Anxiety and what makes you anxious

Tue, 16 Mar 2010

The roots of anxiety are some sort of fear, and fear arises when our security or stability is under threat. Fear is a natural phenomenon which is designed to warn us of any danger. Fear illicit a response that will help protect us from the perceived threat.

Although there are a continuous stream of books, religious doctrines and psychotherapeutic techniques that promise overcoming fear, fear still remains an inherent part of our lives and is the last thing most people are actually able to let go.

Positive thinking and affirmation are unlikely to work with fear, as fear is a far deeper biological programming and simply glossing over with positive thoughts is not going to change our evolutionary way of being. Fear is experienced as a result of our feelings and beliefs.

Transforming anxiety is not about denying threats or creating yet another belief system through positive thoughts and leave its underlying causes. To manage anxiety, we need to manage our emotional states that are attached to fear producing thoughts, beliefs and projections. Fear, is always an belief based on a future outcome, fear cannot exist either in the present moment of now, nor can it exist when we are relaxed. By focusing our awareness on the present moment and relaxing we are able to learn how our thought patterns operate and therefore recognize both the thoughts that lead to feelings of fear, but also how our bodies tense when we feel fear.

Meditation is about cultivating present moment awareness in a non-judgmental and accepting way, it is cultivated by focusing on the present moment experience of our breathing.

EXERCISES:

Body Mindfulness (by Dav Panesar)

Symran (by Dav Panesar)


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