How to deal with anxious thoughts-Part 2-Questions are the answer!

I talked in yesterday's blog about how one way of dealing with anxious thoughts is to do some blue sky thinking.                                                                                                                        
Today, I want to look at another very effective way of changing how you feel - changing the questions you ask yourself.
When we are feeling anxious we tend to ask ourselves one main question "What if?".....(fill in the blanks)
The majority of the time when we are feeling anxious the "What if" questions that we ask ourselves are just a sign that we are feeling anxious and not a prediction that the worst possible outcome will happen. As we talked about yesterday, just because we have a thought it doesn't mean that the thought is true!
So today there are 2 questions that you can ask yourself when you are caught in the middle of anxiety provoking "what if" questions!
1.  Is what I am thinking right now true?
2.  What else could this mean?
By all means check out whether your thoughts at any moment are giving you some useful information in which case take relevant action.  If you find that you are just in an old pattern of unhelpful anxious thinking then by asking "Is this true" and "What else could this mean" you are then changing the meaning of your thoughts and helping to break the cycle of anxious thoughts leading to feeling anxious, more anxious thoughts and so on!