The Spiritual Meaning of Anxiety

Most of us are familiar with the experience of anxiety. We recognize the racing thoughts, the sense of impending doom, the overthinking, and mental spirals.

A lot of people even experience anxiety physically…heart beating out of your chest, can’t seem to catch your breath, sweating like you just ran a mile.

Sound familiar??

But anxiety isn’t just a symptom of a mental health issue, it reflects a deeper issue that exists on a spiritual and energetic level.

Anxiety isn’t our enemy and isn’t just a problem to “fix.” It’s a sign that our soul is in desperate need of our own attention.

Anxiety is a spiritual messenger.

When anxiety is present, you aren’t.

Anxiety is a signal to yourself that you are missing…parts of you are anyway. It shows you that you are disconnected from your true self, who you actually are at a soul level.

Life on Earth isn’t always easy. Difficult life experiences (i.e., traumas, rejections, disappointments, etc) often cause parts of our soul to fracture or fragment. Those pieces still exist, but they typically move to another dimension, plane of existence, or are suppressed somewhere in our psyche that is difficult to access with our conscious mind.

This is designed as a protection mechanism. The fragmented pieces leave in order to protect the whole from the overwhelming amount of pain we might experience if they were to stay. But when they leave, they take some of our core essence with them and that leaves empty space within.

Emptiness doesn’t typically stay empty though. It has to be filled with something. And if parts of you aren’t available to fill that space because they’re currently existing on another plane of existence then something else has to fill that space instead.

And what will fill that empty space?

You guessed it…anxiety!

Our soul has the desire to have the experience of wholeness within. A sense of inner harmony and safety. But wholeness can only be experienced when all of our parts are at home (i.e., in our conscious awareness). The parts have to work together to create the whole.

When wholeness is obtained, peace tends to follow. It creates groundedness and inner stability. When we are whole, anxiety doesn’t have room to enter, there simply isn’t space for it.

If we treat anxiety only as a symptom, we will fail to touch the underlying issue of soul-disconnection. We may learn to cope with anxiety more effectively or set up our lives in such a way that we are less likely to become anxious, but that approach alone won’t allow for deep level healing or reconnection. It may create an illusion of stability without actually creating that stability.

And that’s exactly why in my counseling practice, I use Internal Family Systems (IFS) as an approach to anxiety. IFS focuses on working with all your parts-identifying them, understanding their unique roles, and teaching them how to work together as a unified system.

IFS can help you develop compassion for all of your parts. They’re all important. They all belong because they are the parts that make up you.

IFS can help us to see ourselves as a mosaic. All the pieces fit together to create a masterpiece. Sure some of the pieces might fit together a little bit wonky or maybe one is a little bit chipped, but within the context of the whole, they’re still beautiful.

So next time you’re feeling anxious, try not to get frustrated with that experience or overly identify with it. Instead of using language like “I’m anxious” try saying “I’m noticing that I’m having the experience of anxiety right now.” And then get curious. Do some self-reflection. You can ask yourself questions like:

  • What part of me needs my attention right now?

  • What part of me might be missing?

  • What part needs to come home?

If you choose to listen to your anxiety as a messenger instead of just as a symptom, it might be the very thing that leads you back to wholeness. And for many of my clients that sense of wholeness isn’t something they even have a conscious memory of ever experiencing. It is possible to become whole even if you’ve never felt what that feels like before.

If you’re feeling called to explore the deeper level meaning of your anxiety, I’d love to support you on your journey! You can use my Contact Form to book a 15-minute free consultation or schedule a session with me.

Not ready to book a session yet? You can still begin shifting your inner world by downloading my free guide, Rewrite Your Subconscious Beliefs Workbook.

No matter where you’re at in your journey, I’m glad that you’re here!

Becca ✨

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