Freedom Comes from the Mind
We all have anxiety that we need to accept and learn from. I have a fear of social gatherings. My friend Alex has a fear of having some terrible disease. Some of you may have a fear of snakes or spiders or death. The reason I’m not using the medical terms is because I don’t want to use complicated names that make these plights of anxiety seem incurable.
All of us have a fear of something; I don’t care how balanced and normal you are. Overcoming our suffering on our own is almost impossible without the right “internal tools” to guide our way.
I first had to admit that this fear of social gathering was a part of myself and could be used to make me a stronger person. I believed that my fear was a learning tool that I could enjoy. The challenge of mastering my fear was finding great motivation.
Alex, who is afraid of having some terrible disease like Multiple Sclerosis has gone through all kinds of CAT scans, MRIs, and blood tests and nothing has turned up. The doctor has tried to tell him that the cause of his legs tingling is all in his head; he doesn’t want to believe it. He can’t admit that he has this fear of disease. He wants a concrete cause, not some answer of “It’s all in your head.”
If my friend could face the fact that his brain is the most powerful organ in his body then he can begin to learn the complexity of his problem. Mental problems are the hardest to solve because they aren’t black and white – they have more shades of grey than I have seen in my lifetime. That’s a lot of shades!
Let’s say my friend admits he has a problem and needs help. What does he do next? This is where the fun began for me – the journey into learning about my strengths and weaknesses. When I began my journey into the mind it didn’t go very well. I was in high school and would run around in mental circles, never getting anywhere. I didn’t have the tools to help me learn about who I was and how I was going to create an advantage from my fear of social situations.
I knew that I was intelligent like most people with anxiety, but how could I use this to improve my life?
I began to acquire internal tools that would help me on my journey to freedom. I know calling it freedom sounds drastic, but ask my friend how free and happy he feels when he wakes up in the middle of the night and is suffering from a panic attack. Freedom comes from the mind. When we can relax and enjoy any situation that is true freedom. If the mind is cluttered and confused all that will occur is suffering.
For the first couple of years I created more and more suffering because I wanted to reach my final goal – freedom from all mental anguish. I tried prayer, Christianity, Buddhism, The Gita (Yoga), thinking, worrying, professional therapy, friends, family, philosophy, spiritual books, diet, travel, sex, love, career, and everything else that might have worked. What I realized is that I needed all these tools to help me get to where I am now. I have not reached enlightenment and I still feel suffering and pain, but I’ve improved my life dramatically. I can enjoy conversing in a room filled with strangers without the need to leave.
It was my daily strive for happiness that helped me let go of my anxiety. When I began to acquire tools for when I was depressed like meditation, note taking, prayer, yoga, love and positive belief, I was able to learn from the feelings instead of trying to avoid them.
Avoiding the fear is easy, but it’s more useful to make the fear a stepping-stone to a better life.
Look around at your co-workers or your family and notice the things they avoid talking about or doing. They may be afraid to tackle these fears because they seem too hard to overcome, but they aren’t. It is possible if you begin to acquire the internal tools. Don’t try to find all your tools in a month or even a year – take your time and try one out for a couple of months and when you feel you have a good grasp on it put it down for awhile and try another one. Every time you put down one tool make sure you pick up an old tool and use it so you keep that skill fresh before you go and learn a new internal skill.
Over time you’ll see that all these tools will help you master your anxiety and even if it’s always there you can always use the tool of humor to laugh it off and still find a way to enjoy the struggle.
Popularity: 55% [?]
Emotional Tools for Better Living, Personal Development, Relax and Enjoy | Comments (0)
Karl @ March 10, 2008