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Episode 07: Curing Our Anxiety

Anxiety is woven into so much of contemporary life, driving all kinds of behaviors that neither serve nor center us. This episode of Life is the Practice focuses on an alternative path to sustainable well-being – one I have myself traveled. I am eager to share what I have learned about locating – and holding onto – our core “selves” even when we feel overwhelmed or unable to control the swirl of modern life. We are looking at the sources of anxiety as well as meditation and other techniques we can use to organically heal this pervasive chronic condition. My client, Molly Rampe, founder and CEO of Choice Network, also joins us to reflect on the sense of clarity she has cultivated through her commitment to The Practice. You’ll come away with strategies to manage the persistent negativism in which our Egoic State often dwells, including what it means to recognize and observe patterns of thought that erode our sense of freedom and trap us in a scarcity mindset. We are all on a journey to surrender, stay present, embrace trust rather than fear and live in abiding peace. When we develop self-awareness we find we can rest in our essential natures and live in abundance. Welcome to the practice!

Are you longing to live in a place of inner peace and confidence? Had enough self-doubt and fear? Then I invite you to explore my online course. It integrates all the teachings I use in my 1:1 coaching practice and the wisdom I’ve acquired over 25 years of mindfulness and research. 

You might also enjoy visiting my website, where you can sign up for my free newsletter, find complimentary guided meditations and listen to all my podcast episodes.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• How the loss of Juan’s father at an early age fueled a chronic state of anxiety and the many different remedies he tried before finding his way to meditation.
• How anxiety often feels/shows up in the body:
  • Shortness of breath.
  • Tightness in the chest.
  • A lingering sense of dread.
• Defining anxiety:
  • Emotion is an energetic reflection of thoughts.
  • Fear of something that we do not know and therefore cannot face.
  • Related to excessive future-oriented rumination. 
  • Preoccupation with anticipating and solving problems that do not exist or cannot be controlled.
• To solve the problem of anxiety (and ruminative cycles of thought), we must look at its source: the Egoic State.
• Why focusing on our “I” or “separate self” infuses our mindset with existential scarcity, constraining and clouding our sense of oneness in the world.
• The impacts felt when our Egoic State takes over:
  • We are deprived of access to the present moment, leaving us constantly unfulfilled and in pursuit of some unnamed, un-formed feeling of emptiness. 
  • Our attention strays and our minds take over, very often offering up conscious and unconscious thoughts that do not serve us. 
  • A rampant feeling of insecurity or a “lack” shows up as anxiety in our bodies.
  • A sense of separation from the nourishing, universal system of life.
  • More insights about the Egoic State are available at this link for Episode 5, which takes a closer look at Taming the Inner Critic.
• How changing the way in which we relate to the world also changes our inner experiences:
  • When we replace ego with alignment, we cultivate inner calm.
  • When we practice mindfulness we create quiet awareness.
• Anxiety is neither inherited nor incurable!
• Ways to Begin Integrating The Practice:
  • Pay attention to how anxiety manifests in your mind and body.
  • Recognize the “greatest hits” – recurrent egoic thought patterns that promote scarcity and fear, feelings of failure or not being good enough.
  • Learn to observe the interplay between thoughts and emotions.
  • Use tools and techniques to bring awareness and detach from the mind:
    • The meditation of the presence, which helps us strengthen our concentration and the ability to be present.
    • The meditation of the inner presence, which specifically allows us to develop the skills of observation of emotions and thought.
• When we turn our attention to our bodies and process emotions, we begin to be free.
• Remember: Much of what goes on in our minds is not real. We can choose not to animate anxious thoughts and instead return ourselves to what is real.
• When we merge presence and surrender, they transform fear into trust, scarcity into abundance and tension into a sense of peace.

QUOTABLE:

• “(Compulsive) cycles of thought … register in our bodies as the emotion of anxiety. Therefore, anxiety is the effect – not the cause of our problem.” (Juan)

• “When we treat anxiety without going to the source, we remain at a surface level – which is not enough to cure the problem.” (Juan)  

• “When we live immersed in what is known as the Egoic State, we experience ourselves as independent and separate from the rest of life … We never feel whole.” (Juan)

• “I always felt like I had heaviness on my chest and my shoulders. My whole being was … always operating from that place of scarcity, holding it in my body, right in my chest. Every decision I made came from a place of fear.” (Molly)

• “Sometimes obsessive focus on the future is a response to the permanent insecurity so many of us feel as individuals. Living from the ego separates us from the primary, universal system of life, which gives us confidence.” (Juan)

• “Every time we replace ego with alignment, we are replacing the future with the present; we are replacing fear and apprehension with a sense of inner peace.” (Juan)

• “When we understand what is happening, we can choose not to energize those thought processes. We can reject stories fueled by thoughts that are oftentimes catastrophic or scary.” (Juan)

• “I think the difference is now I see (egoic narrative) right away and know what’s happening, then just use my breath to dissolve it and welcome in the abundance.” (Molly)

• “In the moment, we rarely have perspective. But when we look back, we realize that the algorithm of life is perfect. Sometimes tragicomic, but perfect. This allows us to surrender to life confidently, one breath at a time, no matter how uncomfortable our present challenges.” (Juan)

• “By resting in our essential natures instead of living from the Egoic State, we feast on life. The one life that we share – the one life that we are.”

FURTHER RESOURCES:

• Learn about the Taming in the Inner Critic: Episode 5 about the Egoic State.
• More about Jim Folk of the Anxiety Centre is available at this link.

Juan’s guided meditations can be found here.

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