I’ve found that one of the easiest ways to reduce anxiety is to deliberately shift your attention from your head, to your heart. You can do this simply by practicing the “art of gratitude” which I talk about in further detail in my book Panic Away.

Science tells us that regular mental practice of gratitude can change your body’s chemistry and makes it easier to enjoy a peaceful state. Learning how to be grateful is one thing, but making a conscious effort to be in the moment as you express gratitude is what will help to lower stress levels and help you achieve a calmer state of mind.

All it takes is a few minutes to get started. Just close your eyes and take a few deep breathes. Focus on something in your life that you feel a strong sense of appreciation for, whether it’s a person, your friends, your health or your work. Notice how simply thinking about these things or people makes you feel, and start to feel the flow of positive energy throughout your body. You can do this first thing in the morning to start your day off on the right track, practice gratitude when you’re stuck in traffic, or right before you drop off to sleep at night.

The goal is to keep practicing until you get used to feeling gratitude for a positive force in your life.

Practicing the art of gratitude can help to lift that mental fog of anxiety and improve your overall well-being.

Try it!

If you suffer from frequent anxiety attacks and panic attacks, it’s likely that you experience a high level of stress and anxiety shortly after waking. The good news is, you can use this energy in a positive way and clear out those mental blocks before you tackle the day ahead.

Julie Cameron talks about writing “Morning Pages” in her book, The Artists Way. She encourages people to set aside about 30 minutes in the morning and write down the first thing that comes to mind.

I explain how to do this in my book Panic Away, and it’s one of the most effective ways to clear out anxious thoughts and get your day off on a positive start.

Just start each day by writing down the first thing that comes to mind. You don’t have to worry about grammar, spelling or even the format. Just jot down your thoughts, even if you have no specific thing to think about.

The goal is to continue writing and writing until you’ve filled about three pages. You want your mind to be free, to just ‘spill out’ all those disorganized thoughts so you’re not holding them in your head.

Use a pen and paper – the old-fashioned writing style seems to be more cathartic for most people – and keep the pages in a notebook or folder. These are strictly your Morning Pages , so you don’t have to worry about sharing them with anyone.

This is a really great technique from Julie Cameron. Do this regularly, and you’ll soon realize that you have greater mental clarity and can focus and concentrate better throughout the day.

Sometimes people who are making good progress with their anxieties experience a setback when they come down with either a head cold or the flu. The reason for this is because, as the body wards off the cold or flu, it makes the people feel drained and vulnerable.

To people with anxiety, this can feel unnerving because it may remind them of how they felt during an intense spell of anxiety. Colds and flu also come with an almost claustrophobia-like sensation of being congested up in your head.

Try to remember that if you do experience additional anxiety when dealing with either a cold of flu, trust that the renewed anxiety will lift as soon as your body recovers.

There are a number of different phobias related to the toilet, but here I’m going to discuss one of the most common: the fear of not getting to the toilet on time. No one should feel ashamed of this problem; it’s common and can be overcome. This fear is almost always connected to social embarrassment, and it rarely happens in situations where other people are not around.

Anxiety can give people the impression that they have a weak bladder. When anxious, they may need to use the toilet several times. In most cases, there’s no physical problem, and the frequency of needing a toilet is purely psychological.

Toilet phobia is strongly connected to panic attacks because it’s the thought “How do I escape this if I need a toilet?” that really triggers the anxiety. People often run scenarios through their minds of not being able to reach a toilet on time and the social embarrassment this would cause. If you experience this fear when you leave home, I’ll outline steps you can take to minimize the anxiety.

The solution lies in rebuilding confidence in your own body and putting less focus on the fear of embarrassment or ridicule. Start by putting yourself in situations where you know there are toilets, but position yourself far enough away so that it causes your anxiety be activated.

Let’s take a shopping mall as an example. As you enter and the fear escalates, find a place to sit down. As the fearful thoughts surface, don’t try to suppress them. Simply say to the thoughts that you’re not worried by that scenario because you know you have full confidence in controlling your body. You work through the anxiety while seated. When the anxiety lessens, you stand up, then walk slowly and calmly to the toilet. By the time you reach it, you might even find that you no longer need to go.

The important point is to move toward the toilet only when you feel that you—not the anxiety—decides when to go. If you keep running to the toilet every time you feel the urge, you reinforce the idea that you have no control over the situation. By working through the anxiety and going only when you’re ready, your confidence in the ability to control your body increases tenfold.

You might want to begin by setting up these opportunities when you’re alone. When you’re with friends, fear of embarrassment can make it more difficult. As you practice this, you’ll reach a point where you feel more confident in controlling your body’s need to use the toilet. This takes practice and time, but soon you’ll be able to go anywhere without this worry dominating your thoughts. Practice is key here. To learn more about toilet phobia, visit

Toilet Phobic Society

When panic attacks begin, people often feel a tingling sensation in their body. The medical term for this is paresthesia.

More generally known as the feeling of pins and needles, it’s a sensation of tingling, pricking, or numbness of the skin, and it has no apparent long-term physical effect. Paresthesia is most commonly felt in the hands, arms, mouth, and feet.

Don’t be alarmed; this is perfectly natural to experience in connection with high anxiety.