Reducing Your Anxiety In The New Year: An Introduction

Let’s take a journey together this year in order to learn how to reduce our anxiety. Throughout the coming months we will discuss techniques and exercises that can be used to help us take our anxious thoughts captive and break the cycle of anxiety in our lives.
I believe the key to reducing anxiety, depression, anger, or any stronghold in our lives is to learn how to take our thoughts captive.
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
The words take captive every thought are a present active participle. That means it is an action we are to be continuously partaking in. It is not a one-time thing or a once in a while action. We are to be continuously taking our thoughts captive.
It is my prayer you will receive a great deal of encouragement from these blogs and you will learn to apply some of the ideas and exercises presented, all of which have been clinically proven to reduce anxiety. We must do the work in order for change to occur. So if you are ready to learn how to take your anxious thoughts captive, and allow God to heal your heart and mind, let’s get started.
I believe our healing starts with knowing who we are in Christ. Below are a few Bible verses to remind you what the Word of God says about YOU!
John 1:12; You are a child of God.
Jeremiah 31:3; You are tenderly loved by God
2 Corinthians 2:15; You are a sweet fragrance of Christ to God.
John 15:5; You are Christ’s friend.
Colossians 3:12; You are chosen by God, holy and dearly loved.
1 Timothy 6:15; You are a princess in God’s Kingdom.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20; You have been bought with a price, and you belong to God.
Ephesians 1:5; You have been adopted as God’s child.
Romans 8:35; You cannot be separated from the love of God.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22; You have been established, anointed and sealed by God.
Ephesians 2:10; You are God’s workmanship.
Philippians 1:6; You can be confident that the good work God has begun in you will be perfected.

I have spoken to many people about anxiety. I have found that we all struggle with some level of worry on a regular basis. As I researched the topic of anxiety, in order to help myself reduce the amount of anxiety I was experiencing, I learned some valuable lessons that have helped me immensely. I hope the Scriptures and techniques I describe in the coming months help you like they have helped me. Know in the depths of your heart, mind, and soul that you are loved deeply by your Heavenly Father. He wants to heal you and give you His peace. The peace that passes all understanding.
Take time this week and meditate on the verses above. In my next post we will talk about what God says about anxiety. Some other topics we will discuss in upcoming post are: what anxiety is and what are the causes; basic brain functions regarding anxiety; how our brains are wired and how we can rewire them, cognitive distortions and how we develop them, relaxation exercises, and cognitive-behavioral techniques.  We will also discuss exercise, diet and sleep and how they can affect anxiety. I look forward to meeting you here again soon.
Blessings!