Anxiety

[hopeful harry]

If anxiety is a by-product of fear and love is stronger than and the opposite of fear does increasing the amount of love one gives and feels alleviate symptoms of anxiety?

[Dwerg]

Anxiety is a very unnecessary feeling. It's most of the time irrational and if there is valid reason it's usually beyond your control, which makes it pointless to dwell in that feeling. Like I know there's parking tickets of a couple of hundred euros coming my way after being lost while driving around in a foreign country. I do get anxiety over it, because it's gonna be noticed financially, but there's no point as I can't do anything about it except pay when the time comes.

[hopeful harry]

I guess I'm talking more about people who live in a state of anxiety rather than people having a particular problem that is causing them to feel anxious.

[jimrich]

Originally Posted by hopeful harry

If anxiety is a by-product of fear and love is stronger than and the opposite of fear does increasing the amount of love one gives and feels alleviate symptoms of anxiety?

Yes and you might also need to examine your past to see where and how this 'fear' first began. Another approach is to find out who has this 'fear' which can be learned by studying Non-duality or Advaita (google it). IMO, the most powerful spokesperson of this approach is Rupert Spira.......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVdsVwiRTvI
When we see or know that the one who is hurt, afraid, angry, sad, etc. is only our little, separate self or ego and not our real self, much if not all of our fear and other unhappy feelings/ideas simply VANISH! What I like about Rupert and many of the other modern non-dual spokespersons is that they will say we already are "that" and don't need to have a guru, learn meditation, go to India, adopt certain beliefs and practices or anything other than to stay with our own consciousness and the ability to see or notice that we are Whole and Complete just as we are in this very moment. The question is: Who/what are we in this very moment? And finding that answer can take us instantly out of our little egoic problems and fear. John Wheeler is also a powerful Non-dual spokesperson. good luck, jim

[Mr Interesting]

As Floatsy reminded me there's a Zen thing, a saying, somewhat about clever people finding it hardest to Zen out and I'd say it's a pretty good way of realising that when the mind gets be be a pretty good tool at rational stuff then there's a bias, which is understandable. that it'll work just as effectively with irrational stuff.

But if you look at kids or animals when they get anxious theres a pretty good chance they won't apply a bunch of reasoning to that anxiety so much as they'll just fall back on whatever energetic response feels like comin' out and hopefully it cedes towards awkward and gleeful silliness.

So while we can intellectually put some problematic energetic reality into a box and say this should happen I think that we're far better off just allowing ourselves to be silly so that in a sense, a bodily sense, we get used to feeling the comfort and joy of just being silly.

[hopeful harry]

Thank you for the replies and sorry for bumping this thread but I've only recently considered myself to be on a spiritual path and feel I may need some guidance.

For twenty years I've had problems with anxiety and depression. At my worst I've been suicidal, at my best it has been an ever present lurking in the shadows. Recently I have started watching my own thoughts and I have been utterly shocked at what I have found. It sounds obvious when I write it down but the contents of my thoughts are extremely negative and angry. I even have imaginary arguments in my head with strangers I walk past in the street! It's ridiculous.

At the moment I am still at the stage of noticing these thoughts (and, like I say I have shocked myself with the severity and consistency of them) but I'm wondering now how I can begin to change the way I think. I feel like a lot of damage has been done over the last 20 years and I don't know how to undo it. I feel like I've had a bit of an awakening simply by noticing my thoughts more often but at the same time a little bit disheartened by the severity of the problem.

I've never really understood the law of attraction like I'm beginning to now but it seems as clear as day to me now that what I have been doing for the past 20 years is creating this reality of sadness and anger and hate. I now feel ready to turn this around but I don't really know where to begin....... Any help would be gratefully received!
Thanks for reading.

[sky]

Originally Posted by hopeful harry

Thank you for the replies and sorry for bumping this thread but I've only recently considered myself to be on a spiritual path and feel I may need some guidance.

For twenty years I've had problems with anxiety and depression. At my worst I've been suicidal, at my best it has been an ever present lurking in the shadows. Recently I have started watching my own thoughts and I have been utterly shocked at what I have found. It sounds obvious when I write it down but the contents of my thoughts are extremely negative and angry. I even have imaginary arguments in my head with strangers I walk past in the street! It's ridiculous.

At the moment I am still at the stage of noticing these thoughts (and, like I say I have shocked myself with the severity and consistency of them) but I'm wondering now how I can begin to change the way I think. I feel like a lot of damage has been done over the last 20 years and I don't know how to undo it. I feel like I've had a bit of an awakening simply by noticing my thoughts more often but at the same time a little bit disheartened by the severity of the problem.

I've never really understood the law of attraction like I'm beginning to now but it seems as clear as day to me now that what I have been doing for the past 20 years is creating this reality of sadness and anger and hate. I now feel ready to turn this around but I don't really know where to begin....... Any help would be gratefully received!
Thanks for reading.

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/20-though...nd-depression/

Here's a little article that might help you, I hope so.

Originally Posted by hopeful harry

I've never really understood the law of attraction like I'm beginning to now but it seems as clear as day to me now that what I have been doing for the past 20 years is creating this reality of sadness and anger and hate. I now feel ready to turn this around but I don't really know where to begin....... Any help would be gratefully received!
Thanks for reading.

Have a browse through the section on Affirmations.

Regardless of how spiritual people are, most affirm one way or another however slight to get through their lives. They decide what they want to do or be and set about being it (without ever thinking they're "doing affirmations"). One lesson is that if you think negative or rest in the negative, your life will be joyless, your fears may be amplified and you're likely to be anxious...because you're reluctant to trust in a positive outcome.

Thus, focused, deliberate affirmations are a way of getting things done - changing your attitude; bringing something about in your life etc. (as long as you're practical!) The results aren't instant. Depending how much you have to change they can go on for years. (They naturally do, like I said, in people who consider themselves a success.) A month may yield good results. Best to avoid going around looking for results - just be aware when something good happens. (The reasoning behind that is if you can't find an immediate result you risk starting to doubt again.)

Plus, of course, it will help with any meditation you incline to. Thoughts and insights that you incorporate into your spiritual development will appear.

Anyway it IS a good start. It's important to get your affirmations right though, hence picking up tips. They have to look to the future not the failings of the past. So "I'm leaving the bad behind me" is almost useless - better: "things are getting better day by day." But you'll need to be more specific and focused than that.

They need time, they need repeating often.

Over to you.

.......

[jimrich]

Originally Posted by hopeful harry

Thank you for the replies and sorry for bumping this thread but I've only recently considered myself to be on a spiritual path and feel I may need some guidance.

i don't give advice but will offer my experiences here.

For twenty years I've had problems with anxiety and depression. At my worst I've been suicidal, at my best it has been an ever present lurking in the shadows. Recently I have started watching my own thoughts and I have been utterly shocked at what I have found. It sounds obvious when I write it down but the contents of my thoughts are extremely negative and angry. I even have imaginary arguments in my head with strangers I walk past in the street! It's ridiculous.

In therapy, I began examining myself, my thoughts and mostly my feelings to see where, how and why they come from. Most of my anger was connected to my parents and very bad stuff that happened back home. The "strangers" that I "argued" with turned out to be my parents once I had the courage to acknowledge that I was mostly ANGRY with them for being so selfish, abusive and ignorant. i HATED THEM! It took a while to accept that they had seriously damaged me, in my childhood, and I needed to direct my RAGE back onto them where it belonged and not at "strangers", my wife, friends, co-workers, pets and just about every one & thing I'd been punishing all those years instead of the ones who truly deserved my rage - MY PARENTS! I was deathly afraid of them so I just couldn't face it that they were the ones who had damaged me in the beginning. This is very common for most of humanity. They will defend and excuse their parents right to the end while abusing and punishing others instead. Psychology calls this Deflecting or Projection where the victim (you) sends their feeling onto the wrong target (strangers) instead of the right target - which was mom & dad - in my case.

At the moment I am still at the stage of noticing these thoughts (and, like I say I have shocked myself with the severity and consistency of them) but I'm wondering now how I can begin to change the way I think. I feel like a lot of damage has been done over the last 20 years and I don't know how to undo it. I feel like I've had a bit of an awakening simply by noticing my thoughts more often but at the same time a little bit disheartened by the severity of the problem.

My "thinking" and feeling automatically changed, for the better, as soon as I began directing my feelings/thinking towards the correct target - my parents - and not at the incorrect target(s) myself, my wife, family, neighbors, friends, co-workers, etc. The process of finding the correct target for my RAGE & Hatred began the day I entered an Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunction Families (google it) meeting many, many years ago and, with the help and support of others, who were in pain, like me, started understanding and healing from the various traumas of a bad childhood. All I can say is what I did and how it worked for me. I attended many other support group sharing meetings and obtained even deeper healing by going there and learning how to manage my inner pains from a rotten past. I found that my basic issue was something like PSTD so my main goal was to vent as much of my bottled up anger, sorrow and FEAR as possible - not seek revenge against my parents. So far, I am feeling a lot better now that much of my repressed anger has been SAFELY discharged.

I've never really understood the law of attraction like I'm beginning to now but it seems as clear as day to me now that what I have been doing for the past 20 years is creating this reality of sadness and anger and hate. I now feel ready to turn this around but I don't really know where to begin....... Any help would be gratefully received!
Thanks for reading.

I went looking for HELP and found it at 12 step support groups and therapy so now I am finding even more HELP in spiritual circles and teachings right on line, so, good luck, jim

[RyanWind]

Originally Posted by hopeful harry

Recently I have started watching my own thoughts and I have been utterly shocked at what I have found. It sounds obvious when I write it down but the contents of my thoughts are extremely negative and angry. I even have imaginary arguments in my head with strangers I walk past in the street! It's ridiculous.

At the moment I am still at the stage of noticing these thoughts (and, like I say I have shocked myself with the severity and consistency of them) but I'm wondering now how I can begin to change the way I think.

Wow nice! I think listening to Mooji can help you a lot. Check out the video on youtube below and see if you can relate to what he says.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_96yGkabL0