Calm My Anxious Heart (And Amygdala)

Woven in Truth Podcast

In this episode, our inspiring friend Melissa Abello joins the podcast to shed some light and insight on managing anxiety. As both a licensed mental health practitioner and a full time minister, Melissa fuses the academic and spiritual perspectives. She not only helps us understand anxiety physiologically, but also provides tools to navigate it in the context of our daily Christian lives.
About the Speaker:
Melissa Abello has been serving for the last 10 years in the full time ministry. She is married to an amazing man of God named Janus Abello. She has two daughters: an angel in Heaven named Naomi and Ruth who is now 8 months old. She also is a licensed mental health practitioner in the state of Missouri. She predominately works doing marriage therapy specializing in marriage communication, affair recovery, sexual addiction, and sex therapy. Furthermore, she works exclusively with women around anxiety and depression. Her and her husband serve currently as Evangelist and Women's ministry leader in Columbia, MO. She enjoys spending time with family and decorating!

Episode Notes:

We all handle anxiety differently and we all have anxiety! Some have it more chronically than others, but we all experience it!
• Goal today is to share God’s heart for anxiety, share he wired our bodies so you can understand the complexity of how he designed us, then to share how to practically we can help our anxiety and how that connects and relates to exactly what God talks about in the Bible!
• My hope is that this deeper understanding of how God designed us could equip each of us in how to handle and cope with our anxiety so we can really love God with our whole heart and mind!
Philippains 4:4-8

• How is it that God commands us not to be anxious when it feels like a reaction that somehow is just happening to me!
• The greek word for anxious in the text here is: Merimnao: Properly drawn in opposite directions; divided into parts

How We Develop Anxiety?
Core emotions are fear, anger, disgust, joy, excitement, and sadness. Anxiety is an inhibitory emotion. The other two inhibitory emotions are guilt and shame. They inhibit emotion on purpose. They serve as a protective mechanism.
What happens when we get anxious?
Anxiety is a physiological response of distress.

What are the ways you think about anxiety?
• Do you catasprophize it and give it to it?
• Do you resist feeling it?
• Do you shame yourself for experiencing?
• Do you lean into it and attempt to follow it and understand it?
Practicals to help us with our Anxiety:
1.) What is are you noticing in your body?
2.) Accept responsibility
3.) Accept feeling
4.) Talk to your body (Mindfulness, Breathing, Grounding)
5.) Talk to yourself: explore what you are feeling more
6.) Talk to God
7.) Talk to someone else
Emotional Workout: This needs to be done consistently! Train yourself in this!
Resources Melissa Recommends:
1. Feeling Wheel
2. Worksheet & Other Resource

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