How Mindfulness Turns Anxiety into Agency
Transforming this energy into wise effort and grounded action.
I attended WWF Earth Summit 2025 in Singapore and was moved by a question posed by one of the speakers:
In face of change, will we turn anxiety into agency?
Anxiety often leaves us feeling stuck - paralysed, debilitated, unable to move forward.
The more we try and run from it, the more it seems to chase us.
We reach for distractions and resort to escape routes in a bid to cope, not realising that this teaches our mind and nervous system to treat anxiety as a threat. In doing so, we unintentionally reinforce the uneasiness within.
Over time, this erodes our confidence and weakens our sense of autonomy in facing and managing what unsettles us.
What if we could shift the narrative?
The approach is not to fix anxiety or push it away, but to learn to work with it, even move with it.
This is when we begin to transform anxiety, from something that shuts us down, into an energy that calls us into wise effort and grounded action:
1. From Reacting to Witnessing
Instead of spiralling in reactivity, we learn to pause and create space around our experience.
Through mindfulness, we acknowledge what is arising from moment to moment, without the need to fix or change anything right away.
In this witnessing, we are reclaiming the power to respond with a clearer mind and more grounded heart.
2. From Energy to Intention
At the heart of anxiety is a movement of energy, an aliveness that is often chaotic but also full of potential power.
Mindfulness helps us recognise this energy and channel it into intention, direction, and conscious effort.
Rather than being weighed down or swept away, we learn to move with purpose, guided by a quiet trust in our own inner strength.
3. From Victim to Co-Creator
We may not be able to control what happens, but we can certainly choose how we meet each moment of our experience.
By becoming aware of our patterns of emotional reactivity and ruminative tendencies, we step out of helplessness and into empowered presence.
Mindfulness reminds us that we are not passive recipients always at the mercy of experience - we are collaborators and co-creators who choose how we show up and participate.
4. From Uncertainty to Structure
In times of uncertaintly, it is natural to feel stuck or scattered. The unknown can leave us frozen in place or scrambling without direction.
Mindful awareness grounds us in what is right here, right now, staying present as each moment unfolds.
Taking small, mindful steps while accepting the unknown allows us to weave structure and stability into our path. In this way, what once felt overwhelming begins to feel manageable.
5. From Independence to Interdependence
Anxiety tends to isolate, making it feel as though we must carry the burden alone.
Mindfulness reveals the profound interconnectedness we share, opening our hearts to shared humanity and the web of support all around us.
We begin to understand that healing doesn’t happen in isolation, but through connection.
This is when we become more willing to accept help and embrace the strength found in collective wisdom.
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"I would like to recommend Erin as a great mindfulness and wellbeing coach. Being someone who knew nothing of meditation, I found mindfulness as a refreshing and radical way to live out my life and make all-round improvements in my personal and social life. With her guidance and patience, I am able to incorporate elements of meditation so that I can improve my concentration and be better attuned to the present."
— Wenjie Li