Transcript
In today’s discussion I want to talk about something that affects so many people, especially in the time that we’re in now, and that is stress and anxiety.
This is a massive topic, and its catalysts and triggers almost feel infinite at times. However, there are certain common elements beneath many of these and we’ll take a look at some of those here.
Often, at the root of someone experiencing stress or anxiety, are thoughts that leave one feeling vulnerable to some degree. And of course a lot of the time it’s about things that do not even relate to the present moment, and involves a lot of “but what if” thinking which is of course very disempowering.
Therefore, what’s common to these experiences where we worry about things which do not relate to the now, is the fact that we are not fully present. We have been hooked by thoughts (be they subtle or not) which took us away from our place of alignment, meaning that you are at a place in your mind where you are not in accord with who you truly are. And the more frequently you repeat a thought, the more ‘ingrained’ it feels, and you do not even realise what you are thinking.
And what can we do about it?
So you may recognise, from being aware of your emotions, and also from recognising the thoughts that you are having, that you may be thinking about things which give rise to the stress and anxiety.
Now, it’s not our aim here to suppress thought, it cannot be done for too long in any case, as they will just pop up again. The idea isn’t to play whack-a-mole with your thoughts, but to just let them pass if those thoughts will be adding energy in an unwanted direction.
So you can acknowledge that a thought arises, and then either engage with it, which means it grows and attracts more thoughts of its nature, or you can let it go. And of course the people and situations around you can influence your thoughts and therefore your observation point if you are not aligned and not applying discernment of thought.
But even if you see situations around you or people around you interact in a manner which would cause the average person around you to experience stress and anxiety, when you become practised in being in alignment, then it becomes easier to not be hooked by such passing thoughts.
So you want to practise being in alignment as much as you can, and you want to practise it while you are not faced with a stressful situation. Then, when such a situation arises, you are already experienced in your alignment and can therefore avoid the stressful situation to begin with, not be hooked by arising stressful thoughts, or bounce back quicker into a state of alignment if the situation was such that you could not help but give it your attention. You’ve got to prime the pump to be in your aligned state, otherwise when you look for it while you’re in a state of flux, it will be much harder to find it.
In general though, dealing with stress or anxiety is similar to other unwanted things that we wish to remove from our experience. We start by being aware of the thoughts that lead to momentum in an unwanted direction. And by being aware of these early on when they have little momentum, it is much easier to turn your thoughts around than when there’s a lot of momentum behind it.
But let’s say that you already are in the middle of an experience of stress, what are your options?
At this point it comes down to what you can do to not add further momentum to that direction, which would mean shifting your focus to something else, although now it is more likely that because of the momentum other thoughts alone won’t break it, as you may find yourself returning to the unwanted thoughts.
For example, if you are in a situation where you have gone down the rabbit hole and are now anxious about a specific topic, where your heart is racing or your hands are clammy, then thinking about a relaxing time while you were at the beach is less likely to be sufficient to break the momentum. In this case adding an activity can potentially assist. And you will know best what activity you can do to distract yourself from your thoughts, such as going to the gym, reading a book, watching Netflix, taking a nap, going to bed early etc. All these can help not adding further focus (energy) to the unwanted cycle.
If you are well-versed in applying a technique to help yourself become more aware of the ‘now’, then you can start to deactivate the unwanted train of thoughts, first by removing focus on the unwanted things and then sitting with the intention to move the focus to the here and now, and then becoming aware of the peacefulness that lies within you if you don’t let your thoughts take you away from that. In that truly lies a peace which surpasses all understanding.
And why is it described as surpassing all understanding?
For those looking from the outside in, it will simply not make sense to stand in a world, where they see so many things to be offended, concerned, stressed (and many other things) about, and they look at you who is in the same world but your peace and joy do not seem to be dependent on the conditions around you. You do not base it on the things that you do not have control over, and which can therefore topple your experience at its whim. Instead, you look within to peace which is everlasting and consistent and you have control over whether you enter that place of inner-peace or not.
Until next time, take care and remember to be kind to yourself.