The Ancient Trick That Turned My Anxiety Into Something I Could Actually Work With
A few years ago, I was sitting in a meeting that should have been simple.
Budget review.
Straightforward numbers.
My home turf as an analytical CPA.
But for some reason, every time someone asked a question, I felt this weird internal jolt.
Not panic. Not fear.
Just this pressure behind my ribs. Like something was leaning over my shoulder, waiting for me to screw up.
At first, I tried to power through it.
Classic move.
Pretend nothing is happening, answer the questions, keep the mask on.
But the pressure kept building.
And the more I ignored it, the louder it got.
At one point, someone asked a totally normal question about a variance, and I felt myself hesitate.
Not because I did not know the answer (I did), but because something in me whispered:
“Careful. They’re judging you.”
And that is when it hit me.
This was not “stress.”
This was not “pressure.”
This was not “being off.”
This thing had a personality.
It was not a fog.
It was not a swarm.
It was not a monster.
It was a heckler.
A loud, obnoxious, overconfident heckler sitting in the cheap seats of my mind, yelling garbage every time I opened my mouth.
And the moment I saw that, the moment it had a face, a voice, a seat in the stadium, everything shifted.
Because you cannot argue with “formless dread.”
But you can tell a heckler to sit down.
I did not calm down instantly.
I did not become enlightened.
But I did feel something loosen.
Naming it gave me leverage.
Naming it gave me space.
Naming it gave me a way to talk back.
And that is when I finally understood why old occult systems obsessed over names and symbols.
Not because they were spooky.
Because they were practical.
What is hidden has power over you. What is named becomes workable.
That day, the heckler did not disappear.
But he shut up long enough for me to finish the meeting like a sane person.
And honestly?
That was enough.
The Ancient Principle Hidden in Plain Sight
There is an ancient principle that shows up in occult traditions across cultures, and it is this:
Hidden things control you. Named things become manageable.
This is not mystical nonsense.
It is practical psychology wrapped in ancient wisdom.
When anxiety is just formless dread, some shapeless pressure in your chest, it has total power over you.
You cannot face it. You cannot talk to it. You cannot negotiate with it.
You can only try to outrun it or ignore it.
And we both know how well that works.
But the moment you give anxiety a name and a form, everything changes.
A buzzing swarm.
A fog rolling in.
A heckler in the stands.
A spinning wheel.
Whatever fits your experience.
The point is not to be creative or poetic.
The point is to make it visible.
Because once it is visible, it is no longer you.
It is something happening to you or near you.
And that small shift, that tiny bit of separation, is where your power lives.
Why the CPA in Me Finally Believed This
Look, as an analytical CPA, I spent years thinking this kind of thing was woo-woo garbage.
Naming your anxiety? Giving it a personality?
Sounds like something from a self-help book written by someone who has never had a real panic attack.
But here is what changed my mind:
It works.
Not because it is magic.
Because it creates distance.
When you say “I am anxious,” anxiety becomes your identity.
When you say “the heckler is here“ or “the swarm showed up,” anxiety becomes a visitor.
And you cannot manage what you ARE.
But you can absolutely manage what is HERE.
That is why old rituals used names, symbols, and forms.
Not because ancient practitioners were superstitious.
Because they understood something modern self-help forgot:
What you can name, you can face. What you can face, you can work with.
Try This
So here is what I want you to try:
Next time anxiety shows up, do not just feel it.
Name it.
Give it a form that fits your experience.
Is it a swarm buzzing around your head?
A fog that rolls in and clouds your thinking?
A heckler yelling from the cheap seats?
A spinning wheel that will not stop turning?
Pick one. Make it specific.
And then, instead of saying “I’m anxious,” try saying:
“The swarm is here.”
“The fog rolled in.”
“The heckler showed up.“
That one sentence creates separation.
And separation creates leverage.
You are not eliminating the anxiety.
You are creating enough distance to work with it.
To be clear, this is not a cure.
It is a tool.
But it is a tool that has been used for thousands of years across multiple wisdom traditions because it does something simple and powerful:
It takes what is hidden and makes it workable.
Get the free Anxiety Alchemy Starter Kit and start mastering your inner world: https://mikeguarneri.com/starter-lp-sub