One long exercise: name it → bring it down → close. Mockup shows two example episodes, top to bottom.
Name it i
How strong? 0–10
What’s happening? optional
Bring it down i
core = ships with the app · yours = you made it · order tuned to your word — panicked puts body first
Still spinning? i
How is it now? i
7 → 4 · −3
Name it
How strong? 0–10
What helped?
One suggestion
good days write your recipes
Everyone feels all of this. Prime is how fast you come back.
mechanism
Anxiety is a forecast, not a report. The brain runs a simulation of something that has not happened, marks it as dangerous and prepares the body for it now: heart up, muscles ready, attention scanning. Because the threat is in the future, the body has nowhere to spend the readiness — which is why anxiety loops instead of resolving.
not to confuse with
panicked: the alarm says the danger is here, right now, and thinking shuts down · overwhelmed: the load is real and already on you, not forecast · insecure: the threat is specifically about how you will be judged · restless: energy without a forecast attached
in the body
shallow fast breathing, tight chest, cold hands, jaw and stomach clenched, thoughts circling the same scene
feel it
Do not argue with the forecast — you cannot out-reason a body that is already braced. Slow the exhale first and let the readiness fall. What remains after the body settles is the part worth thinking about.
what to do
Bring the body down, then split the forecast in two: what you can act on today, and what is out of your hands. Take one action from the first pile. Anxiety spends itself on action and feeds on rehearsal.
don't
no planning inside the spike: you will plan for the worst case, not the likely one · do not seek reassurance in a loop — relief lasts minutes and the loop gets stronger · do not check the phone for evidence
if you do nothing
The simulation keeps running and the body stays braced for hours. Sleep gets thin, attention narrows to the threat, and avoidance grows: each thing you dodge teaches the brain that the danger was real and that only avoidance saved you.
after
if the same forecast returns three times, it is a belief to check, not a fact · what actually happened is worth logging: the brain rarely updates the forecast on its own
your track
12 episodes · median 6 → 3 · most frequent forecast: money · best tool: 4-7-8 ✓5
keys
0–9 set the scale · enter = next step · d = tool done · esc = close dialogs
+ add your own · open in Library: practices →