Sometimes anxiety hits and we don’t know why. We just feel anxious. But something is going on in your body that could be causing an anxious feeling.

Your autonomic nervous system is constantly surveilling the environment and looking for safety or threat. If threat is detected that part of your nervous system activates and can trigger anxiety. However, this surveillance system is not in our awareness. So, at times, anxiety comes and we don’t know why. We don’t have a thought that triggers it or can’t identify a stress or event. But our nervous system knows and communicates with our brain to put us on alert.

When this happens, what can you do? First, tune into your body. Be aware of how you are feeling. Do you feel tense, isolated, stressed, or on edge? If so, you activate the part of the nervous system that puts you in fight or flight. When that activation continues, you have anxiety. However, you can do certain things to calm your nervous system.

One thing to do is be with someone who makes you feel safe. This can be a friend, a parent, a family member, or anyone who is trusted. Just the connection to someone safe calms the autonomic nervous system.

Spiritually you can connect to God through prayer, reading the Word, or worshipping. God is a safe connection. Someone who never leaves or rejects you. He thinks highly of you as someone designed in His Image. His Words can comfort and remind you that you are safe in His arms.

When anxious, you can also use grounding techniques. These bring you to the present moment and distract away from anything that may be triggering you. Grounding helps regulate the nervous system by shifting attention away from distressing thoughts, promoting safety and enhancing emotional stability.

Here are a five examples of grounding techniques:

1. Pick up an object, touch and describe it. This will bring you to the present moment and engage your thinking brain.
2. Walk, move and concentrate on your feet.
3. Use the 5-4-3-2-1 technique: Describe 5 things you hear, 4 things you see, 3 things you can touch, 2 things you smell and 1 thing you can taste.
4. Picture the face of God or someone you love.
5. Focus on the external environment –look around and name things.

Also, when your body is anxious and you don’t know why, try any number of relaxation exercises. You can look these up on the Internet and find recordings of how to do these. They include deep breathing, guided imagery, progressive muscle relationship and music meditation. All these relaxation techniques calm your nervous system and take down the stress.

So, when you simply feel anxious and don’t know why, try these techniques to calm your nervous system. With practice you can tune into your body better and learn to regulate feelings.You don’t have to feel anxious.