It's the beginning of 2020, and I have a new year gift to offer you: mindfulness exercises to help anxiety. It's a brand-new year. Chances are, you would rather that anxiety didn't accompany you into this year or any other year. You don't have to remain attached to anxiety. Break free from worry and panic by making mindfulness a way of life, and start now, early in 2020, by helping your anxiety with these 20 mindfulness exercises.

Anxiety disorders cause us to ruminate and rehash, running past conversations, events, situations, actions, and emotions over and over in our heads. And doing so makes anxiety skyrocket.

The Christmas story helps me deal with holiday anxiety. So many people find this time of year supremely stressful when it really should be the exact opposite. Because there is no better time than now to revisit the topic of holiday anxiety, I want to go into a little more detail about how I use the Christmas story to frame this time of year in terms of calm, not anxiety.

Do you feel an urge to ease your anxiety because it has grown larger than life? Or perhaps it's small, but it's a constant nagging, gnawing presence that's starting to wear you down. Whatever the scope and nature of your unique anxiety, you can tame it and create a peaceful life. Below you'll find the top things you can do to ease your anxiety, whatever it's like.

I'm working through grief because, very recently, I lost someone in my family to whom I was always very close. Having been lucky enough to not have to deal with this kind of death very often in the past, it hasn’t been the easiest to find my balance.

Practicing mental yoga can help reduce anxiety because it builds psychological flexibility. Mental yoga isn't a formal practice with certain poses and movements; instead, it's a way of thinking, feeling, and behaving--a way of being, of living. Just as yoga increases physical flexibility (among other things), mental yoga increases psychological flexibility. As you practice, you can free yourself from anxiety. 

Holiday anxiety is a common experience. The holiday season, meant to bring peace and joy, instead can bring anxiety and misery The reasons for anxiety during the holidays are numerous and personal. Worries about money, materialism, family matters, holiday parties, loneliness, food-related concerns, alcohol use, and more can make the holidays, whether it's Hanukkah or Christmas, ho-ho-horrible. Regardless of what your holiday anxiety is like, it's real, legitimate, and can be put in its proper place: in a distant corner where it doesn't block the candles' glow. Read on for four simple, effective, mindfulness activities to reduce any holiday anxiety.

Dealing with anxiety-provoking people can be incredibly stressful and nerve-racking, but you can reduce your anxiety while you're interacting with others in any situation. This tool for handling anxiety-provoking people is an acronym. To remain calm in any interaction, be a BLOBB.

Music is one of the most important parts of my life and a playlist of calm music is one of my necessities. I’ve written about it before on this very post: "Music as Anxiety Relief." Today I want to revisit a very specific facet of this topic.

Gratitude and anxiety can seem like an unlikely combination. People living with any type of anxiety might be prone to see gratitude as a superficial trend and interpret reports that it reduces anxiety as pure nonsense. That skepticism makes a lot of sense. When you're worried about a loved one's health, for example, does thanking the person who coughed germs all over the room help your anxiety? Honestly, it probably would not. That, though, isn't what gratitude is all about. Gratitude and anxiety have a genuine connection, and the more you know about it, the more you'll find yourself less anxious and more grateful.