My New Attitude on Panic Attacks

I have frequent panic attacks where I am convinced that I'll have a stroke or go into cardiac arrest. I have been convinced of this at least 20 times now, and I haven't died yet. So obviously, that fear was not coming from true intuition; it was coming from an irrational place.

Even after realizing this, I still felt fearful when the panic was taking me over, and I convinced myself that "this is the one! This is the panic attack where I'll actually die!"...and still, I'm here. So I tried taking on an attitude of mocking the panic, saying "you haven't killed me and you never will :-P". That only made the panic more advanced and sinister, giving me actual physical sensations like chest pain and faintness. So I decided it was time to take on a new attitude.

My AHA moment was realizing that the best attitude to take on is one where I'm not fearful of death. When I feel a panic attack coming on, I just say to myself, "I either die or I don't". Simple. It either happens, or it doesn't. I am indifferent either way.

If being indifferent doesn't work for you because you have important responsibilities, then I would suggest you just calmly watch the panic attack happen. Since panic irrational and totally created by the mind, nothing will happen to you.