The best thing a therapist suggest to deal your anxiety is by practicing mindfulness. Mindfulness is being fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.
Mindfulness ultimately leads to your mind getting tricked into observing and thinking about present instead of future. Meditation is one way which we can achieve this, often tricky and effort consuming.
Another way to achieve this mindfulness can be 5-4-3-2-1 rule. The rule says
Acknowledge FIVE things you see around you. It could be anything in your surroundings.
Acknowledge FOUR things you can touch around you. It could be your dress or the ground under your feet
Acknowledge THREE things you hear. Find things you can hear outside of your body.
Acknowledge TWO things you can smell. Maybe a book near you or the scent of a perfume.
Acknowledge ONE thing you can taste. What does the inside of your mouth taste like— coffee, or juice you had.
Another thing that helps achieve mindfulness is PATTERN DRAWING, doodling or as I say Mandala making. It is creating same sort of pattern again and again giving your mind the illusion of safety and in turn leading to comming back to present than worrying about immediate or long term future, which is the precursor for anxiety. Mandala is relatively easy and engaging.
Pattern making or Mandala is relatively easy and engaging to help you cope with anxiety and gives a sense of having done something.
This Buddha mandala was made to cope with one such anxious attack
I hope this helps.
Overthinking Artist 