxiety is fight/flight or freeze response and it is a natural part of our physical makeup. When allowed to be used for what it is intended for it adds value to your life. You now recall or learned that when not used for what it is intended for you become out of balance, in fear or panic. When you stop, take a deep breath and think at this moment in time, you can decide if your fear is founded or not and choose what you need at any given moment in time for your own natural wellbeing.