Practices

Every practice in the library, in one list. Narrow it by how long you have, who it is written for, and where you are right now.

Narrowed down

7 practices
Area · Worry and anxiety
How long you have
Who it is written for
Where you are right now · Getting ready for something
On your own, or with someone · On my own
Theme
Approach
When

Pick something ordinary you want to be able to do on your own, book your own appointment, buy your own shopping, and aim at that. It pulls harder than the goal of feeling less anxious.

One young woman said what moved her was not the distress. It was working out how much she still leaned on her mum, and wondering who would make the…

Five minutesBeing seen and judgedNarrativeQur’an 20:26

Build the ladder from what you do now, not from what you think you should be managing. If phone calls are currently impossible, the first rung sits somewhere below a phone call.

Have an honest look first. Which apps you talk on, whether you send voice notes or only type, whether you have ordered anything out loud in the past…

Twenty minutesBeing seen and judgedCBTQur’an 20:26

The early rungs do not have to be the real thing. A photograph, a video, or picturing it carefully with your eyes shut is a proper step and not a cheat.

This matters most when the real version is out of reach: the dog you cannot summon, the flight you cannot afford, the classroom that is thirty miles…

Five minutesFacing it a step at a timeCBTQur’an 87:8

Before a step, write down what you will do when the fear arrives. Which breathing, what you will say to yourself, who you will speak to. Nobody invents a plan in the moment, they only follow one.

Keep it short and specific enough to be followed while frightened. It also gives you something to go over afterwards: what you used, what you forgot,…

Five minutesFacing it a step at a timeCBTQur’an 20:26

Put a number on each step, nought to ten, and let it be your number. Two people facing the same school will not agree about which part is worst, and the ladder has to belong to the person climbing it.

One child dreads the bus and is fine once inside the building. Another would happily ride the bus all morning and cannot get through the front door.…

Twenty minutesFacing it a step at a timeCBTQur’an 23:62

The first week or so on one of these can feel worse rather than better: jittery, restless, sleeping badly. For most people it settles within a fortnight, and it is a known part of starting rather than a sign of harm.

Untold, a person quite reasonably concludes the medicine is making them ill and stops. Told beforehand, the same week becomes something to sit out,…

Five minutesTreatment and medicationMedical and treatmentQur’an 94:5

Before you go towards the thing you are afraid of, it helps to have two things to hand: a way to settle your body, and a fairer account of what is likely to happen.

Neither of them is meant to take the fear away. They are there so you can stay in the situation long enough for it to teach you something, and that…

Five minutesBreaking the worry loopCBTQur’an 2:153

There is more about worry and anxiety than the practices: the worry and anxiety area has the themes and the courses too.