CLB 021: How to Stop Blushing and Relax

Have you ever blushed?

Of course you have. We all blush.

There’s nothing wrong with blushing however blushing can become a concern when we feel anxious about blushing. We’re afraid of blushing or when we blush we get anxious about blushing and that just further adds to our overall anxiety.

So this episode is devoted to blushing – specifically how to deal with blushing so that it no longer causes anxiety for you.

Key Points Re: How to Stop Blushing

• Blushing is a common symptom of social anxiety. At its extreme, the embarrassment from blushing can become so bad that the sufferer avoids social contact altogether.
• Not everyone who blushes has social anxiety and not everyone with social anxiety blushes excessively.
• The system that activates blushing is also the same system that is responsible for anxiety – our fight-or-flight system – the system designed to keep you safe from danger by making it easier for you to fight or flee at a moment’s notice.
• Blushing is a completely natural, automatic human response.
• It is this fear of blushing – worrying about it, feeling that it is awful and that others will notice and not approve of us – and the anticipatory anxiety we have about it occurring – that feeds and fuels the act of blushing itself.
• What would happen, if the next time you blushed, you made space for that feeling, you allowed it to happen, you continued right on with what you were doing and saying, you didn’t try to resist it or get caught up in it?
• It’s okay to say, “Oh, I think I may blush now” or “I feel myself going red.” Sometimes holding back the information or trying to hide the fact that you are anxious or embarrassed only makes things worse.

Episode Transcript

You can download the transcript of this episode by clicking here.

Home Play

The home play for this week is simply to practice this meditation and reflect upon the points we’ve covered. Apply the techniques you’ve learned in the Calm Living Blueprint to blushing.

You can download the blushing meditation .mp3 here.

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