Page 51 - Advance Copy: Todd Kaufman, Author

HOW TO MANAGE ANXIETY & END PANIC ATTACKS
Understanding Neuroplastic Change
Imagine that you live in a farmhouse a corn field across from your best friend. Over the years, you have acquired the habit of waking up, grabbing your trusty dog named Doogle and head- ing out across the corn field to your friend’s house for your morning coffee. Although it’s a good 20-minute walk through corn that towers high above your head, you have done the morning walk so many times that you could likely do it blind- folded. And besides, over the years, you have trampled the corn stalks down so significantly that the path is clearly visible and easy to navigate.
But we all have those mornings, and on this morning, good old Doogle heard something off the beaten path and, despite your pre-caffeinated protests, bolts out of site. Being the good dog daddy or mommy that you are, you take off after Doogle in hot pursuit. As you run you are hit in the face by corn stalks and you stumble over ruts and really have no idea where you are going, aside from chasing the sound of Doogle’s bark. It’s no easy pursuit!
Eventually you catch up, and whatever Doogle was chasing is nowhere in sight. Doogle is patiently waiting beside a small stream you have never noticed before, as it is well-off your usual, trodden path. You grab Doogle and the two of you follow the stream up to your friend’s house.
The following morning, you think it might be worth taking the new path via the stream. You enter the corn field at your usual point, carefully looking for where you deviated from your path the morning before. You spot a few broken stalks, and it takes a fair bit of attention and effort to find the same path again. It’s not an easy path to follow, and the walk is pretty uncomfortable, but eventually you make your way to your friend’s via the stream.
The new route is interesting enough that over the next few days and weeks you choose this alternative path again and
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