It is often suggested that one uses meditation to address anxious thoughts. I have failed utterly every time I sit to watch my breath. The pinnacle I have reached is count to 10!!! The usual result is an attack of the Super Sleepiness!

So this is still a problem for me. However there is one activity that seem to help. I really need someone to discover an "advil" for anxiety. I don't know if one exists, at least legally anyways.

Here is a quick list that seem to help me a bit.

Getting up early on weekends in the morning to a quiet home
A cup of coffee
Reading a National newspaper that rises above the local din
A very long walk (about 2 hours)
A good movie
Old familiar music with character and complexity
Working with my kids on Math, or Science, or Language

Most of these lowers my anxiety, the first part, but don't address the anxiety. Except for the very long walk.

Here is how it works. (Mind you it has to be a long walk.) In the first 40 minutes there are so many buzzing thoughts hitting each other as you walk. You can try to initiate a thought that is a good constructive thought. The mind will be going back and forth and slowly comes around to the good thought. In that sense I call walking the converter of bad thoughts to good thoughts.

At about an hour into the walking you enter a slightly better physiological state where the body is relaxed and walking becomes natural and you start breathing from the stomach and not lungs.

By this hour you tend to latch on to the productive thoughts and they become crystalized. You form these conclusive opinions on the actions that you need to do. Or you start seeing these crystalized truths after discarding all the negative emotions.

yes it does happen. A good 70% of the time. It may be different for you. But the walk has to be long. And may be alone! I have never done to this level when walking together with others. Quietness and Movement seem to be essential to do this.