Dan St. Germain, 'Takes a Village to Keep Me Going'

1. Build Comprehensive Recovery Support

For managing addiction and mental health challenges like panic attacks, establish a multi-faceted support system including daily meditation, prayer, weekly 12-step meetings, a cognitive therapist, a psychiatrist, and couples therapy. This ‘village’ approach provides robust, ongoing support to prevent relapse and maintain well-being.

2. Establish Daily Morning Ritual

Implement a consistent morning routine including prayer (e.g., Serenity Prayer), listening to inspirational content, a sit-down meditation, and writing a daily gratitude list. This structured start to the day helps ground you and manage mental health challenges.

3. Seek Inner Contentment

Recognize that external achievements (jobs, relationships, career milestones) will not bring lasting happiness or ‘save’ you; instead, cultivate contentment with where you are in the present moment. This prevents the cycle of suffering caused by constantly seeking the ’next thing’ to fill an internal void.

4. Diversify Meditation Focus

If focusing on your breath during meditation causes anxiety or panic-like symptoms, switch to other meditation objects like the feeling of your whole body, hands, or rear end, or try walking, loving-kindness, or open awareness meditation. This helps avoid self-criticism and allows for continued practice without distress.

5. Drop Meditation Expectations

Avoid fixating on achieving specific desirable states or feelings during meditation, as the true goal is to clearly observe whatever arises in your mind and body without judgment or control. This helps prevent attachment to outcomes and fosters genuine awareness.

6. Combat Negative Self-Talk with Meditation

Employ meditation as a grounding practice to counter the ‘spiritual malady’ of negative self-talk, dwelling on the past, and fearing the future, thereby fostering presence in the moment. Specific techniques like breathing in for two seconds and exhaling for four can help lower heart rate and calm the mind.

7. Focus on Personal Best

Shift your mindset from striving for ’top spots’ or external validation to simply being the best version of yourself and doing your best, letting outcomes unfold naturally. This approach fosters a saner attitude and reduces the burden of envy and competition.

8. Recognize Addiction’s Progression

Understand that addiction, initially perceived as fun or a coping mechanism, inevitably progresses from ‘fun’ to ‘angry’ to ‘sad,’ ultimately ceasing to work and causing more harm. This insight serves as a warning and a call to seek help before reaching the later stages.

9. Cultivate Career Flexibility

Develop a mindset that acknowledges the possibility of career changes or setbacks, and actively consider alternative career paths (e.g., mental health field) to reduce fear and find peace in knowing you’ll be okay if your current work stops. This fosters resilience and reduces anxiety about the future.

10. Supplement Meditation with Compassion

While Transcendental Meditation (TM) and mantra-based practices can be effective for stress reduction, consider supplementing them with practices that cultivate compassion for yourself and others. This helps address deeper ‘soul’ needs and fosters kinder interactions.

11. Self-Police Speech, Punch Up

In creative fields like comedy or in general communication, actively self-police your language to avoid using hurtful words, even unintentionally, and focus on ‘punching up’ (critiquing those in power) rather than ‘punching down’ (targeting vulnerable groups). This promotes ethical communication and reduces harm.

12. Pause Before Posting

Before tweeting or posting on social media, pause and consider if your ‘first thought’ is truly accurate or constructive, as often the initial impulse can be ‘wrong.’ This helps prevent impulsive, potentially harmful, or regrettable online communication.