First, we acknowledge the emotion for what it is. We recognize that we're feeling something and we pay attention to just what it is we're feeling. Each emotion, positive or negative, is giving us a message. The message contains important information. In this article I'll be focusing on the emotion we call anxiety.
Anxiety is a future oriented emotion.
Think about it. We don't get anxious about events that have already occurred. We no longer feel anxiety. We might feel relief, remorse, disappointment, sorrow, or some other past oriented emotion. Anxiety is focused on the future.