Spirit Matters: Practical ways to manage anxiety and worry

“Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars” – Casey Kasem

Readers of a certain age are likely familiar with these words from the late disc jockey Casey Kasem.

Back in the 1980s, my younger brothers and I religiously listened to Kasem’s America’s Top 40 every Sunday on the radio.

Kasem ended every show with his signature phrase, as only he could, inspiring listeners young and young at heart around the country.

His words left an imprint on the brains of countless Generation X-ers. Even now, I occasionally see these words nostalgically referenced in various corners of social media.

Despite the phrasing being what some might call “cheesy,” we can extract its wisdom here and now, when each day’s news seems exponentially more worrisome than the day before.

As someone with generalized anxiety disorder, I have learned numerous tools over the years to neutralize my anxiety when it starts to go haywire.

The best strategy, of course, is to drastically limit consumption of news and social media.

When limiting intake isn’t possible, one of the most effective ways I calm my energy is to notice my feet on the ground.

Feeling my feet on the ground and envisioning roots growing out of them deep into the earth stabilizes my spirit. It reminds me that no matter what chaos is currently going on in our country and world, in this moment, my immediate environment is safe.

Even if you don’t suffer from an anxiety disorder, I recommend trying this practice indoors or out. It is a great reset when the sky seems to be falling.

The best and safest way to ground oneself, in my opinion, is awareness of your breath moving in and out of your body. Our breath is the ground of well-being. It is a built-in remedy from our creator that can help mitigate all kinds of ailments.

Most of us breathe shallowly from our chests without even realizing it. In breathing from the chest, adequate oxygen is not fully reaching all the parts of our body. To fully realize the medicinal properties of our breath, we need to breathe deeply from our diaphragms.

Shifting our breathing from our chest to our diaphragm can take practice, but it is a game-changer for overall well-being.

When we learn to breathe consistently from the deepest part of our being, the oxygen getting into our bloodstreams can more efficiently clear out impurities, and we can more quickly return to an internal state of homeostasis.

This, I think, is a good metaphor for how our hearts and minds process all the information coming at us, whether good or bad. There is no way our minds and hearts can efficiently and constructively process our emotions when we are constantly inundated with negativity and fear.

Just as deep breathing helps our bodies stay well, so does a consistent spiritual practice keep our minds and hearts well. Spiritual practice helps rid us of fear, despair and worry over things we cannot control. Ideally, that practice should take place in a quiet, secluded place and involve dedicated time to silent prayer and listening for the still, small voice of God.

Despite all indications to the contrary, God hasn’t gone anywhere. God is as stable now as he has ever been and ever will be. Underneath and above all the noise, God is there. Through all of history, nations and kingdoms have risen and fallen, yet God has remained the same, and will remain the same always.

In the midst of so much uncertainty in an ever-changing world, we can count on that.

SPIRIT MATTERS is a weekly column by Jerrilyn Zavada Novak that examines experiences common to the human spirit. Contact her at jzblue33@yahoo.com.