Affirmations offered by others were helpful only when they moved me to speak my own wisdom. What felt awful was not being able to control my way out of these attacks. I knocked myself soft and open trying to escape them. Yet soft and open and out of control was exactly where I needed to be. I talk of these experiences in the past tense, but know another round of attacks could strike on any day, at any breath.
Panic attacks test our ability to live in the moment.
They also let us see how much heart is left in us to care for others, even though we feel besieged. It is said that some people carry pain for the sake of all of us, or that carrying pain can make a person more compassionate. This feels likely to me. In addition, if we do not run from our pain, but tend it as we would a garden, then even in the midst of our deepest suffering we might feel ourselves to be very much alive. All Rights Reserved.