CHAPTER OUTLINE
An outline of each of The Fix Your Anxiety Handbook's twenty-one chapters is provided below. Each chapter outline is presented with a detailed description of what is covered in the chapter, and the chapter's goals. In addition, to provide a more comprehensive understanding of each
chapter, the functionality sections, which provide the necessary steps to help the reader initiate change, are provided at the end of each
chapter outline.
Chapter 1 - The Demon Inside You
Understanding the Driving Force Behind Your Pain
A person may conquer a million enemies on the battlefield, but these deeds pale to those who conquer their own demons.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Fact Finding
In the first chapter, it is important for the reader to begin to understand that anxiety is not who they are, but rather a condition that they have. the concept of the anxiety demon is introduced as a way to help the reader make the distinction between a condition that has gradually worsened, and progress to the point that it seems to be inseparable from the persons intellect and emotions. This chapter sets the stage for the methods I will be using to help readers both define and learn to address their anxiety. It is also essential as I begin to move them into the treatment of this menacing condition.
Chapter 2
The Body-to-Mind/Mind-to-Body Paradigm
Getting to Know the Reciprocal Body/Brain Experience
The human mind can be limitless in its potential, but it exists within physical limitations. Learn your body’s influence as you define your life.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Patience
In the second chapter, I will set down the second most important premise about anxiety. It is essential that the reader understand that anxiety begins as a physical condition. This is what makes anxiety so difficult to understand, and to live with. As the reader begins to comprehend that anxiety is primarily physical, and works its way into the emotions, and finally their intellects, the stage is set for a more comprehensive understanding of anxiety, and the establishment of a direction to begin to treat the disorder.
Chapter 3
Getting to Know Your Anxiety Monster
An Introduction to the Beast Inside You
Monsters are real, and they can lay waste to even the most intelligent minds.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Fact Finding, Patience, Sustained Learning
As with any human condition, anxiety possesses general attributes which can apply to everyone. On the other hand, every human is genetically just a bit different, and this anxiety demon I am using two help the readers understand what is happening to them will, in many ways, be specific to them. In chapter 3, I will be helping them learn to understand both the general attributes of anxiety, and how it can apply to them individually. This is very important as we begin to outline a treatment program that meets their individual needs.
Chapter 4
Life on Speed Dial Revisited
Slowing Down to Gain Control
Speed is the new normal, but the human body was never made to operate at such an accelerated pace. Slow down; catch your breath. You’ll find yourself there.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Life On Life’s Terms, Intelligent Decision Making
Everything about anxiety suggests an accelerated pace, physically, intellectually, and emotionally. In this chapter, I will be examining the correlation between the pace demanded in our lives today, and its relationship to the anxiety demon. Since anxiety does have its roots in our bodies, it's important for the readers to understand that decelerating both the pace of their lives, and the way their bodies are reacting to this space is a key factor in their ability lessen the effects anxiety has had on their lives. Examples are provided to help the readers begin the deceleration process.
Chapter 5
Autopilot Reapplied
Life Controlled by the Beast
Learn to experience your life as an active player in it. Make a decision to take your brain off autopilot. You need conscious energy to fight the anxiety monster.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Incremental Forward Movement
I discussed running on autopilot in The Fix Yourself Handbook. Its tenants will be applied here as we examine the tendency to allow intellectual disconnection of our lives to dictate how we think, and subsequently how we feel. The relationship between this misapplication of conscious thought and anxiety is extraordinary. People often talk about living with anxiety as Groundhog Day revisited over and over again. Autopilot, that intellectual disconnection reduces our ability to interact with our environment, which reduces decision making, end tends to predispose those with anxiety to relive its symptoms day by day. The goal of the chapter is to increase conscious thought and interaction with one’s environment.
Chapter 6
Brain Block
Emotions and Intellectual Interference
The hijacking of one's intellect creates one of the most powerful forms of surrender. Anxiety demons thrive in the world of chaotic emotion.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Fact Finding, Emotional Control
In yet another throwback to the first book, I will examine the effects of the emotion over intellect paradigm that exists under conditions of both are generalized end extreme anxiety. I will also present how this way of living is created, the damage it does to its host, and how living this way empowers the anxiety demon. as I mentioned in chapter one, anxiety starts as a physical condition, and then works to the emotions and the intellect. This chapter helps the readers understand how the emotions can override the intellect, intensifying the pain they are experiencing. The chapter's goal is to help the readers learn how to examine information intellectually first, and then express healthy emotions thereafter.
Chapter 7
Pushed to the Limit
Desperation Magnified
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Learning to Be Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable, Risk-Taking, Positive Language Reciprocity
Anxiety can grow into an emotional bully that is unrelenting end demonic. Be willing to face this menacing nemesis, and watch its power turned to dust.
When one begins to live with the emotional and intellectual hopelessness that anxiety can create, life takes on a purgatorial state of redundancy, and hopeless repetition. The same repetitive behaviors are fearfully overperformed. there seems to be no way out of the horror anxiety creates. In this chapter, I will examine the development of this hopeless way of living, and how we can develop into desperately searching for answers, and the willingness to make impulsive decisions which can only hurt us. The goal of the chapter is to help people understand how desperation develops, how to avoid it, and the options that are available as we begin to develop a positive plan to live an anxiety free life.
Chapter 8
The Victim and the Bully
Victimization from the Inside, but Finally, There Is Hope
Round, round, and round we go. Where the anxiety demon takes you, you never know.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Risk Taking, Incremental Forward Movement
As the anxiety demon grows, it creates a world of personal hopelessness, and terror. People begin to feel as though they are being bullied, with no way out. In this chapter, I will examine the development of the panic bully, and how anxiety moves from a condition where people feel bullied by something they cannot define, to a point where they become their own internal bully. Anxiety has people living their lives by using negative energy to the point that they are consistently hurting themselves. The goal of the chapters to help people define this transition, and begin the process of identifying, defining, and learning to incorporate positive energy into the way they live their lives.
Chapter 9
Breaking the Mold
Unlocking the Chains That Bind You
Giving into anxiety can create internal monsters that seemed to control every aspect of our being. They are but a creation of our own be leaguered mind.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Emotional Control,
Chapter 9 is a pivotal chapter in The Fixture Anxiety Handbook. In this chapter, I begin to address not only the damage anxiety can do, but how those who suffer from this condition can actually begin to see themselves as damaged, and behave in a fashion that causes them to become their own victims. As the chapter unwinds, I begin to present some different ways of thinking, introduced to concept of utilizing positive energy, and begin the process of breaking free of anxiety’s physical, emotional, and intellectual chains.
Chapter 10
Change as a Growth Ally
Creating Your Plan for an Empowered Life
Break out of the anxiety demon’s prison. Change is the secret weapon that can introduce you to the wonders of an exciting world, just waiting for you!
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Positive Language Reciprocity, Emotional Control, Fact Finding, Emotional, Control
Anxiety causes people to become protective, And fearful of risk and change. For them, it is important to establish and protect boundaries that keep them safe emotionally, and intellectually. In this chapter, I begin to work with the process of change, introducing it in small measures that minimally challenge the anxiety demon, while at the same time keeping the reader's safe, with minimal life transitions. By doing this, I am presenting change as a safe and usable weapon in the fight against anxiety, and growth as a lifelong ally.
Chapter 11
A Brighter Light at the End of the Tunnel
Hope as a Demon-Killing Ally
Knowing there is hope introduces an understanding that you are not tied to the pain in your life. There are solutions, and there is joy waiting for you.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Boundary Setting, Elimination Toxic People, Positive Language Reciprocity, One Day
Anxiety progresses to the point that individuals who suffer from it on a daily basis begin to believe that there is no way out, and that nothing will change. As this way of life continues, they firmly believe that there is no hope, and that life will be a repetition of one anxious day after another. In this chapter, I begin to present the beginnings of a formal treatment program which allows the readers to pragmatically understand that there is a way out of their distress, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and there is hope. Living with hope is the antithesis of the dark and painful world that anxiety causes people to experience.
Chapter 12
Moving Your Positive Energy Flow Forward
The Do-Gooders and the Naysayers
Give them their say, but in the end, no one knows your body, your mind, and your emotions better than you. Be the boss of your own world.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Life on Life’s Terms, Journey Living, One-Day-At-A-Time Living, Life’s Natural Flow, Humility, Gratitude, Communication
As readers begin to progress in there program of growth, and start to put some distance between themselves and the anxiety demon, others will notice some of the changes they are making, and they will have opinions about what should happen next. In this chapter, I teach the readers how to separate mirror pinions from educated and usable advice. I also teach them how to advocate for themselves, and in that extension of the fact-finding exercises that I present in the first chapters, I helped them learn to apply the information which they are compiling, and how to be advocates for their own growth, and our own health.
Chapter 13
Reclaiming Your Body
Reaffirming Your Commitment to Your Physical Health
Your physical recovery will pave the way for the peaceful life that lies ahead of you. Start there!
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Life on Life’s Terms, Journey Living, One-Day-At-A-Time Living, Life’s Natural Flow
As I discussed anxiety as a physical condition in previous chapters, it's important for the readers to learn how to enhance our physical wellbeing, understand anxiety as a beatable physical condition. this chapter helps them begin the process to take the steps that are necessary to reduce anxiety’s impact on their bodies. This chapter begins that process. I present the steps that physical Wellness requires, and also provide readers with a simple healthy road map to help them begin to create a body that is strong enough to move past the anxiety which has controlled their lives.
Chapter 14
Redefining the Mind-Body Connection
Reciprocity on a Higher Note
Anxiety cannot survive in a world of balance. Understand the connection between your mind and your body.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Settling Past Issues, Boundary Setting, Forgiveness, Life on Life’s Terms, Journey Living, One-Day-At-A-Time Living, Life’s Natural Flow
The connection between ones physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual wellbeing is pronounced. As I help the reader gain control over their physical wellbeing, I will help them move forward reestablishing the healthy and positive internal connection that are necessary to live a healthy life. In yet another key chapter, I present the ten healthy body to mind processes. In the time to take action section, I provide the exact steps they can take to make these processes come alive, and create the reciprocity between their bodies and their minds that is so essential to their recovery, and a happy and healthy life.
Chapter 15
Living in the Moment
Understanding the Importance of the Here and Now
If you can do something about past situations, and future events, then do it. Stop just thinking about them. That amounts to little more than fuel for anxiety.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, One-Day-At-A-Time Living, Life’s Natural Flow, Goal Setting, Incremental Forward Movement, Positive Language
Anxiety, though a physical condition, has its victim moving back in their lives, feeling guilty and broken over what has happened, and fearful, often terrorized about what will happen. In this chapter, I stress the importance of living in the moment, and help the reader move from anxious and out of control, to a state of mindfulness and peace. By contrasting the differences between what happens to one's mind and body when it is moving backward and forward, and what happens when they can remain in the moment readers are living in, they begin the process of conscious thought and how to incorporate it into their movement forward.
Chapter 16
People, Places, and Things
Positive Energy, Growth, and Life Redefined
Surround yourself with people, places, and things that are a reflection of the person you want to be. Your choices can lift you to the higher versions of yourself, or they can connect you with your demons.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Removing Toxic People, Positive Language, Boundary Setting, Goal Setting, Incremental Forward Movement, Trust, Dignity
We are very often, and to a great degree, the product of the interplay between those we associate with, the places we go, and the things we do. In this chapter, I discuss in detail, what healthy people, places, and things look like, .and how do we incorporate each in their lives to support the movement away from the anxiety demon and into a healthy style of life. The chapter includes individual segments on healthy people, healthy places, and healthy things. It also provides the exact steps to use all three in their recovery program.
Chapter 17
Learning to Fly
Consciously Navigating Through the Transition
Say goodbye to your comfort prison, and learn to become the driving force as your new life unfolds.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Sustained Learning, Gratitude, Humility, Faith, Love
Throughout the text, I have discussed the prison like safe place that people create to protect themselves from the pain, fear, and uncertainness associated with anxiety. In this chapter, I discuss leaving the nest, and taking the first steps away from the comfort zone, and into a world that seems overwhelming, but it's the initial step in their movement away from anxiety, and into a happy life. I discuss reducing the seemingly overwhelming size of the new world territory, by using “little rooms”, and small steps to make that happen.
Chapter 18
The Land of Hope
Manageability in a Big-Picture World
No task is too big for those who understand how to redistribute the workload.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Risk Taking, Goal Setting, Incremental Forward Movement, Being Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable, Faith, Gratitude, Humility
Anyone who is victimized by anxiety, is stuck in a world of unrelenting, repetitive chaos. Anxiety victims are very often unwilling to make changes in their lives, and this amounts to feeding the anxiety monster. In this chapter, we will examine change, how to introduce change slowly and efficiently, and its benefits on a growing internal structure.
Chapter 19
Welcome To Your New World
Saying Goodbye to the Slave and Embracing the Powerful New You
It is a brave person who challenges the limitations of a brutal world. Learning to live in this new world can be an equally tall task.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Life on Life’s Terms, Journey Living, Gratitude, Humor, Humility, Love, Being In-Service
This chapter is one of encouragement, validation, then reinforcement of the progress that the reader is making in their recovery from this stagnation of and anxious style of life. Anxiety reduces an individual's feelings of self-worth, and in this chapter, I discuss re humanizing oneself, and “putting the demoralizing treatment of the demon behind you, and reestablishing yourself as a person who values your own life”. Here, I begin to look at what life has in store for an individual who is putting the anxiety demon to rest, and who has the tools to move forward, with an enhanced understanding of how to embrace life on life terms.
Chapter 20
Your World, And Welcome To It
Saying goodbye to the slave, and embracing the powerful new you
“Embrace your world, and live free. You have the power. You always did!”
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Life on Life’s Terms, Journey Living, Gratitude, Humor, Humility, Love, Faith, Being In-Service, Internal Balance
This chapter not only welcomes the reader to their new and exciting world. All of the books in the fixture self-empowerment series are self-improvement journeys, and at the end of each book, one of the last chapters always provides a pat on the back. fighting the anxiety demon requires bravery, commitment, and the willingness to be vulnerable, and accept change. Everyone needs the love and validation that comes with the wilderness to fight the good fight. The chapter, also introduces the final chapter, which, consistent with The Fix Yourself Handbook, presents the checks and balances that the reader will need to move forward.
Chapter 21
Good Housekeeping Revisited
Staying Strong in a Challenging World
Say goodbye to the anxiety demon. Always remember though, it's up to you to keep it away.
PROCESSES TO EMPLOY: Brutal Honesty, I Over E, Present/Understand/Fix, Slowing Down Life’s Pace, Internal Focus, Gratitude, Sustained Learning, System Maintenance
It's the old story that we make changes in our lives, begin to live and thrive in our new world, only two experience a revisit from those old demons and monsters. Good Housekeeping Revisited provides the impetus for the move forward, and the cautious steps that help the readers remain capable of maintaining their new growth. It lets the reader know that there will always be issues of varying sizes and intensity that will enter their lives, and that they must address those issues with courage, and with his solid plan to do so. It also emphasizes the fact that they are strong enough now to face whatever life has in store for them.
