anxiety

Do You Suffer from Separation Anxiety When You Have to Leave Your Cat?

Author's Life| 249 Comments

cat-window

Separation anxiety disorder (SAD) is a well-documented psychological condition in which an individual experiences excessive anxiety regarding separation from home or from those to whom the individual has a strong emotional attachment. And while we usually think of separation anxiety in terms of pets being stressed about being separated from their guardians, I think it exists in reverse, too. For most of my adult life, I’ve felt anxious about traveling – and I actually like to travel. I enjoy a change of scenery, whether it’s visiting friends in familiar places, or whether it’s traveling to someplace I’ve never been before.Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Put a Stop to Anxiety

Sunday Purrs| 10 Comments

Put a Stop to Anxiety

Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry are caused by too much future,
and not enough presence. – Eckhart Tolle.

I’ve previously shared some simple steps to stop worrying. As with so many other things, my cats have been my greatest teachers when it comes to living in the moment, and when you do that, it’s pretty much impossible to worry. I try to listen to them whenever I find myself sliding back into my old worry habits, but when I find that I can’t break the worry cycle, then I know that there’s something else going on. And usually, that means that worry has escalated into anxiety.

Anxiety is worry’s ugly cousin. While worry happens in the thinking part of your brain, anxiety comes from the limbic system, which is responsible for our emotions. While worry and anxiety are closely related, it’s usually a little easier to short-circuit worry. Worry is  centered around something specific, whereas anxiety is a more generalized feeling of unease.Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Simple Steps to Stop Worrying

Sunday Purrs| 13 Comments

Simple Steps to Stop Worrying

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. ~Leo Buscaglia

I’m a recovering worrier. I have a long history of worrying, and I learned from the master. My dad had elevated worrying to an artform. It wasn’t until the final months of his life when he truly learned to live in the moment. During my last visit with him, when he was already very ill, he told me how he’d learned to “appreciate every flower, and every butterfly.” It sounds trite, but it resonated deeply with me, coming from a man who had spent so much of his life doing the exact opposite.Continue Reading