How can we handle anxiety? Remember we are not alone and stay awake.
When we feel anxious about something, everything is heightened. Adrenaline is coursing through us, and we’re on alert. All our experiences seem to have more gravity. We may feel a low level, ongoing anxiety, or the present moment may seem like the end of the world.
Such times can be difficult to deal with, and they may make us feel alone. If you are going through this, I’d like to offer this consolation that I’ve learned from my own life: you are not alone. Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time, regardless of their circumstances. Rich or poor, tall or short, brilliant or average, we all go through anxious times. There is an old saying that goes, “Even inside of a flowered palanquin, there are anxieties.” That means that even if it looks like we have everything going for us, we can still have anxiety.
Although being in a very good environment doesn’t save us from anxiety, it also means we can deal with our anxiety despite any circumstances we find ourselves in. Anxiety is created inside of us, so we can handle anxiety by changing what’s going on inside.
How to Approach Anxiety
How can we do that? There are actually two ways. We either have to be in totally deep sleep or be totally awake.
There are two essential ways to approach anxiety. You can either be totally asleep or totally awake. Click To TweetSleeping through life lets us avoid many unpleasant feelings, because we are so far removed from what’s going on inside us. We only pay attention to what’s going on outside and/or we keep running, keeping busy, so we never stop to feel anything. We may also remain unaware by self-medicating ourselves with whatever we find pleasurable. We chase after the next new, exciting product or experience. Underneath it all, we may be anxious, but we manage to avoid dealing with it.
Unfortunately, whatever we have inside festers if we live this way. One day, it will make itself seen and heard, and we may find ourselves overwhelmed by the consequences and blindsided by things we can’t understand.
Fortunately, there is another way to deal with anxiety. Instead of sleeping, we can be totally awake. We can only be completely awake, however, if we know why we exist in this world and what we have to do in it. In essence, only a person who has found their purpose can be completely awake. For it is this purpose that keeps you awake. It gives you a reason to know what is going on inside you and how to manage it. And by managing it, you can prevent anxiety and other emotions from taking over.
When you don’t have a purpose to focus on, unnecessary thoughts crowd in, and emotions, preconceptions, and victim consciousness grow bigger. Those unnecessary thoughts are like ghosts. The purpose of ghosts is fracturing balance and division. They use all their power to break up the balance of body, mind, and brain, and to cause division between people’s hearts.
These thought ghosts can be called the cause of anxiety. They cause so much disruption to our inner balance that we can hardly see or feel our internal peace and wisdom. They make the future look grim, our abilities seem inadequate, and our differences from others appear insurmountable. In other words, these ghosts steal our hope.
Focusing on a purpose that holds our attention, that naturally brings us joy, puts those ghosts in their place. They lose power as we give energy to the thoughts, emotions, and actions that align with our purpose. Instead, our inner peace and joy grow, leaving little room for the turbulence of anxiety.
Enjoy Ilchi Lee’s blog posts?
Keep up-to-date with weekly wisdom delivered directly to your email inbox.
Find Your Purpose
What I call a “purpose” can be as vast as the universe or as small as a single particle. Whatever we determine our purpose to be, the main requirement is that it makes our energy and consciousness grow. It allows us to be bigger, bolder, and brighter the more we work on it.
How can you discover your purpose if you don’t know it already? Keep asking yourself.
Our brains supply the answers we need. We can hear it directly inside of us if we listen carefully. Our heart will leap at the prospect as soon as we’re aware of it, and our fear will immediately be activated as we realize everything achieving our purpose will entail.
But if we stay awake and strive toward the completion of our purpose, peace and joy, vitality and life, will dominate the fear and anxiety everyone eventually faces.
Related Posts
- Trade Anxiety and Worry with Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)
- Overcoming Overwhelm
- You Have the Right to Decide
- Look Below the Waves of Your Emotions
- Anything Is Possible
Related Video