From a barely noticeable sense of uneasiness to the absolute panic experience by someone falling out of an aircraft without a parachute -- fear is constantly with us by degrees from the time we are born.

The particular type of fear called "anxiety" holds the broadest spectrum of the "fear" emotions. In fact anxiety is so pervasive you can find a form of anxiety in every negative emotion known to man.

Anxiety is something that increases to the degree that we believe we have lost, or are losing, control over the outcome of a life situation. We may hear some bad news about the economy and begin to experience anxiety about the outcome of our future almost immediately. There is always an accompanying belief that we may lack some resource or problem solving ability necessary to achieve a positive outcome in our particular situation. 

When we are experiencing anxiety in a situation -- the fact is that we don't actually know the situation will turn out badly.  That raises an important question. Why do the majority of us imagine that because the outcome is unknown -- that the end result it is more likely to turn out badly? If we are told we may lose our job why do we automatically think that is bad and begin to be anxious. Why do we not instead immediately begin to see our situation as the perfect opportunity to get caught up on some other things, do some research, find a better job, have an excuse to finally start that business, take a vacation and so on?

That simple difference in how we view our situation is the one thing that we control that can also have the greatest impact on the outcome of our situation. Instead of focussing on what we don't have control of (the future) why don't we focus on what we do have control of (what we think about)? One thing is for certain and that is we are able to direct our focus. In fact this example is expressed well in a story that Anthony Robbins tells about taking lessons how to drive a race car:

The car is speeding around the track and Tony is given instructions that puts the car into a skid. As the automobile is skidding towards the wall of the track and a devastating collision seems imminent -- Tony is staring at the wall he is skidding towards and bracing himself for the crash. The race car instructor puts both hands on Tony's crash helmut and physically turns Tony's head and holds it so that Tony is forced to look down the track where the car is supposed to go instead of staring at the wall. As soon as Tony's head has been turned to face the direction he is supposed to go -- he automatically, without even thinking about it, begins to steer the car out of the skid and it recovers and continues speeding around the track.

This story is a great metaphor for how we live our lives. We have a choice to focus on where we want to go or on what we are afraid of. Many of us have heard this story or a similar one but why do we so easily gravitate towards imagining the worst and continue to stare at the oncoming wall -- becoming ever more anxious about it by the second and yet paralyzed into inaction? Not even using what is in our control while ironically dramatizing how helpless we feel? 

Anxiety is so pervasive in our lives we will most likely need an entire arsenal of tools as we wind our way through life's challenges. In a society where more and more decisions are required of us we must constantly make them faster and faster and often with less and less information. While this article does not permit an in depth look at this phenomena there are three primary types of tools for dealing with or getting rid of the anxiety factor.

Substitution. These are quick acting. They provide as immediate results as possible. Their purpose is to immediately disable the crippling anxiety to provide sufficient temporary relief so that a more lasting solution may be more easily discovered. Some of the popular ones are as follows:

• Drugs
• Herbs
• Massage
• Escape such as a vacation
• Isolation tank (sensory deprivation)
• Shock Therapy
• Hospitalization

While the above methods certainly have their place because they provide some immediate relief they do not address the root cause. However they have their place which is to provide emergency relief where there is no time to learn various techniques and tricks of the trade to live a life with low anxiety and high productivity. Often they can be used to temporarily arrest an escalating spiral of anxiety long enough to employ more lasting measures.

The danger is that if you use a substitute remedy -- expecting to depend on it for long term results you court disaster. Substitutes are too aggressive for lasting change. They have to be so that they work fast. However such rapid change is seldom, if ever, sustainable. As you employ a temporary substitute -- it becomes less and less effective and the dose has to be increased. You increase the dose or amount to compensate for diminishing effectiveness and you become more and more dependent. The irony is often found in the busy executive who never takes a vacation so that he can retire younger and take a permanent vacation. He retires at 50, has coronary a month later and dies. 

Another class of tools an attempt to deal with the root causes of anxiety. Some of them succed. The self help method is almost always successful over the long term to those who don't give up along the way. A less than exhaustive list is as follows:

• Counseling, psychotherapy, or other discussion type therapy, that results in a change of anxiety causing beliefs. This kind of therapy may be very useful but very few therapies actually get anyone to change their beliefs. That does not mean you cannot find a therapist equipped to assist you in changing your beliefs -- it is just that this is not taught in the universities and colleges that grant the degrees to the therapists. It is up to the therapist to make the appropriate discoveries after they have their formal education.
• Self help techniques. These are so numerous you could not possibly learn them all. However most are limited in scope so it is best to find the ones that do the most good and develop from there. This sort of approach becomes a lifelong journey where you seem to come into contact with the next thing you need just about the time you need it most. This is rewarding because you generally get results all along the way. Results will vary as you try each thing but what you get out of this approach is often the ability to help others once you have mastered the basics of emotional stability. People who travel this path tend to become an asset to society. To make this work you have to be willing to experiment with just about anything that holds some promise of results.
• Hypnosis, primal scream therapy, scientology, religion, and a whole smorgasbord of therapies and methods that are far too numerous to list.
• There is a third type of approach to overcoming anxiety results in a cure that is fast and lasting because it goes to the cause. This is the most rare kind of tool because it is curative in nature but also focuses deeper than the symptoms.
• There is a problem solving question often asked on aptitude tests that is multiple choice. It describes a scenario where you enter the laundry room in your home only to find your washing machine gushing water and the water on your floor is knee deep and rising fast because someone has put a stopper over the drain preventing the water from running down the hole and draining the flood water. You have a mobile phone in your hand. You are asked what you should do first:
• a) Call the plumber
• b) Pull the stopper off the drain
• c) Turn off the water
• The answer stumps many people but clearly turning off the water addresses the cause. You never know if the drain is plugged and pulling the stopper may cause you to lose time and risk further flooding. The plumber cannot do anything over the phone. Turning off the water is the sure thing. The flooding will immediately cease when the water is off.

The best remedies are ones that combine long and short term positive effects. Finding a way to rapidly diminish your mind and emotions from spewing anxiety but that also has no negative side effects is probably the best type of approach. Often this means combining strategies that are akin to shutting off the water, unstopping the drain, and calling the plumber all in rapid succession.