# How to relieve anxiety



## TheEncourager (Jan 1, 2004)

You can get the books The Donâ€™t Sweat Affirmations by Richard Carlson and I Can Do It by Louise L. Hay from Amazon.com These books should have affirmations to keep you positive. Find time to say some of these affirmations aloud every day so that they will help keep you positive. Better yet, memorize some of them or as many as you can so that when you do not have the books around, you can say them to yourself or aloud to keep you positive.Also, some religious books that contain affirmations are Me and My Big Mouth by Joyce Meyer and Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen. The affirmations in Me and My Big Mouth are on pages 39 to 41. The affirmations in Your Best Life Now are on page 140. You can get Me and My Big Mouth at http://www.joycemeyer.org and Your Best Life Now at http://www.joelosteen.comIf you hear people insult you or say bad things about you because of your condition, it may help to wait until you are in private to say out loud the opposite of what they are saying. Examples include: I smell good. I always smell good. I do not live in the bathroom. Eating in public gives me pleasure. People enjoy being around me. I enjoy being around people.Also, it may help to get your mind off of your problems for awhile. Constantly thinking of your problems will only get you more depressed. Therefore, it helps to do crossword puzzles or variety puzzles to help get your mind off of your difficulties. You can get puzzles at http://www.pennypress.com and http://www.dellmagazines.com These websites even have free puzzles you can download every week. You may even find some puzzle magazines at CVS, Giant, or your bookstore.Prayer also helps. However, it depends on how you pray that matters. It helps to ask God specific questions about your condition. Ask God questions such as, â€œWhat can I do to get rid of gas and constipation? What should I eat, and what should I not eat? How do I keep my job? What can I do to have perfect attendance at work?â€ Be patient though. It may take a long time to get an answer from God. It may take three years, five years, or ten years or longer. If praying like this stresses you out, then pray something like, â€œGet me to have patience. What can I do so that I can have more patience?â€ If praying still stresses you out, you may try praying less often like once a day or once a week instead of plenty of times during the day or once a month or once every three months. I have found asking God questions is much less stressful than asking doctors questions. God doesnâ€™t charge you for asking the question, nor does he seem to get annoyed with you asking the question like some doctors. Also, pray that inventions are created that make people living with your condition have an easier life. Also, it is sometimes important not to want people to have lower expectations of us. When my dad was complaining and criticizing me because of some of the things I could not do because of my flatulence problem, it dawned on me that my dad had high expectations of me. So, I asked God to get me to believe that I could live up to my dadâ€™s high expectations and to give me the ability to live up to my dadâ€™s expectations. Also, it may help you to ask God what you can do to live up to someone elseâ€™s high expectations. I find the idea of God that some televangelists talk about to be quite stressful and counterproductive to peace. I do not believe that God is omnipotent or can get everything he wants. Therefore, praying only increases the likelihood of an answer. God does his best to answer the question and answer the prayer, however, there is no guarantee of an answer and getting no answer does not mean that God does not want to answer the prayer. Obedience to God is not important to answered prayer. After all, you do not do everything your friends tell you to do. Sometimes, people respect you if you do not do what they tell you to do. I feel that is the same way with God. Even though some televangelists give the idea of a God that threatens people with hell and punishment if they do not do what he tells them to do, I have found that the God I pray to does not always want me to do what he tells me to do just like we do not always want our friends to do what we tell them to do.


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## 20745 (Dec 3, 2005)

I have been a fan of Joel Osteen for a long time I watch hime twice a week and have his books and tapes. He has helped me more than I can expressI start my day off with all the tools I have learnewd from Joel.I am glad other IBS people are getting benefits from himThanksKAren


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## 20250 (Jul 14, 2005)

Thanks for that. My wife has both books and has been to Joyce Meyer conventions, last year and going again this coming June. I need to make time to read these books. Not a big reader, though we do dvr her show everyday. She's good!!


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