Excerpt from "FEAR", (and anxiety) by Thich Nhat Hanh

"We all ( 95% of us) experience fear, but if we can look deeply into our fear, we will be able to free ourselves from its grip and touch joy. Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can realize that right now we are okay. Right now, today, we are still alive, and our bodies are working marvellously. Our eyes can still can still see the beautiful sky. Our ears can still hear our loved ones.

The first part of looking at our fear is just inviting it into our awareness without judgement. We just acknowledge gently that it is there. This brings a lot of relief already. Then, once our fear has calmed down, we can embrace it tenderly and look deeply into its roots, its sources. Understanding the origins of our anxieties and fears will help us let go of them. Is our fear coming from something happening right now, or is it an old fear, a fear from when we were small, that we've kept inside? When we practice inviting all fears up, we become aware that we are still alive, that we still have many things to treasure and enjoy. If we are not busy pushing down and managing fear, we can enjoy the sunshine, the fog, the air, and the water. If you can look deeply into your fear and have a clear vision of it, then you really can live a life worthwhile."