The 3-3-3 Rule For Anxiety

If you struggle with anxiety then you already know how overwhelming it can feel at times. You want some simple strategies to help you to calm your mind and body. That’s where the 3-3-3 rule for anxiety can become part of how you interrupt anxiety and regain focus.

When anxiety takes over, your mind starts to race. You struggle to think clearly. Everything is filled with negativity, thinking the worst and catastrophe. Your chest feels tight, your heart may pound and you feel hot, restless and tense. It can feel like you’ve lost control over your own mind and body. You start to panic even more. You think there may be something seriously wrong with you. Even in calmer moments you find yourself worrying about becoming anxious again.

You get caught up in the cycle of anxiety. You don’t know what to do with yourself or how to think more clearly and calm yourself down. I know how bad it feels because I’ve been there myself. However, as my anxiety clients soon discover, it is possible to calm your mind and body.

Rather than getting caught up in anxiety, you can calm your mind and body. That’s where the 3-3-3- rule for anxiety can become part of your strategy for interrupting anxious thoughts and calming yourself down physically. It’s a simple, grounding technique that can make a difference. It’s effective and easy to remember and apply. You can use it anywhere and at any time.

What is the 3-3-3 Rule For Anxiety?

When you feel anxious, your thoughts race off into future catastrophic possibilities. It’s all about the things that could go wrong and the negative consequences for you if that happens. Your imagination fills you with fear, worry and dread over the things you are thinking. Anxiety steals the present moment and how things actually are and puts you into future worst case scenarios.

The 3-3-3 rule is a grounding exercise that helps you to bring your attention back to the present moment. You can use it whenever anxiety begins to increase. Rather than getting lost in the future in your imagination, you come back to where you are now. It works by helping you to interrupt anxious thoughts. Using your senses, you bring your focus back and connect to what is going on around you right now.

This is what you need to do:

1. Look around you and describe three things you can see right now
2. Listen and describe three things you can hear around you right now
3. Move three parts of your body (e.g. you can move your fingers or toes etc) or touch three things.

It’s a deceptively simple technique but can have a positive effect because it counteracts anxiety patterns. It shifts your attention from inside your own head, with all the anxious thoughts, to outside your head. You direct your focus to what is happening around you now, rather than imagining the worst happening in the future. You are moving from imagination to the actual, right here and right now.

You can repeat the steps as many times as needed to interrupt your anxiety.

Some people find that they get more benefit by being more descriptive and detailed, particularly for what you can see and hear. I’ve also had clients who focus on one aspect. For example, describing ten specific sounds to themselves when driving (this puts your attention on the here and now whilst also allowing you to look where you are going!!).

Now, I think one of the reasons I enjoy running so much is because it allows me space to direct my attention. I could run along mulling over something in my mind and working through it. Or, I can notice the variety of sights around me, listen to the sounds of nature – and I’m already conscious of the parts of my body that are moving!

This week I headed out for a lovely run around Ely. My route takes in the awesome Ely Cathedral before heading out through Ely Country Park and along the river. The park and river are absolutely my favourite places to run. It was a chilly morning but the sun was coming up brightly. Ely in the Autumn is something magical on mornings such as these.

And for purely gratuitous reasons, here’s a photo of me looking a little warm (too many layers!) on my run:

Yeah, let’s not talk about that hat hair!!

Using The 3-3-3 Rule for Anxiety

When you feel anxious, your mind can spiral from one negative thought to the next. You get stuck in a pattern of thinking the worst. This then makes you feel more anxious and that drives your mind to even more of the ‘what if’ type thinking. You picture things going wrong, tell yourself how you won’t cope and how awful it will be and you start focusing upon all the unpleasant feelings in your body.

Your thoughts and feelings feed into each other and both intensify each other. This is where the 3-3-3 rule for anxiety comes in. It helps you move away from this self perpetuating loop of anxiety. You bring your attention back to the here and now. Once you get used to it, it’s something you can do quickly and discreetly wherever you are.

As with most techniques for dealing with anxious thoughts and feelings, the earlier you do it the better. As soon as you notice your anxiety rising you are aiming to nip it in the bud and catch it quickly. You are aiming to calm your feelings and to interrupt and refocus your thinking. Being specific and detailed with the sights and sounds elements occupies your inner dialogue. The more descriptive you are, the more you reign your focus back into the present.

Help For Anxiety in Ely and Newmarket

The 3-3-3 rule for anxiety works well when applied in the moment. When anxiety strikes, it can help you to relax your body and calm your mind. Alongside other strategies it becomes a useful technique. Now, of course, you don’t want to only have one strategy for dealing with anxiety so you may want to read through my other articles about anxiety relief.

You want to be able to deal with any unwanted thoughts and feelings that arise from time to time. And you also want to experience less anxiety and feel better in yourself. That way you need techniques such as these less (although you’ll know them to manage things that may crop up).

Alongside their anxiety hypnotherapy sessions, I always teach my clients many ways to interrupt, redirect, reduce and remove anxious thoughts and feelings. Hypnotherapy helps you to change the existing pattern of anxious thinking and feeling. You prime your mind so that you feel more calm, confident and in control in your life. Techniques like the 3-3-3 rule, alongside hypnotherapy, can help you to achieve both immediate, and long lasting, change.

The 3-3-3 rule is simple. Yet it can be a very useful way to interrupt the anxiety spiral before it gets going. By focusing upon what you see, hear and feel right now, you bring your focus back to the present and place your awareness outside of your own head.

If you could use some help to feel more calm and confident then I’d be happy to help. You’ll also learn many helpful and practical techniques along the way. Get in touch to find out how we can work together to help you quickly and successfully feel calmer, more relaxed and back in control over your own thoughts and feelings.

To your health and happiness, 

Dan Regan

Anxiety Therapist in Ely & Newmarket

Find out more about anxiety help in Ely and Newmarket:  Anxiety Hypnotherapy

Could you use some help with your anxiety? Struggling with anxiety, stress, worry and fear and need some help? Find out how I can help with a Complimentary Hypnotherapy Strategy Session. Learn more here: Appointments

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And check out these popular and powerful hypnosis downloads that can start helping you right away with anxiety, confidence and more: Hypnosis Downloads