I recently visited family on the other side of the world. It was a long way to get there – three countries and a total of three days. I travelled standby with a young family and had to interact with a lot of people in order to secure getting on various planes.
There were some challenges along the way, but nothing that was not insurmountable; in fact, mostly it felt like an exciting adventure we embarked upon.
However, it could easily have given rise to an enormous amount of anxiety for me; especially because of the fact I was travelling with two children. But I have been addressing my anxiety for many years and now have tools to support me. So what could have been a tense journey was not at all tense for me… it was amazing confirmation of how I have supported myself out of what appears this global condition of anxiety.
As I continued my visit and travelled around, I was interested to observe these phenomena of anxiety; in fact, I observed a deep, deep anxiety that most people appear to be in. And it led me to continue to keep observing and gain a deeper sense of what actually lies at the root of anxiety.
What I could sense, and I have continued to since, is that people feel almost fearful. But fearful of what?
People appear fearful of not knowing how to be; they appear to be experiencing a deep unease and disconnection to a sense of who they are. There appears an unsettlement, a distress and a scrambling panic that ensues.
What I often observe is that when an interaction with anyone else then occurs, an intense anxiety seems to present as we worry that we are not going to be liked; we scramble to connect with the person in front of us but can only do so on a superficial level. Underneath the surface physical dialogue, there appears to be another silent dialogue occurring, which actually speaks the loudest. This expression seems to be communicating things like, “Do you like me if I say this, or act like this, or take on this opinion, this posture…?” And all of this creates a haywire communication; it blocks a natural connection. Each person in the interaction is distracted in the hidden communications, obstructing any opportunity for a steady stillness for true connection and interaction to occur.
An analogy would be like sparks of electricity or energy trying to connect. But it’s all going haywire. This to me explains why we seem so lost and at such unease with ourselves, because we are not actually being ourselves.
I’ve walked this journey and lived in intense anxiety all my life, and I am still fixing up the physical and psychological toll it has taken on my body.
But during the past few years I’ve dedicated myself to a knowing and loving of who I really am and it is this intention to know myself which has led to a deeper ease and self-confidence to be more myself in daily life. There’s always more to deepen and fix, but through self-care and self-loving choices, and supported in particular by Western and complementary medicine – including the Universal Medicine modalities, – I have deepened my acceptance of myself, and I am now far less anxious.
What felt like a very complicated journey was actually very simple, because scratch the surface and there I was. I’d spent so many years willingly giving my sense of who I was over to the outside world to layer over false identifications, the ‘me’ part was hard to find. But finding me I am!
And you know why it is so important to take this journey? Because, if one person in the interaction has an understanding of who they truly are and is steady in that, in a non-imposing-up-yourself confidence, then the other person is supported to connect to who they are. Back to the analogy; when there is just one solid wire emerging to connect with – and not many flailing all over the place – it is easier to make that connection.
It takes a while to shed the false layers of who we identify ourselves as. Education, media, even misguided parenting (with all best intentions), lead us often to feel that we need to be someone or something else. What I am learning is to see the ‘real’ person, and in that I’m more able to support others to make a connection to that true sense of themselves.
Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are? We can turn the tide and make the changes. It is possible. I have the scars and the joy to show for it…
By Anonymous
Related Reading:
Psychotherapist Jean Gamble speaks about Anxiety
Anxiety and expression . . . are they related?
Anxiety: Why are you Ruling my Life?
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
I would say yes to you question
‘Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?’
Society as we know it does not want a connection to God and in the disconnection to what is the truth our bodies are in the anxiousness of the disconnection. Rather than admit this we then seek the myriad of distractions to quell the anxiousness we can’t stop feeling.
We have to deeply question a model of life that fosters the majority of the population into disconnection from their innate and authentic selves. Surely we will look back in future generations and see it as the abuse it really is. It’s so rife that most of us don’t even realise it’s happening because we always have some kind of identity and level of function in life, but without that connection to our inner being, the true essence we were born as, there will always be a sense of lack of settlement, and a need to medicate the inner emptiness somehow.
Anxiety feels like the cruel brother of comparison as would we be anxious if there were only people living in harmony and thus no one to compare to or differentiate from as everyone would be absoulute in there connection to there Essences, Inner-most-hearts / Souls!
Knowing who you are, even if not living it to the full, brings purpose and not knowing who you are leaves you in the maelstrom of the dilemma ‘Who am I?’
We can live with anxiety and not think it is anxiety, it is common that we call symptoms something else. For example, often when we feel anxious we reach out for foods so what happens is we make an association between the feeling and the action and end up calling it hunger, instead of what it truly is – anxious eating. So if somebody asks another, are you an anxious person – the other can say no & be convinced that they’re not, yet piling up the kilos every time they don’t feel equipped to deal with what is ahead of them.
Not being aware and understanding what our body is truly saying to us, and so then numbing the messages with food, or whatever is common.
Thank you Linda for your comment, “When I learnt to start listening to my body and accept and value myself for who I am my levels of anxiety greatly diminished”.
It makes sense that if we aren’t able to feel settled in our true selves that this can lead to anxiety. It’s that terrible gap of space when we disconnect and then wonder how to deliver what others want or need, or how to meet the demands of the day, instead of that beautiful settled feeling we have when we are ourselves and feel that it is enough.
Being settled in our true selves supports us to embrace life, ‘So what could have been a tense journey was not at all tense for me… it was amazing confirmation of how I have supported myself out of what appears this global condition of anxiety.’
There is so much for us to learn about ourselves when we get comfortable with being uncomfortable because that is when we don’t leave any rock unturned to move from that discomfort to ease in the body.
This is a great blog to read because I feel that anxiousness could be our best friend if we were to stop and listen and to pick apart what is under pinning it. But many of us do not do that we seemingly run away from the feeling by numbing ourselves with a plethora of distractions. Has anyone noticed though this is not enough anymore as our distractions are getting more and more extreme. So what is it we don’t want to feel?
It is key to feel what we don’t want to feel, only then can we be aware of it, nominate it, and start to heal it.
In a world full of hurts, sadness, aggression and reactions to one another is it any wonder that most people feel unsafe or at least wary on some level? We are all sensitive beings after all and the sooner we stop pretending that we are not the better for everyone in the world.
Yes, accepting that we are all sensitive beings is an important step in reclaiming who we truly are.
I love your observations particularly this ‘underneath the surface physical dialogue, there appears to be another silent dialogue occurring, which actually speaks the loudest.’ Even if we try to ignore these silent dialogues with all our might they are still there! Also the fact that you have worked on and healed much if not all of your anxiety means you have a body that can reflect this to others which is very cool ✨
When you know who you are and appreciate yourself the anxiety can’t take hold.
One thing that has been triggering me into anxiety is money. But today rather than freaking out and panicking I sat and felt into what was behind it all. Coming back to my body to feel the energy of situations is a tool that helps me no end in any situation in life. The more I understand the less I react.
I find the same Leigh, I can feel completely out of sorts but if I reconnect to my body and move in conscious presence I feel a lot more settled, and I can access more easily what’s really going on inside me through my body – not my mind.
I love bringing understanding into all situations, it is such a game changer.
As I increasingly develop self-love and appreciation of myself my connection to my inner-confidence deepens and so my anxiety levels have dropped significantly.
It is so important to love, appreciate and care for ourselves, this will support us to be confident in the world.
When we feel at ease with ourselves it matters not what others are thinking. Staying true to ourselves, appreciating and loving ourself goes a long way to reduce anxiety.
Yes that ease is palpable and offers a grand conversation that means we stand on a very solid foundation.
Building a connection with our inner self, loving who we truly are, supports us not to entertain anxiety, ‘People appear fearful of not knowing how to be; they appear to be experiencing a deep unease and disconnection to a sense of who they are.’
It seems that people’s awareness has increased but not their ability to deal with the newly increased awareness, hence increasing anxiety.
Anxiety is indeed not living who we truly are but there is more to this because the entire world is geared in a way to not support you to be who you are, We could even take it as far as there is perhaps even a drive to ensure you feel insecure within yourself and hence seek a form of security and protection. No-one has masterminded this but it certainly appears to be the case when you really look underneath the layers at what is taking place every single day
I am coming to understand from experience that anxiety is a chosen and then fed state of being. And that I can always choose to be very present and settled in my body or to be flitting around in disconnect from my body and that in the latter all sorts of nonsense can play out… anxiousness being one.
As soon as I settle into my body and read the situation there’s no anxiety. Leave my body and it’s madness.
This is so true – ‘It takes a while to shed the false layers of who we identify ourselves as. Education, media, even misguided parenting (with all best intentions), lead us often to feel that we need to be someone or something else.’ What we take on from the world around us can be confusing, and lead us to adopt an identity that is not true to the essence of who we are by nature. I feel this is one of our greatest problems in society – the lack of honouring of our true being.
Agreed and the messages to conform and fit in are subtle as well as blatant and can lead us to be unaware they are there… or perhaps being unaware is a choice as well.
Indeed Alison, when I am not present with what is I can miss out on all the support that is naturally there and how life has a wonderful way of unfolding as it needs to be.
By letting go of the anxiousness and the control of wanting something to be a certain way, and learning to trust that everything is as it should be, has simplified my life. I no longer expect things to be a certain way and instead of going into anxiousness I now allow myself the space to observe and let things unfold, this is the magic and joy of life.
‘People appear fearful of not knowing how to be; they appear to be experiencing a deep unease and disconnection to a sense of who they are.’ So true anonymous, and this leads to hardening and protection … and then we are basically in combat when we go out into the world.
Letting go of protection, and building a love and appreciation for who we truly are makes so much more sense, ‘I’ve dedicated myself to a knowing and loving of who I really am and it is this intention to know myself which has led to a deeper ease and self-confidence to be more myself in daily life.’
“If one person in the interaction has an understanding of who they truly are and is steady in that, in a non-imposing-up-yourself confidence, then the other person is supported to connect to who they are” – so true, and this is how we come to know there is another way to be in the world. “Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?” – yes, definitely, and a way of being sometimes we willingly choose and indulge in in order to play a game of being a human.
This brings to mind a woman I met recently on holiday who chain smoked and talked constantly. On the surface welcoming, exuberant, amusing but unsettled inside. She was anxious, but unable to speak about her anxiety and how she was feeling with us. We often wear a mask, refuse to connect to how we truly feel, this in itself produces anxiety. Expressing how we feel, distances us from anxiousness and supports us to be honest and open with self and others.
Kehinde, I agree, I’ve observed the same in myself and others when we don’t express how we feel, and we may not even know how to, it then can become like a pressure cooker within our being and the body becomes agitated and unsettled. Even if our inner being cannot articulate it the body may express it as anxiety, or in other ways.
A fantastic point here has been raised, in how much anxiety is created in trying to be liked, and so, what if you were to never try to be liked, and just loved yourself for who you are… this would change so much of what is happening in the world today.
Very true and love starts with ourselves.
I was asked recently to do present a program in an alternative primary school with the subject of… It’s okay to make mistakes. The reason being is that the children were collectively coming to school, with an anxiety of feeling they had to be perfect. So many people are carrying this, and of course it is a total set up… It just keeps us permanently on the hamster wheel.
This is a blog which offers the opportunity to understand how fear can cap us. The fear of standing out, getting it wrong, not being liked, all lead to behaviours that ensure we fit in, become less discerning and override our innate sense of what to do next.
If anxiety is due to not living who we truly are and not being present in the body, it is no surprise that it is by far the most common condition presenting in mental health for teenagers. We have to ask why it is that so many young people are opting out and withdrawing into a digital version of life…this is a global concern for all.
Great question Janet and very true, not only is it just teenagers but also adults who are glued to their screens. It is amazing to watch how many times people even during mid conversation are checking their phones. I asked someone yesterday who stopped mid vacuuming to check their phone what they were looking for and it was not that they had a message but said they wanted to check! And then saw there was no reason for it. It for me is one of the easiest way to check out and distract ourselves from life and now with the internet being so accessible on our phones is like it is our best friend with us by our side 24/7.
I experienced anxiety recently at a wedding where everyone was drinking and I didn’t want to be there in the first place as I only knew a couple of people other than the bride and groom. All it took though was to connect with that one person who had the solid wire, who introduced me to some decent people and the anxiety dropped away and I reconnected to myself and actually started to enjoy myself.
This is a really solid example of how we feel like we can’t cope when people are not themselves but when you meet people who are more at ease in their own skin there is more ease all round.
These are great observations, Anonymous, that I have also found especially with young clients, many of whom have little to no sense of how they should be in the world, how to be in relationship, how to express their feelings. There is an urgent need to support the younger generations to connect to themselves and discover who they truly are.
Great point Janet, there is indeed an urgent need and yet I feel society is looking the other way because, on the whole, there is no willingness to look at how we are reflecting that lived sense of who we are.
Anxiety can indeed spread like wild fire between people, as it does too with animals. Just like your analogy of sparks of electricity, it just takes one member of a flock of birds, a herd of cattle or a shoal of fish to sense there is something wrong and the rest will feel the anxiousness and react in the same way almost immediately. And we are no different. But when we stay connected to who we are we do not get affected in the same way.
The ability to hold and be with ourselves in the moment, builds confidence and lowers the anxiety of needing to be anyone else than ourselves.
The bottom line is we have to get far more honest about anxiety and be truthful in how we actually are feeling about it and expose it as it seems to almost be a true gauge of how connected or disconnected we are from ourselves at certain times.
Yes I agree. When I feel anxious it is a sign that I am disconnected from myself and trying to sort things out from the outside… I have never managed to make this work so it is madness to continue this approach.
Whenever I/we leave ourselves, our connection to our bodies and the presence with the moment we are in …anxiety is there. There is nothing more gorgeous that to feel at ease in ones body and being.
Yes of course anxiety is a global condition for if we are not really connecting to who we truly are we are bound to be anxious. It is like swimming along side the boat without realising that we just need to hop it.
Anxiety can be a crippling condition for many people around the world, as we begin to connect more from within ourselves we begin to build an inner confidence and this naturally builds a foundation that we move with which allows the anxiety to subside, until we no longer have anxiety in our lives.
The bottom line for me when I observe anxiety in myself and others in life is that we can’t DO life from our head. It’s like we are all walking around as these heads without bodies trying to feel, deal with and navigate life. Of course that would put anyone into a state of anxiety because without the connection to our whole body, we do not have the tools to navigate what we need to, to respond to life the way it’s asking to be. The mind is just one aspect but shouldn’t be given the role of ‘boss’ – it’s totally under qualified.
Yes and if we are feeling anxious then why on earth would we want to connect with our bodies and really feel this…. feel this even more?? But that is the key, to connect with our bodies and when we start to do this more coming back to the stillness and holding ourselves in love things such as anxiety, stress, self doubt etc have less hold on us ✨ One of the best and simplest tools I know for coming back to our body and holding ourselves in love is the Gentle Breath Meditation http://www.unimedliving.com/meditation/free
Anxiety is a condition that is rife in society today, debilitating many people. We are seemingly at a loss as to how to deal with it, so when something comes along like the Way of the Livingness, that offers support through empowering the person, then there is something to be looked at.
Anxiety is a global issue that could be remedied if we were to listen to and adhere to Serge Benhayon’s teachings on what anxiety is really about and how we can deal with it individually and as a society that can support those with anxiety.
The underlying cause for anxiety is a momentary or ingrained pattern of lack of worth, lack of presence of being with ourselves and being ourselves in the worth that we are.
I loved your phrase about ‘finding me’, it does not really need to be a ongoing search for the truth of ourselves outside of us, rather an inward journey of self acceptance and self love.
We have become so used to a constant anxiousness in our body that most of us find it rather unusual and scary to live without, as crazy as that may sound.
The disconnection to even a sense of who we are and the disconnection from even the own body leaves us with no true anchor in life. We are unsettled, and without settlement, we have no place to return to. We live in the anxiety of what may life have in store for us. A true killer.
In essence we are beings of love, love is everything that we are and here to represent. When this love is not part of our movements we feel a loss of sense of who we are, an emptiness, a falseness and ultimately the lovelessness we move in feels abusive a desecration of who we are and it is this that is very unsettling. I have found, as I have in the past experienced and lived with intense anxiety, that developing an honoring relationship with that love I am within has allowed a greater connection to knowing all that I am, to living with this connection and feeling the joy of the fulfilment that moving with this quality brings to not only the life I am living but to all the relationships I share.
I have often observed the level of magnified anxiety people are in when they travel, especially at airports and stations. There is a stressed, rushed, fast paced tension with being on time, being late and beating the crowds. What if changing this dynamic is as simple as connecting, feeling the journey and making more space and time needed for what is ahead?
I have noticed this too… in myself and others and it definitely makes for a frenetic environment. Great not to contribute to this, feel an alternative approach, make space for any travel arrangements and then get to enjoy all the moments.
I always make sure that I leave plenty of time for any journey. It makes travel much more enjoyable and allows for being calm and steady even if when there might be hold-ups on the way. It just shows that by making more space, time pressure does not have to be the stressful reality we make it to be.
I can relate to anxiety and wanting to be accepted after noticing underlying feelings of trying to work out what people wanted instead of just being myself. A great line highlighting your healing journey “I have deepened my acceptance of myself, and I am now far less anxious.”
No matter what plug we try we’ll never get the right supply until we connect within. This linked up, cuts out all the anxiety and complication that can come.
The use of a mobile phones has increased dramatically, its so easy to grab it and look something up, message, listen to music, talk, play games etc … basically distract oneself at any particularly moment when out in public. I wonder if this is a handy band-aid mechanism used to subdue the global condition of anxiety?
Great analogy about the electrical wires. I feel like that sometimes when I have a session with a Universal Medicine practitioner. If I am not been me for a while, and go into an anxious state about that and feel myself flaying around a bit, the practitioner is usually super steady and them, being there to support, so it is easier to bring me back to me and then the issue I had to bring to the table, usually isn’t such an issue. But gosh it feels like it when I am flailing about.
Beautiful point made: ‘Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are? We can turn the tide and make the changes. It is possible. I have the scars and the joy to show for it…’
Our disregard makes ways for more dis-regard to enter. So we are to simply living who we really are — being in regard of ourselves, so that no disregard can enter.
I love the way that you have described this ‘needing to be liked’ way of communicating that is based on a deep level of anxiety. It is exposing too, and perhaps inspires a deeper level of contemplation for when this is happening without my even knowing it.
I wasn’t even aware that I would go in to a kind of anxiousness when tired to get through the day until it was pointed out, there are many forms of anxiousness and they can strike at many different times. It is something that I am more aware of these days and if I’m honest I still don’t have a handle on it, especially when it comes to speaking in public.
Life shows us the truth of our every choice – but if we ignore our responsibility we’ll see life’s events as random and fearful. Anxiety comes then from denying our own awareness and part in this world. We are not a victim at all.
There is so much in this world that isn’t true, yet we subscribe to. Existing in ideals and beliefs will naturally make us anxious, because it keeps us distant from Love.
Absolutely, well said Joseph. I still find beliefs tripping me up and taking me down a road that is completely untrue and away from the love that I am. Having just come from Level 2 Universal Medicine I can feel myself much freer in my body from ideals and beliefs I have been carrying. With the awareness reawakened from this event it is now up to me to live in such a way that these do not enter and interfere as they have before.
And ideals and beliefs always make one feel like they are not good enough because they set the bar always out of reach. We go into striving and changing ourselves to meet ideals and beliefs, instead of being settled in ourselves and being who we naturally are.
Anything less than living the love that we are leads to anxiousness because we know deep down it is a lie and not true. The more I honour myself and what I am feeling the more content I am within my body and the less anxious, on edge and racy I am.
‘Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are? ‘ A great question to be asking, I know I have experienced anxiety at different times in my life and the most powerful and supportive thing I have learnt is to stay connected to my body as it brings a steadiness and a solid foundation that equips me to deal with anything that comes my way. The Esoteric Yoga modality and the Gentle Breath Meditation have been key to developing this quality within myself.
If we accept low-grade anxiety as a ‘norm’, then extremes look much less extreme and higher levels of panic, paranoia and anxiousness are more ‘acceptable’ too.
Yes just the fact that we have got it all materially so to speak, at least in the western world, and there is still so much tension and anxiety day in day out means there is something about life we are not going to and what if it is our essence? Our true beauty that comes from our soul?
Humanity has chronicled it’s many wars, but the one that has gone unsaid is the battle with awareness and our connection with God. Fighting our divinity is a one way ticket to anxiety.
Anxiety makes our body run a millions times faster, our heart races and we hear it beat faster and louder, I have found that whenever I start to feel anxious the gentle breath meditation always brings me back.
Not knowing who we are and being told constantly by everything around us we are not enough can only leave one scenario if you choose to believe it all – an anxious jittering wreck. Yet we try and play it all cool and that we have it together. Freeing ourselves from such a chain and ball is the best gift we can give ourselves.
What you are sharing is exactly what I’ve asked to learn. To let go of all the identities of what makes me important to know this worth is deep down already there from day 1. And to also experience the differences between Living my worth and not and the repercussions.
‘Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?’ If we are not living our potential and committing in full to all of our opportunities and responsibilities we are indeed holding back so this is a great question for us all to ponder on.
More and more people are admitting to having some level of anxiety that they are living it. This tells us that we are becoming more and more disconnected from our body because when we connect with our body no anxiety can exist because the body has the answers we seek.
mmmmm ‘Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?’ Yes. Funnily enough I was talking about this in my counselling class yesterday it was like as I was saying it it was the first time I was truly feeling this. So with this analogy ‘An analogy would be like sparks of electricity or energy trying to connect. But it’s all going haywire.’ I would say both are of the same, it we are connected and living who we are no sparks flying out looking for acceptance, recognition etc from the outside world so no anxiety. Awesome blog and as someone else shared in a comment that to fly across the world on standby with 2 young children and not feel/be anxious is quite something so yep you have definitely been working on this!
I love coming into contact with people who do really know themselves and can put you at an ease for anxiety not to surface on any level. I then love the honesty which is born out of this and the level footing to complete any task with ease.
Anxiety is a global issue as most people are in their heads rather than being in their bodies. not being in the body naturally causes an anxiety as it is like driving a car whilst sitting on the roof.
I appreciate the opportunity to explore anxiety, what it actually is and how it feels in our bodies… it is a fearful unease that leaves me jittery and exhausted… at odds with everything. It makes no sense to entertain it and therefore total sense to commit to spotting it and letting it go.
Yes, to get to know ourselves truly and deeply is the most beautiful gift we can give ourselves. And the beauty about it is that it is never ending but forever deepening.
“this intention to know myself which has led to a deeper ease and self-confidence…” This is confirmation of how self-care and self-love are key in the rehabilitation of anxiety.
Totally agree Johanne – and that connection to our essence is the antidote to anxiety, as this has been my personal experience also.
Anxiousness and the intensity of it is growing in the world and something so relatable to and much needing the understanding shared here of connection to oneself and living all we are. A beautiful way forward for humanity with the guiding light of the Universe .
At work this week there have been many conversations about anxiety that have offered us the opportunity to explore the levels of anxiousness that we accept as normal. Every conversation that explores this honestly, invites us to consider the possibility that we can live without anxiousness and that it is not our normal.
I remember a time when I was constantly nervous and anxious and it was a feeling I cannot settle in my body. The body was not loving and I didn’t want to settle in it. So in retrospect, when I became more loving and caring for myself, my body became more and more an environment I would like to be in and anxiety started to disappear.
It is encouraging to recognise how through the process of self-care, we come into a deeper level of self acceptance of ourselves, and it is this that is the antidote for anxiety
I agree johanne – yet sadly we do not learn to truly self-care from when we are young, so by the time we grow up we see it as natural to put ourselves last, or we treat ourselves with disrespect, hardness and expectations to fit into a picture.
I have experienced and live with intense anxiety for many years, and the unsettlement of not feeling who I am or knowing how to be. I also now know and experience the antidote for this is to develop an honouring connection with who I am within, and through this connection I know everything that I am and that this is all I need to be. Now I know the only antidote to the anxiety of not knowing is to connect to our essence, that which is all-knowing, ever-present and ever-simple as it is our true way of being.
Thank you, Carola. A brilliant reminder of how simple it is to reverse the habit of living with anxiety.
“What I often observe is that when an interaction with anyone else then occurs, an intense anxiety seems to present as we worry that we are not going to be liked…” It is this deep set anxiety about what others may think of us that so often holds us back from being all of who we are. But if we can come to understand that we are perfectly fine just being ourselves when we stay connected to that inate inner knowing, then any anxiety simply falls away as we realise we have nothing to prove to anyone.
From the presentations of Serge Benhayon, I have come to understand just how key the quality we breathe in is, as a support to tackle anxiety. By focusing on the tender in breath and out breath through the nose, the body is soothed instantly to a calm, surrendered and gorgeous way of being that is tangibly felt as a whole body feeling.
There’s no room for anxiety when you know your divinity.
I find that the thing that sends me into anxiety the most is time. I can feel so pressured by time, and I spend a great deal of my time racing against time. I am aware of the time all of the time and rarely do I lose track of time. It means I’m always on time, and often early, as I hate the stress of thinking I am going to be late. Giving myself loads of time to do things is the way I have learned to deal with this, but if I feel rushed or squashed by time at any time I find my anxiousness rising.
I can relate to this anxiety regarding time, I know I sabotage myself before I have to go somewhere, and in most cases I am going out of the door just a little later than I had planned, or I check at the last moment what time I have to be somewhere and I see I had it wrong, I had to be their earlier and as you can imagine at these instances I get anxious.
Or I should have said, I choose to get anxious by giving the outside factors more importance than the quality I live within myself. By observing this more I get less caught and can even smile to myself when I see the game that is been played over and over again.
Time can have a lot to do with anxiety, it’s a feeling of trying to squash in as much as possible, and by focusing on time we squash out ourselves and the quality we experience by being in connection to ourselves.
Anxiety is something I definately experience alot in my life. I woke up with the feeling of it first thing this morning. It feels to me that it’s a default setting I have for getting through life. It feels there is another option such as choosing to be gentler with myself, choosing to be steady in life, choosing to speak up about my feelings in life and not having a picture of how I am or life is to be. Or I can stay numbed by anxiety.
Thanks Carmen, what a lovely comment, and so true, your words have been inspiring to read.
The moment we breath Gods in breath in a limited way, which stands symbolically for repose, we manifest anxiety in our outbreath, which then affects our action and movement in life. Just one example of how important it is to breath harmoniously and in tune with the universe
I have lived with anxiety most of my life, anxious about all sorts of things, but pretending to others and myself I had things under control, as I have been more honest wth what I am feeling now I am amazed at the degree of anxiousness in my body that had been buried so that I could live up to an image. learning to accept and acknowledge when anxiousness arises has helped me to discard and heal some of it, but there is still more uncovering to do. Realising I have a choice begs the question why am I choosing this.
Hi Jill, I can relate to what you are saying and am finding many different examples in life where anxiety has been pulling the strings. This has manifested in not dealing with situations in life and essentially holding back my expression. These types of conversations are so valuable and should be commonplace in our daily discussions, maybe then people will feel the levels of anxiety they are covering over with distractions.
Your very vivid and graphic description of how we interact while continually looking for confirmation, makes it abundantly clear that we are mere shadows of ourselves and that there is an invisible puppeteer, or three, that pull all the strings. What a journey we have signed up for!
“People appear fearful of not knowing how to be” – It so can be a challenge to just be ourselves sometimes! But why is this so? Is it possible that we are fearful of how others perceive us or that we will get judged or in some way attacked if we let ourselves be who we are? And how crazy that we can actually forget how just to be…after all it is the way we are born… but because this has always been there for us, it means we can bring it back.
And we bring it back because we dish these judgments out as well and are not just innocent bystanders.
I love the presentation on anxiety here – it goes to show that we can all be living with an underlying current of anxiety and not even be fully aware of it. I can certainly relate to that in terms of my experiences with the Esoteric Healing work – when I get to receive a beautiful and supportive Esoteric session, I get to feel another level of real deep stillness and this is revealing as it shows that we might think we are doing well and are relaxed and not anxious, and it’s not that we are not doing well, but that we can go so much deeper yet in that quality, hence why what we were living can also be a level of anxiety. I trust this makes sense – it shows we can always be evolving and deepening the quality that we hold.
Many of us moan about global warming and pollution, but consider what we put out with anxiety – and not an ounce of it is true.
While ever we are ‘trying’ to be anyone or thing other than who we are there will be anxiousness. I remember it well when I was younger in competition. It is a message for us that it is not natural to be ahead of ourselves in anyway and when we are not connected to the body it’s natural we will feel anxiousness.
Anxiety is having an impact on an increasing proportion of the population, and every day more people experience this absolute discomfort within their body. We can’t possibly medicate 7.5 billion people for mental health concerns, so better that we start addressing the WHY rather than let anxiety get out of control and then flail because it’s an epidemic too ‘overwhelming’ to stop.
In all my work I am seeing the prevalence of anxiety and if we continue our ‘ostrich’ approach to this, things are going to get a whole lot more extreme.
I feel anxiety when I feel hurt and do not want to expose my vulnerability and therefore turned hard to not feel. When I just allow myself to feel what is it that hurts, anxiety disappears.
From that first simple re-connection many re-connections can follow, because as we become aware of how to undo the ill-energy that has cause us to be disconnected in the first place, the process becomes normal.
In our disconnection to living who we truly are we live in a constant tension and dis-ease with ourselves.
‘Could anxiety simply be not living who we really are?’ A good point Anonymous, for if we feel full – of love – and are open and transparent what have we to fear and be anxious about? Nothing would faze us, we would have no expectations or pictures of how things may be or might turn out. We would just accept life as it comes to us. But most of us don’t live like this…….
‘…fearful of not knowing how to be,’ because we don´t know how to be who we are in a world that asks us to be everything but not who we are.
‘What felt like a very complicated journey was actually very simple, because scratch the surface and there I was.’ How beautiful discovering ‘you’ Anon. And it is so true – our issues are only surface scratches.
Spot on Jenny and yes, great reminder that our issues are only little things on the surface of the far grander beings that we are!
‘It takes a while to shed the false layers of who we identify as.’ So true, and, as you say, once we accept, like and love ourselves, we know how much we are worth and are less likely to need others to boost our self esteem. Hence less anxiety.
‘ “Do you like me if I say this, or act like this, or take on this opinion, this posture…?” ‘ – The fear of failure keeps us in total imprisonment.
Great post, thanks for sharing!
I agree, a great post and opportunity to get a little bit more honest about how we are normalising anxiety (which is not normal) and the impact this has.
“Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?” It is the simplest things that are the most profound and significant, but we as humans love to make things complicated. So are we infact making complications in our lives so that we can then have an excuse for being anxious, which results in not having to take full resopnsibility for our choices and how we live?
Humanity suffers from not knowing who they are or more precisely from not living who they are although underneath we know exactly that life is not what it is supposed to be because we are not living who we are. The absence of self doesn’t allow for self-confidence hence the anxiety of ‘whom to be’ then?
It is interesting how even the subtle expression of anxiety becomes embedded in human behaviours, that it has become a ‘normal’ movement of the human body, but only when we start to investigate and address issues of anxiety, do these human behaviour traits become identified and seen to stem from anxiety… identifying, the fact that we think we are at ease or surrendered, but actually there is alway more room, another deeper level of surrender we can go to..
Anxiety is like playing make believe. It’s as if we dress up as a soldier and charge around while the foe we run from does not exist. These war games take a toll on our body and stop us from ever living life, just as it actually is.
Something that occurred to me after reading this very revealing blog about the current high state of anxiety so many people are in nowadays on a global scale is how the growing rise of popularity of ‘mindfulness’ meditation and its associated way of life may actually be causing way more anxiety than the calmness and settlement it is claiming to provide. Because when we are so focused on our mind instead of feeling what our bodies are trying to communicate to us, we discount the quality of the thoughts and the way we move our bodies throughout life, and instead become lead astray by the seemingly endless array of thoughts and desires that the mind can come up with. But what if the way we move is affecting our thoughts? This is not taught by mindfulness meditation teachers, thus there is a focus on the mind which is many times at the expense of the body.
I can understand the terror and anxiousness we feel in knowing who we are and choosing not to be that while finding distraction after distraction that can never truly cover up this tension.
The entire humanity is a great example of the devastation we are in for choosing not to be who we all deep down know ourselves to be.
The tensions are felt as we are not stopping feel that we are far from living life with the level of responsibility we know is possible choosing to complicate and make life a whirl pool of anxiety instead.
I agree we feel anxious because inside we know that this is not it. How we live together and treat one another as a humanity. Living from a truth inside and not denying what we feel, then the anxiety is not entertained and is no more. It is in truth a great big helpful sign pointing out that we know different.
Acceptance of oneself is one of the most healing ingredients there is.
Love this healing ingredient….. Accepting,loving and appreciating ourselves leaves no room for anxiety.
And when we let that acceptance deepen so it is a rock solid foundation in our relationship with ourselves, then the magic really begins.
To surrender to feeling anxious or whatever emotion that grabs us, and drop into the beholding of our choices, there is a settlement that is untouched by the harshness of life.
‘Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?’ For me this is an absolute yes. I never used to think I suffered from anxiety but when I started to be honest about how I was feeling, I realised I was running with anxiety most of the time. It was recently that I have been able to go for long periods where anxiety was not present. I now can identify what causes anxiety and I am able to counteract it by allowing myself to feel what is going on and then reconnect to myself without getting caught up in any emotions, drama or absorbing other people’s issues.
Anxiety is rife in this world. Every person has an underlying anxiousness running, often undetected as it has become a normal way of being for us all… even the tough, strong, macho, got-it-altogher person has an anxiousness behind that persona, otherwise they wouldn’t need that facade to be there. Our facades are only there to hide our insecurities which are fuelled by anxiety.
Yes if there’s a low grade anxiety we may not even be aware of it as it has become our ‘normal’
I know when I am fully connected to myself, I am quietly confident, not in what I know necessarily but in who I am. I am not ruffled by anything. If I am not connected I become worried about the little things, that start to increase and the confidence that I had when I was connected has gone.
True confidence is a steadiness that does not get affected by temporal life. If there is a blow on our confidence from anything, it is another opportunity to build our foundations more steady.
I have certainly felt a tension in my body when meeting new people and wanting to make an impression. And what is presented here is that in doing that we loose us. We are not ourselves and we feed a pattern of anxiety.
It helps for me to reflect on how real and grounded I have felt and why I get thrown off in my days.
Anxiety is indeed a global condition and something through Universal Medicine i am also learning to see and change “during the past few years I’ve dedicated myself to a knowing and loving of who I really am and it is this intention to know myself which has led to a deeper ease and self-confidence to be more myself in daily life.” Beautifully shared and a real inspiration.
Is it that we are fearful of not knowing how to be or is it that we find comfort in being a way that maintains the status quo and doesn’t rock the proverbial boat?
Have we trained ourselves to believe being who we are is unacceptable? When anxiety doesn’t work, do we then supplement it with drugs; both legal and illegal?
Yes exactly, where do we go when anxiety no longer works, with what do we medicate it?
This is so true ‘Underneath the surface physical dialogue, there appears to be another silent dialogue occurring, which actually speaks the loudest.’ Yet are we aware and do we want to be truly honest about this silent dialogue? If we were honest about this, much could be healed.
The simplicity of realising that the more I respect, love and honour myself the more of these qualities are ‘available’ in all my relationships and day to day interactions… this definitely feels like a collaborative and evolutionary way forward.
Whether we are connected to our bodies or not and therefore whether we are anxious or not makes a big difference in how we handle situations and challenges in daily life.
From connection comes confidence which is based on being with and in our body, solid and unwavering.
I agree Andrew, not responding to life with anxiety is a huge support. I was having a conversation with someone today and I felt a mild level of anxiety starting to emerge. I allowed myself to feel it and then I simply chose to reconnect to my body and my essence, and it dissipated. This makes me wonder how often do people operate in anxiety without even realising because not many people understand what anxiety really is.
It only takes one person to be calm, steady and confident in knowing who they are, to have a calming influence on those around them. In the same way a stick placed in the center of a whirling bucket of water will have a swift calming influence on the the swirling water, when we have a solid foundation we have the same affect on those around us.
If we are truly and deeply connected with ourselves there is no room for anxiety. Often when I observe people who are in an anxious state I notice that their attention is totally outside of themselves, looking out for the answer in a desperate and disconnected way. When we are connected to the body we see everything differently, and when we look out we can do so from a deeply rooted place within ourselves and simply observe. A very different way to be.
Let us just watch and see how much the medication that the world keeps taking, watching, seeing, doing, increases, to avoid feeling exactly where it is at.
“Anxiety – a Global Condition” – yes a global addiction that has become the everyday norm that is goes unnoticed… the exact same as not being who we truly are is the (global) case as well.
I was about to comment on this too Zofia, that there are a stack of Global Conditions – exhaustion, depression, lack of self worth/esteem, besides the very common conditions of diabetes, obesity and heart disease. There is one and the same cause, not knowing and living who we are, truly and fully.
Good point Zofia. Anxiety has become so normalised it is rare to meet someone who doesn’t suffer from any form of anxiety. But when you do meet someone is free of anxiety, they naturally invite you to be all of who you are and this is the magic of reflection. It is amazing how this works.
Makes sense if we are not deeply connected to our self we cannot be at ease with our self as we are not actually being ourselves.
Not knowing who we are is a lack of presence with ourselves in life.
And that leaves the doors wide open for anything to come in and undermine us.
“Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are” I am finding now that when I notice that anxiety has crept in I see it as a sign to act, it might be I need to express or it might be I need to do something different from what I am doing – reading why anxiety has come in is actually super empowering.
True – anxiety is a ‘warning’ for us to become aware that something is not quite right, and may need to be adjusted or changed.
It only takes one wire to be steady and solid for another wire to connect with it. Anxiety is so prolific in our day to day – we underestimate how much it runs as a current through our lives to the point it is now considered normal. Children are much more sensitive and therefore it is showing up in their bodies as being out of balance but what if their bodies and their behaviour is no different to ours but we have got ‘used’ to the energy and now know how to absorb or dull it so it is not as noticeable….
Loved what you wrote: ‘if one person in the interaction has an understanding of who they truly are and is steady in that, in a non-imposing-up-yourself confidence, then the other person is supported to connect to who they are.’ That’s what I experience as well. People feel met, they don’t have to worry anymore what others might think of them and they can drop their guards. A first step of feeling themselves with themselves in the presence of another person.
Thank you, I really enjoyed reading this again today, there is a lot to consider around anxiety because of how many people it affects globally, and it’s been rising steadily statistically as a mental health condition for some years. I’ve recently been looking at self acceptance so this article has given me some more awareness on seeing the correlation between being myself and expressing what I feel, or experiencing anxiety instead.
We live in a way that is disconnected from our inner knowing, the core of wisdom within every one of us… and so that will naturally create an anxiety because we aren’t connected to our truth, aren’t being who we truly are and this makes us anxious – we’re like a boat with no rudder. Connect to and live from that inner rudder and there is no space for anxiousness.
I have also noticed this unsettlement in people including myself at times(although It has reduced a lot in recent years). When we are anxious, it is like we don’t want to be still and feel our bodies but have to be constantly thinking or moving to escape the uneasiness we feel when we are not simply living and expressing true to ourselves.
‘we scramble to connect with the person in front of us but can only do so on a superficial level’ – before I found Universal Medicine this was very much my behaviour. It has been a long process of unravelling and letting go to begin to accept myself and find out who precisely I am. As you say we are forever deepening and I can feel I am at present aware that this is what is taking place as I begin to understand another block. Nowadays I can see these blocks as blessing as they remove another layer that comes between me being totally all I am in my essence.
Yes Susan, when we are ready to see those in our lives who live a deeper steadiness we can take off a layer of protection and learn to walk that in full before we say – “hey, there is another layer that is weighing me down, I can take that off now too”. My experience has been that we only become aware of the layers when we have the tools and the skills to release them.
Anonymous, I love this; ‘There were some challenges along the way, but nothing that was not insurmountable; in fact, mostly it felt like an exciting adventure we embarked upon.’ I can feel that we can either make issues and dramas our of situations or we can just get on with what we need to do and enjoy life. Turning what could be a difficult situation into an adventure is brilliant and a great way to be in life.
It’s so true…when we know who we are there is nothing to be anxious about.
Yes and when we know who we are, we know how to apply ourselves in life, work, relationships… actually everything.
And the next moment is taken care of …no uncertainty, no wavering, no agonising over choices. The choice is obvious and not in truth, a choice any longer; just a natural consequence and follow-on.
“Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?” – i know for myself that the more i allow myself to be in the quality of stillness (for example through Esoteric Yoga) i hear myself and then listen a bit more and deeper to hear my truer self … and that in this anxiety is not entered and in its place stands confidence; the confidence to be who i really am and expressing this.
I can sense anxiety within me when I am around a person who has the potential to ridicule, put me down, make fun but especially shout at me but what is it I am to learn? If I meet or am in the company of another who is quick to judge what is it showing or exposing within me? Could it be as simple as holding and appreciating myself in the absolute knowing of who I am and accepting everything in full that comes with this? Umm… there is no anxiety within my body; it is a creation from self.
Anxiety is behind many of our behaviours… because when we are in anxiousness we are not ourselves and that is when we do and say things that are not innately the love and truth of who we are.
Its so true, that when we feel sure about something that we feel because we know it to our bones, there is simply no room for anxiety of any kind. And its only when we let doubts in that we may not ‘be right’ about something that anxiousness can and does have a field day.
Could anxiety come from living irresponsibly? Indeed if we are truly responsible when living from who we are then a choose of irresponsibility is a choice of anxiety.
Anxiety can be obvious or it can be dismissed, ignored and therefore a buried issue, initiating unhealthy behaviour patterns. If anxiety is is not addressed and knowing that stress contributes to many underlying health concerns, no wonder we have seen a rise in stress-related illnesses.
Yes, anxiety does not exist when we connect to the innate wisdom of the soul, which is equally accessible to all when we stop looking outside of ourselves for the answers.
Spot on Janet, this is why it is so important for us to deepen the connection with ourselves as it supports us to have a solid foundation.
It is the greatest terror to know who we are and we do not live what we feel.
We are designed to tune into divine harmony naturally, but when we say no and twist the dial we often get Anxiety FM. The djs are Pan Nick and Fear Full and the tunes they play sure are evil.
When you are quite tuned in and you suddenly get very anxious, that can be a reliable signal that something needs addressing urgently.
Yes and the more we acknowledge these marked changes in our bodies the sooner we will stop the escalation of ills – in this case anxiety.
Worrying about what other people think of me or what I am doing is a mild form of anxiety I can sometimes slip back into. I then move in a way that does not honour how I truly feel but my movements are then governed by images of how I should be. It is great to be aware of this and understand why it happens, so it support me to be more of myself and let go of any false images and expectations.
I have recently began exploring an aspect of life that I have previously always held away, not wanting to deal with all that I knew it would bring up. It made me realise that whilst i can feel relatively steady in all the other areas, its a false sense of foundation because it contains the holes that we don’t want to deal with yet, but they can trip us up because often they will present themselves whether we want to face them or not.
I find anxiety is like a distortion filter on life. When I’m anxious I make weird decisions and don’t quite have the astute perceptions I normall do.
This makes so much sense when we consider anxiety stimulates our nervous system, so we are constantly in fight or flight mode, and at those times we don’t always make the wisest choices.
Not having anxiety is often unusual for me (when I am really honest about how I feel). But I can have moments when I do not feel that level of anxiety and the funny thing is that then I can get anxious in thinking something is wrong if I do not feel anxious! So my normal is to feel anxious – but I am keen to make my new normal not being anxious!
What I am realising is that if we are really honest, we all carry some level of anxiety, some more obviously and with greater intensity and some seemingly less and more subtly. I often see clients who appear to be very ‘calm cool and collected’ on the outside but they then may share that their sleep is poor or they have poor immunity, or an endocrine condition etc. These are all signs of the nervous system being out of balance. And in my own experience I have thought that I was relaxed and fine, only to find that when I get on a massage table to receive a relaxing treatment, my mind is racing or I am struggling to let my body fully drop and really relax. To me these are signs of a hyper-vigilance that I go into with my nervous system and so in all honesty there is an element of anxiety that goes with this. So the best way to start with this, is to realise that most of us actually have a level of anxiety within, and then to realise that we can indeed work with this.
I agree Henrietta and to get to the source of anxiety we definitely have to be absolutely honest with ourselves. I put my hands up for admitting that I sometimes run on low level anxiety. It can creep in very quickly especially when I am rushing and operating in drive. The great thing is I can now recognise anxiety in myself almost immediately and then I am able to shift it and I am more equipped to not choose anxiety next time.
Yes, even if you master anxiety on a day-to-day level it then is still a challenge to deal with anxiety in a crisis situation but it seems possible to do so.
The moment we disconnect from the stillness of the body and go into the head, with it’s constant pursuit of control, we allow anxiety in.
The feeling of anxiety is becoming more obvious now as I have some times without it, rather than it being a permanent low hum that increases when I have something to do that I am unsure of. The tension starts in my upper back and shoulders, and I notice my breath becomes more shallow and my head goes racy. Catching it earlier is great because I can come back to myself sooner.
Yes I find that if I stay consciously present with my body or if I bring my awareness to how my body is feeling every now and again (and like you especially the area around my shoulders and upper back) I can note the tension and consciously let it go and allow a gradual lessening of tension in my body over time.
Anxiety is a very clever trick – it takes us away from our bodies and keeps us living in our minds. We are led to believe that our minds are it, when in truth our bodies are far wiser than our minds will ever be.
‘ I have deepened my acceptance of myself, and I am now far less anxious.’ – Amazing, this is what I call true healing. It goes to show that Western Medicine alone does not cut it.
“Back to the analogy; when there is just one solid wire emerging to connect with – and not many flailing all over the place – it is easier to make that connection.”
Love the immutable simplicity of this analogy Anon, bringing consistency to the way we live and care for ourselves brings a soundness & solidity that not only supports deeper connection but also attracts it.
We can twist ourselves into all sorts of manner and ways of being, simply to fit in somewhere. Cutting ourselves off at the knees so that we don’t stand out. But the strange thing here is that we do stand out, we get the recognition we were perhaps looking for. I recall as a younger person changing the way I looked many times as well as my behaviours, so that I fitted in with the crowd that I was with. If they did it, I pretty much joined in. But none of that is true and none of that was supportive. When we learn that we can connect to our inner most, we learn that all of the support we need is contained within. It doesn’t exclude asking for help or support, but we know what is true support and what is not.
Is it possible that we have underlying anxiety because of the constant tension we feel about life? As we live it currently, life is so far away from our natural loving way of being, that to step into a world that does not reflect this love in every single way is naturally going to bring a level of anxiety.
Beautifully shared Rachel! And as a result that subtle or less subtle anxiety can then impact us in so many ways, pulling us away further from the very space that supports us and reminds us of the love that we are.
So true Rachel, it certainly does but we are also able to not absorb this if we are living without the anxiety within ourselves and observe the tension around us instead of joining and absorbing it.
Stretching and pushing ourselves beyond our limits can create an anxiety that is self defeating in that we do not stop things from happening rather create them.
Whenever I feel like I am not in control in some way I feel a level of anxiety BUT the perverse thing is that even when I feel like I am in control there is a part of me that is in hyper-vigilance to ensure I stay in control and hence an anxiety that I may not be in control the next moment. This is a set up so that we are always feeling a level of anxiousness! The big part here is hence to learn to let go of the control and trust in what is to come knowing that we are fully equipped to handle what comes our way. Now that sounds simple and straightforwards, but to actually let go and Trust can only happen in increments and gradually. So this is a process that has to be allowed to happen with no expectations or impositions!
Many of us do not appear as being anxious from the outside, but can still carry an underlying anxiousness within that as mentioned may not be perceptible on the outside, and sometimes so subtle that we may not even be aware of it ourselves! But in full honesty we can give ourselves permission to feel this. As an example I was driving to work one day and felt something was different, I clocked that a part of me almost felt ‘flat’ and I got worried. The instant I got a little worried I then sensed a familiar and very sublte anxiety in me and then realised that I it was not a ‘flat’ feeling I had had earlier, I was simply feeling the absence of the subtle anxiety. Wow, now that made me stop! It made me realise that my current ‘normal’ is actually feeling a low grade subtle anxiety, and when this is taken away I actually feel like there is something wrong! How perverse is this! And it shows me how configured an energy can be in placing this dynamic into my body! and what role have I played to allow this too?
Anxiety would have us believe we need to control or change the world but all we truly need is to accept what we feel – then live in that flow.
Beautifully said Joseph. Anxiety does comes hand in hand with control, there is no escaping it when we have given our body over to running with anxiety.
‘People appear fearful of not knowing how to be’ – This makes sense, because everything that we have learnt to be is not who we truly are, the demands from the outside are a constant reflection that we are not enough, that we should be more, better, smarter etc. – it is a constant measurement of what we think we need to be and so we dismiss that innate knowing that we ARE already all we need to be.
The moment we step outside of ourselves, we are in anxiety, we lose connection to our body and the settlement of our inner heart.
Indeed Jenny its that anxiety that really kills us because of the fact we loose that connection to us.
Indeed… all it takes is one strong solid and true foundation, for everyone around to have a possibility of a compass bearing.
The reality of the widespread anxiety in the world reflects the disconnection and isolation we are living in the world today and is showing us something needs to change. Learning to come back into our body to connect to who we are in our essence and the amazingness and love there is, is the only way to change and support us all to be who we are truly and feel the contentment and settlement of this.
I experience anxiety as soon as I think about having to get somewhere on time, or meet a deadline. The time factor keeps us forever in a race with ourselves and limited to what we can do in a short space of time. I still live in this way so I cannot pretend I know any different, but I have an understanding that it does not have to be this way.
I have anxiety far less now than before and on the occasions that I do get anxious, it is as a result of choosing to disconnect from my inner essence, and my body is left with no true connection until I reconnect back with my inner self.
“I feel anxious when I worry about something that my spirit hasn’t got any control over” This is often how I use to feel before i started healing with Universal Medicine. I have also learned that stress and anxiety was very much linked to exhaustion. So gradually, I have learnt to self care to be less tired which helped me a lot on a day to day basis.
When I observe people closely I see quite how on edge or anxious most people are. Whether it being constantly tapping of the legs on the floor, erratic speech, constant justification to prove their worth, no being able to hold a converstaion on one topic without moving it to something about themselves, so many different examples which all show what happens when we disconnect and do not honour the love that we are. Esoteric Yoga has been awesome for me at helping me come back into my body and simply feel it, it is one of the best things I have found to stop the sense of anxiousness when I feel it take over my body.
There is no unease, unsettlement, anxiety or distress when we are present with our bodies… because our bodies can feel everything – like a radar – and if we are connected to that radar we can read every situation and thus know how to respond.
So true Paula. I find that the more I put my eggs into the basket of ‘being able to control everything’, the more anxious I become. This makes sense with the explanation you have offered, because instead of using my body as a radar to tune in to what is required in the moment, I am trying to have everything fit my pictures.
What you show here so clearly is that we can take life one step at a time and the less expectations we have the smoother it will go, as one allows for an openness to communicate and be with others instead of demanding and wanting something.
Beautifully said Esther, it is about allowing things to unfold, to come to you and to focus on one thing at a time.
Yes, a very simple formula that always works.
Anxiety is an enormous issue for many people in the world, and it is certainly not something that can be addressed with platitudes. The Universal Medicine therapies work at an energetic level within the body and as such offer an opportunity for true healing.
It is life changing for another to be truly met and seen for who they innately are and not the facade they put on.
How true, the impact of such experience is deeply felt.
So true Mary-Louise…..being truly met by another, at any time in our life, can be the catalyst for complete change of oneself and one’s lifestyle.
Being calm might look good but it’s just another form of extreme control. Being aware, accepting and allowing life without needing to know anything is the only way we can be free in this world.
I know when I am not connected to my body and myself I ‘fear’ more in terms of what will happen next and whether I will be able to handle it. When I am connected to my body I don’t worry or fear but there is a steadiness and stillness inside that knows it can handle everything and anything that happens.
I agree, for we can always handle the moment we are in, it is when we project forward that there is anxiousness as we are not yet there so how can we know what will be or be equipped to deal with it? It is immediately felt in the body when we do this as an un-settlement.
I see a lot of parents ‘flailing’ and in high levels of stress and anxiety, because they are not present enough in themselves to know what to do with their teenage children who are lost and out of control. Universal Medicine has supported me over the years to understand myself and hold steady in relationships, which has helped me enormously as a parent.
Could anxiety also come from the fact that we are so aware – we know so much – but we don’t actually live it. We don’t trust the wisdom of our bodies and so as a result, we are anxious from this unreleased tension?
Agree HM – bottling up our awareness and not living it, becomes an enormous tension to carry.
Yes agree we are seeing, feeling registering everything in life and with this awareness comes responsibility to not react to all we sense but rather respond with the knowing that we have all that is needed to meet what is before us.
People can also feel the turmoil of others around them which means that if they do not have a sense of who they truly are that they have chosen to live then they are buffeted around by the energy of others whilst trying to find a way to be to meet the perceived expectations of the outside world – it’ no wonder this leads quickly to anxiety.
I wonder if it is getting harder and harder to avoid this anxiety. People are eating more and more to numb themselves. Is some, much or a lot of it due to anxiety?
As a counter to the awareness we feel and have access to…if we are not allowing ourselves to feel all we do and respond there will be a need to dull and avoid this. Food is one way we can do this for sure.
I did a workshop today to a group of teenage students about anxiety, and when I asked if they had experienced a heightened state of anxiety in the past week, pretty much everyone (including the teacher) put up their hand. Humanity is in dire need of another way and the teachings of Universal Medicine are lighting the path to our future.
‘It takes a while to shed the false layers of who we identify ourselves as.’ – How true, it is basically a re-learning of who we truly are behind all the false pictures, the imprisoning beliefs and ideals we carry around, of how it ‘should be’.
These false pictures of ourselves when acted out over decades become our norm and the ‘who we are’. It was only through feeling something different in my body, especially through Esoteric Yoga that I was able to even question these false versions of me I had created to survive in the world. This is why I love body awareness as it cuts through all the illusions and delivers us a knowing of truth.
Yes connection and presence with the body allows us to feel everything more acutely and it also exposes how the mind can falsely lead us astray when our connection with the body is wobbly. I have also found that Esoteric Yoga supports this connection and foundation to be in and with the body and all it reflects.
Indeed… we take on the pictures of the ‘should’s’ rather than honouring the truth we know deep within us.
I love your analogy it’s so true when you feel out of sorts and not with yourself you can totally feel it in your body. We just don’t like feeling it and choose things to numb ourselves. Once we decide to let go of these we have an opportunity to feel this unease and missed sparks and choose to connect.
I agree Natalie. Our body is constantly informing and feeding back to us 24/7 but all too often we disregard it.
I had a similar experience choosing a-level subjects and subsequently what or if I would study at university and I became quite unwell in the process although there were other things contributing to this of course. This is something which affects so many students now – making such choices without the support to do so from all they feel and instead around influences from outside of them and ever increasing level of mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety in school children.
It makes perfect sense that anxiety is a global condition as we all live life thinking we are individuals when we are all a part of the whole. Individualism creates anxiety as this is not our natural state – brotherhood is.
Yes, Kathleen, anxiety is inevitable so long as we continue to live contrary to our true nature.
Reading the head line to this great blog I thought we could almost call it ‘Anxiety- a global addiction’. It seems we can use anxiety to stimulate ourselves away from our stillness. A great tactic to stop evolving but stopping our connection to soul.
When you talked about how you “lived in intense anxiety all my life, and I am still fixing up the physical and psychological toll it has taken on my body.” I can totally relate. Like you I no longer live with the intense anxiety but I do have anxious times from time to time and I was recently super busy for work and was in some anxious/overwhelm energy.
I had a esoteric healing session yesterday and the practitioner supported me to clear some of the anxious energy that was still in my body from a few weeks ago. It reminded me that it can take quite a toll on the body – more than we realise. It is not our natural state so there is a disruption to the body and once the outer effects have lessened, we can still hold onto it in our bodies.
We seem to rush around in a way that suggests we are trying to ‘get’ somewhere and achieve certain outcomes. What if we are already exactly where we are meant to be and that our movements are all about deepening connection with our selves, everyone and everything, allowing more space in our body so there is no room for anxiety.
The more we re-connect with our selves and start trusting in our own innate awareness and wisdom and appreciating how much love we have to share, we start to develop a settlement within, a knowing that we are already everything we need to be in life – it’s about letting out the essence of who we are.
How rife anxiety is.
Yes, Ariana, it makes all the difference when we live from the inside-out rather than the outside-in, as we are guided by our own heart rather than the dictates of the world around us.
There are four words that stand out in one paragraph of this blog which explain a lot about why humanity is in such a state – disconnection, unsettlement, distress and panic.
and I would keep them in that order Janet as one would be the cause of the other.
When I connect to my body I do not feel anxious as I can rely on my body to support me with what ever is needed as long as I listen and act on what it is communicating. This simple remedy has changed my life as I was super anxious before.
It would appear then Marylouise that connecting to the body and listening to and acting on it’s communication is the antidote to anxiousness.
It is gorgeous to read about someone who has turned the tide of their anxiety simply by coming to know themselves, deeply and with tender loving care.
So much of our anxiety arises from the conflict between our true inner knowing and the ideals and beliefs we feel we must fulfill. The more we are encouraged to listen to and follow what we feel in our hearts, the simpler it becomes to dismantle the conflict and do what we know to be true in the world.
A beautiful understanding of the anxiety we live and feel that plagues our lives and the reality of not living the true us but something else behind the layers. The true joy and confidence of living who we are naturally and lovingly as ourselves is so different and allows a confirmation of who we are; this is so needed to support us in the world- simply being and living who we are naturally.
‘There were some challenges along the way, but nothing that was not insurmountable…’ we are given everything we need for what we encounter and are asked to deal with along the way, the more we surrender to this the more ease with which we can find the flow in life.
Everyone needs to know that anxiety is something that we really don’t have to get anxious about, or be plagued by for life. I used to dull the feeling with alcohol whenever I knew a situation would be coming up where I would feel anxious but that never really worked and it has been a long time now since I have used alcohol for any purpose and my anxiety is less than it has ever been.
Our bodies feel everything and to live in connection with our bodies, to listen to their messages and honour them is to live on the front-foot in life – there is no place for anxiety in this way of living.
The power of our essence when connected to gives us the ability to feel when we go into anything less than our divinity especially anxiety as it is a stark contrast to the Livingness of a true connection.
It is interesting to notice how much anxiety creeps in when we search for ourselves from the outside world instead of connecting to who we are from within. Almost everyone we meet does this and we think this is then normal but it is so far from truth. I too find when I fully connect to who I am, anxiety is then powerless and doesn’t exist in my body.
How exhausting it is to play a role that it is not us, deepening that inner voice within and honouring those impulses leads us to a confidence and a deep self assurance that we all have an inherent with right too.
Not only has it got to a point of people having been living disconnected from who they truly are for so long but there is now a stronger pull than ever before to come back to that truth and be aware of what is really going on in life and why, therefore exposing our behaviours which have been used to avoid this over time.
So true Michael, I am meeting more and more people who are very much aware of what is going on in our world and can clearly feel our current normal isn’t it. We can all sense this but how much we are willing to see through the lies of creation and align to truth, this is a choice that is up to us to choose and the longer we delay truth the more tension we can feel in our body. This tension comes in many forms, anxiety, depression and other behavioural issues and symptoms.
What has supported me no end with anxiety over the years has been the teachings of Universal Medicine about the importance of staying connected to my body, listening to its communications, and developing a lived authority in what I feel to be true.
So true Janet… that lived authority comes from our bodies.
That has also been my experience too, is staying connected to my body, listening to its messages, this has truly supported my anxiety and then expressing from my truth.
That it actually is not normal while to me it is a quite common phenomenon in our societies nowadays. Many people are always in a hurry, walking fast, running, speeding with their cars, moving harsh and speaking forcefully, demanding. All to get things done, to complete orders from the mind in total disregard of their body and the other people we live with. But we all innately know this is not our normal but in a way have become trapped. If we are trapped means that there is also a way out and that is to reconnect to our body again, to the essence, our soul as that connection will take care for our bodies to move in space instead of in time.
Yes, you are describing a way a lot of us are distracting ourselves. In order not to feel?
To me it is to avoid to feel that we are connected to something stupendous; why we create the little world in which we can live this wayward disconnected way of life.
It is worth shedding the false layers we have created to identify ourselves by as it will free us from that underlying anxiety that will always be there to interfere with how we otherwise naturally would be able to live.
Awesome Nico, I agree the more layers of falseness we shed the more free we are to allow our essence to shine and support our body to express without anxiety, doubt, judgement etc. This is a healing for everyone when we express from truth and love, and not for recognition or identification.
Indeed Chan Ly, the false layers are like a coat that make us someone we are not but we needed it in some period in our life for identification and recognition. To become aware of this fact, that we put on coat after coat makes us understand that there is also a way back, to free ourselves from these veils that not only mask who we truly are but makes us very anxious in the body too.
Connection with self takes the keys out of the runaway train of any emotion and offers the space to consider the choices we made that had us on board in the first place… this is really powerful healing.
You write about anxiety tipping into fear or being fed by underlying fear and I get a sense of how exhausting it is to live in a constant state of fear – low level maybe but always causing a tension and discordance with life. When we simply accept the reality of this we will be able to start addressing it; honesty will have to come first.
From my own experience I have to agree with the final question. Whenever I feel disconnected and not myself I am more prone to feeling anxiety. Its often not something that is disabling at all, but I certainly notice it and I don’t like how it feels. Its great to observe that when I feel like that, its not me, for I know when I am connected and feel like me anxiety has no place. It is a bit of a work in progress for I notice that I drop in and out a bit. But its great to observe this and at least acknowledge that if I am feeling anxious, then I know I am off course, so to speak.
It makes so much sense that we would be anxious when we arent living who we truly are because there is no foundation to step forth from – we are on shaky ground which will naturally create an unease in us.
Our beliefs are like fragile wires that we think support us to stay in place. If any one were to be compromised we think we would fall to our death. Yet let go of them all and we might see that far from being hurt we are actually helped and set free finally from living conditionally.
Yes, Joseph, we hold on tight to what we believe is going to help us get through life, but it is actually a false security, as our greatest strength is in letting go of the mental constructs so that we can feel what is true through the wisdom of the body.
And others too because it sends the reflection that that is a normal and when we see it in many around us then we accept something that is not part of our true make up as a normal in society.
Very true. Connection with self opens us up to the fact that we are more than just our physical body – we each have a grandness and are part of something much grander. Connection to our inner wealth, our true self actually closes the door on all the rotten behaviours we see in society today. For how can such ill, tensions, unease, unsettlement, rot even exist if we know ourselves and others as love first?
If we were to appreciate and confirm ourselves and what we bring to the world we would not be anxious.
Going deeper in our stillness, supports us to go deeper and therefore the anxiousness disappears as we are able to express from a deeper layer of truth.
The more we connect with the truth of who we are, claim it and live it with a steady consistency, the more we are able to feel the magnificence in everyone else and are able to hold them in the potential of who they truly are, irrespective of how they may be behaving at the time. They are then offered the possibility to feel and connect with their own divinity. It is very beautiful how we can support each other in this way.
Anonymous – this title alone is headline news and is very needed to be the only title on the front page of every newspapers as a wake up to society we need to address this. I can honestly say that I notice anxiety everyday – whether that be in someone in a plane or in the shops or at work or in friends, family or myself. This feels super of track from the Joy that is natural to us.
So true and well said Johanna for anxiety erodes and undermines the very integrity of our potential.
I did not like or love myself for a long time, I craved being with people but it was exhausting keeping hidden all the yuck I felt about myself and had let in so I didn’t want to be with people for long periods of time – in case the facade collapsed. This has changed greatly in the last years and I feel an ease with myself and often say what’s there to be said unfiltered – something that got me in huge trouble growing up. But I’m still finding myself dropping into I should be nervous around people and anxious – something I’ve experienced people as finding very draining themselves or awkward. The more I accept and love myself the more I love being with people or with myself and my needs around people go.
That’s true Ariana – there is good reason to be anxious when we look at the state of affairs of our world. Even the more reason to be open to true change as presented by Universal Medicine.
It is possible to turn the tide as so many people who are dedicated to the truth of our innate spark of divinity residing in everyone. When we are willing to truly accept this we can heal.
Life is in the fast lane for many people who are chasing their careers, having a family, juggling the finances, it is not surprising they are so anxious. We become oblivious to the anxiety as it is there all the time, but it does bring a deep unease and disconnection to a sense of who we are. When we become aware of it, it is a great start.
Life is set up to seek, to need, to gain recognition, to be identified and so on – and if we lessen who we are we can find ourself unsettled and not equipped to deal with the intensity before us that many call everyday life and a normal. The beauty of all this ill set up is that we (every single one of us) have been part of creating this untrue way of living, interacting and behaving so we each have the power to change it as is beautifully shared in this blog. As it is set up, it does cause ill ease when we fall for it and go to it to tell us if we are ok. However when we go within and self care and truly self honour as Anonymous has shared, we have the needed tools and steadiness to be in life confidently so.
A lot of us hold back our expression because of anxiety about what others might think. But this is just a thought that may come from past experience but may not be the case now. So our thoughts (which are fed to us by the energy we align to) are what stops us from sharing our true selves with humanity.
The deeper I go within my self inside my own body the less anxiety there is. If I lose that connection I am then totally ‘out’ of myself and more likely to wobble, and become stressed and anxious. Tools presented by Universal Medicine are absolute gold that can help us to come back ‘in’ and continue going deeper, and in this way we can lessen the wobbles!
I agree the tools presented by Universal Medicine are gold for developing a deeper and greater connection to our souls. It gives us all the confidence in the world.
Although anxiousness was not something that was a big issue for me, I used other ways – I absolutely agree with the gold that Universal Medicibe has brought for me to reconnect with, love and live the true me in life, from the love of my Soul. Without meeting Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I can honestly say I would be living a cardboard cut out of my true self using all sorts of struggling ways to deal with life.
One of the tools that I found really helpful when trying to understand what it meant to re-connect with my soul, is the Gentle Breath Meditation. After doing it only once I experienced what it felt like to re-connect with me and this gave me a marker in my body to come back to and deepen. It’s a very simple tool, yet immensely powerful and supportive – available to try on the unimedliving.com site.
That connection to our soul eliminates anxiousness.
I love this Rebecca… the further I stray from my body the less held and safe I feel… anxiety is of course what comes next.
I have noticed over the past 5 years in particular that I don’t get anywhere near as anxious as I used to in situations in every day life and I put this down largely to participating in Universal Medicine presentations and incorporating the very simple techniques into my life. Priceless..
Ditto that Andrew; I used to be very anxious about speaking up in public, but now I run classes of up to twenty people. As you say, the techniques are profoundly simple and life-changing.
When we look at the level of disconnection from our self in the world through entertainment, alcohol, drugs, and many other forms of human behaviour it is no wonder that the after effect is such large and growing levels of anxiety along with other mental health issues.
Totally agree, we live in a world where the sole objective it seems is to take ourselves away from simply being with ourselves, this isn’t new but it has definitely intensified and our young are being bought up with a level of stimulation that is unprecedented.
I agree, in fact the level of stimulation that we are all living with is enormous. Living in this stimulation bubble is preventing us from connecting with our selves and each other all the while adding to the emptiness we feel within, which drives the need for more stimulation and increases our level of exhaustion.
‘People appear fearful of not knowing how to be; they appear to be experiencing a deep unease and disconnection to a sense of who they are.’ – Well said, when we live in disconnection from our bodies, only facing and living life from our minds, based on what the outer world projects and demands of us, then how could we possibly know who we are?
The level of disease matches our levels of unease our bodies are showing us that we are out of kilter and at a basic level not in harmony with ourselves.
I am no stranger to feeling anxiety and all the things I used to do to stop feeling it would only make it worse in the end, so enter Universal medicine all those years ago which helped be connect to myself and when I am connected anxiety can play no part.
Why would we not live “all of who we really are” as a Son of God and would we actually choose the energy of anxiety?
Then could the answer be that we are allowing the energy by not feeling the depths of that energy, and what it is actually bringing as far as anxiety and the other ill energies to us?
If true how can we make the changes in our life to undo these types of ill energies? Could it be by actually standing back and feeling what it is doing to us and the insidiousness of that energy in our bodies and how our blood boils because of those ill energies that hide and dictate by stealth, that we can then nominate it in this way so we can change?
We are waking up to the fact that what we have ‘bought into’ in life is not working for us, the world is in utter turmoil. It’s no wonder that anxiety is rising in epidemic proportions. The key lies in us re-connecting to our body and to feel the wisdom that lies within to support us in navigating our way through the chaos around us.
When I experienced connecting to who I truly am and realising I had not been connected to me truly, all thanks the Serge Benhayon and the Universal Medicine modalities and gentle breath meditation. I could see and feel how deeply anxious I had been until I started to choose me.
Yeah I find it fascinating that we can be running with levels of anxiety and unease and be largely oblivious to the impact on our being and body. Fascinating and disturbing.
I agree, Vanessa, when we have been living a certain way for such a long time, it’s easy to assume that how we feel is ‘normal’, when in truth, it is a very long way away from the amazingness of how we can feel when living in connection with our soul.
Natalie I can totally resonate with what you are sharing, I was living a life of anxiousness which had become the norm.
When there is a difficult situation the wisest way to approach is to stay present and observe, as without the presence in our body we are at the mercy of the emotion that wants to take hold of us.
I feel anxious when I disconnect from who I am. The Gentle Breath meditation supports me in those moments to come back to me.
http://www.unimedliving.com/meditation/free
Yesterday, I had a rare occurrence of anxiety, three incidents and suddenly, there it was, with self-doubt. When this happens it’s worth pausing. coming back to the body to connect with what is true, rather than the pictures we the have in our heads.
Yes, I spent a lot of my life flailing around, not knowing who I was or what was true for me, but thanks to the teachings of Universal Medicine I now have a constant bearing to navigate through life…the connection to my body and the wisdom of my soul.
‘Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?’ No wonder then that it is so widespread in our current way of life. First step to connect back to who we truly our at our heart and then make this our way of living through our expression and movements.
I can actually recall my first memory of anxiousness and how I tried avoiding this seemingly unavoidable feeling my whole life by running away from it. It was like if the going got tough I ran the other way at pace, but the only way to deal with it for me, which is an on going process is just face it and know that I control it, it doesn’t control me.
Same Kevin, I remember also how much anxiousness I would go into when training at the highest level for judo and how much my stomach would churn!!
Anxiety seems to have become a normal part of life and only when it becomes acute do we see it as a problem – time to reconnect.
We have got so use to living with it as the normal that, we cannot recognise it is there until it becomes acute in our lives.
My first day at a new job, I noticed how any pictures or anticipatory thoughts at all took me away from my steadiness and settledness – it was so great to immediately nip any thoughts or driven movements in the bud and feel the warmth and steadiness of my inner-self instantly return.
What I learned throughout my own journey with anxiety: the moment I am connected with my body anxiety does not have any access and I have true self-confidence. As my body knows no anxiety- it is just my mind when being in the drivers seat- that sells me thoughts that shall speed me up and causes tension and motion in my body.
Yes, there is an enormous difference between living from the outside in, and from the inside out. The former means we are constantly affected by the situations and people around us, whereas the latter holds us in the steadiness and authority of who we are.
Love this, Janet. Super simple and empowering. The constancy that is possible living from the inside out is pure gold in the inconsistency, intensity and volatility of the ‘outside’ that is our world today.
I know what you mean about this pressure to conform or join in with what the world demands or expects rather than just being left alone to be ourselves and to express ourselves how we feel to. When I dishonour myself and my feelings then there is a palpable tension in my body.
Super. Fact is that tensions exist because the grandness is always trying to communicate to us what is our natural.
We have such high expectations of how we should behave and who we should be. No wonder we feel anxious, what a tall order to accomplish! What a grace it is to simply come back to who we really are and connect with our natural airs and graces, such a light hearted quality to embrace again.
There is a common tendency for us to feel anxious because we like certainty, it gives us some security. Because we are educated to live from the mind we do not fully connect within, to our bodies, and therefore we miss out on access to a constant guide who is with us 24/7. Our body is communicating with us all the time, all we have to do is listen.
When I allow it and check in enough to feel what my body is communicating, there is no anxiety because I have an absolute knowing of what my next step needs to be. The problem is, that when I make choices that let my thoughts dominate, I feel my anxiety build. It makes sense to stay in connection to my body and given the above statement it doesn’t make sense that I don’t choose staying with my body all the time. Which then leads me to ask, what am I getting from being anxious? It must be something or I wouldn’t be choosing it!
Anxiety is an epidemic in our society, and one that seemingly had little expectation of improvement. Enter Universal Medicine with a path of inner connection, self-acceptance and self-love, and a paradigm shift has occurred that enables a person to make anxiety a thing of the past.
Anxiety has had little acknowledgement and much acceptance in society. It is the epidemic it is to today because we have not given it the true focus it deserves from a true starting point – which needs to start with the self, the connection, the self care, the self honouring just as so beautifully has supported anonymous to resurrect his/her true strength, knowing and confidence.
And person by person the world will change…
Sometime our inner panics and anxieties and turmoils can seem like they don’t impact others, sometimes still next to someone super anxious its like being next to a live wire – they give off tension that sets others on edge. The more we can work on inner environment, the more we can support others rather than impact them
Very true Rebecca – we need to take responsibility for what we contribute to the whole, our choice of quality will be picked up and felt by others, even when they are seemingly unaware of it.
What I have come to realise that most of us if not all know that we actually are living in an anxious state. We have accepted the various levels of anxiousness to be our normal. Addressing the issue where we don’t feel we are enough is the key.
Anxiety is so prevalent because we are do disconnected as a general rule these days, distraction and entertainment are the way most of us live so with this as our foundation we feel rudderless and at sea. Connection is key.
Having seen how my daughter gets anxious when she feels so much and is unsure how to deal with what she feels is something that shows me no wonder we are all anxious, we see and feel so much more than we admit – we play dumb and yet from a young age we feel when life is not full of the love we know it can be.
Anxiety for me was always present and at time crippling and I thought I was always going to have to manage it for my life. Enter Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, enter me being open to what they have to say, and I started to up the self-love, and up the self-care, and heal some of the hurts that were blocking me from living who I was (as I was living in a world of hurts and protection), and the anxiety has lessened incredibly.
It seems that low grade anxiety is a kind of ‘normal’ in our society
It is so normal, that humanity is not even aware of it in any shape or form.
Anxiety is a major theme in society, whether it is low level or paranoia level, it seems to present everywhere. What is it that we are so anxious about? And why are we not talking about it?
With the majority living with low grade anxiety as a normal state of being, it becomes quite uncomfortable and confronting when we are presented with someone who is steady, harmonious and in no way living from nervous energy… a rather sad state of affairs as harmony is our natural and innate way of being in the world.
It is so interesting how committing to ourselves first changes everything. Someone said to me recently, nothing comes out of an empty jug, if we are anxious, drained or tired, it affects everyone around us. But your commitment to yourself set a totally different way of being with your journey and it flowed so beautifully. We can bring this to everything we do.
It is important for us to be honest about anxiousness because, as you say Anonymous, we may discover by re-connecting back to ourselves that it is due to a lack of presence and steadiness in ourselves. And so a condition that has become pandemic can be simply addressed when we take responsibility for deepening our relationship with ourselves.
When we maintain a steady connection to our selves, many of life’s little dramas can be gently settled back into the place, leaving us with much more energy to deal with the real events that truly require our focus and attention.
Anonymous, this article really supports me to be aware of anxiety in myself and others. Recently at work I have been choosing not to go into anxiety and instead to stay present with myself and not go into the thoughts that tell me that I am not good enough and cause me to worry about things. And so I have been dealing with things in a very practical way, rather than from a place of worry and anxiousness. This feels amazing and makes work much more simple and enjoyable.
“Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?” Great observations Anonymous, I love how simple it really is- this is fantastic for when I now start to feel anxious about anything instead of trying to fix it, I know its simply about bringing more of the me out. Not being afraid of who we truly are is saying a Big Yes to humanity and a big YES to evolution.
Recently, I had a very clear marker in my body as to what it feels like to be scrambling or seeking approval. I attended a meeting with a group of people. I was feeling great being in my body and within the group but when I spoke things changed. I realised at that moment I had contracted and was able to read the situation to a degree. It made me reflect on how anxious I would get before speaking and now as I am letting go and beginning to speak up I am getting a sense of the anxiousness at the time and afterwards. This particular situation, I was desperately looking for another to agree with me, instead of speaking up with no attachment to anyone.
That’s key also Caroline to actually be totally ok with what you feel and not need anyone else to confirm your ok.
That totally makes sense! The moment you shift your focus to the outside instead of staying in your absoluteness of truth, energy cannot be accessed through your body like before. In fact, by switching to outside of your body you say to heaven NO. We then immediately think WE have to deliver instead of being a surrendered vehicle through which energy gets expressed from a much higher place.
Why would one choose anxiety when we can choose the simplicity of the Soul?
When you jump into the same pool as everyone, you don’t stick out which then means you are not seen and asked for more responsibility.
Until we start to live in connection to ourselves and present in the moment then anxiety will only increase.
We have created many industries that thrive on our anxieties, thousands of ways to quell the tension we feel inside as a consequence of our disconnection. Our world will change in many unfathomable ways the more we return to our true and steady inner presence.
Very true Rowena – not only are there the industries to help people with their anxiety, there are also those that help to create and stimulate the anxiety for their own financial gain.
When I am anxious I know it is in reaction to what I know and feel – if I accept and am at ease with where I am at then it feels very different. So anxiety to me is an opportunity to reflect on what is being presented to me and what I am not comfortable seeing.
Also an opportunity to see what we are not accepting about ourselves just as we are and for where we currently are at.
This link between self acceptance and a reduction in anxiety is interesting: often we look at the anxiety as the problem to annihilate, and all our energy goes into dealing with the symptom. But what if we could address symptoms simply by focusing not on the end problem, but on the cause of that, by building a loving and consistent relationship with ourselves?
As a practitioner and massage therapist it is quite shocking to see that nearly everyone suffers from anxiety on some level. It is as common as constipation and the reason I say that is because neither should be our norm but it seems to be that way for a lot of people.
I find it shocking the extent to which anxiety is rife within schools and how it is affecting children at a younger age each year.
And what is sad is that no one talks about it and it is as if they are ashamed of it.
And how does someone come to the understanding that is is indeed not normal and that there is another way? By seeing the clear reflection of what is possible, walked on earth.
How true it is that we are the one who will be able to “have supported myself out of what appears this global condition of anxiety.” And a great online course that provides a lot of detail on how to live with anxiety but not be affected is; Understanding Anxiety in Men – ONLINE COURSE
http://study.coum.org/enrol/index.php?id=14
It is considered normal to be disconnected from ourselves, and yet we have all the illness and disease statistics shouting at us that this way of living is not working for us and is not ok.
‘Normal’ as in statistically common, but so not our natural, as evidenced by the state of the world today. And not hard to turn around as we each take responsibility for living in connection with our bodies rather than ignorance of them.
Paula great point, we don’t like getting ill yet its normal to live in a way that fosters us to get ill. Perhaps we have to re-look at what our choices have been in life and change?
People are …”… experiencing a deep unease and disconnection to a sense of who they are.” Because there are very few in the world reflecting to us a sense of who we all innately are.
I agree. I would say that almost everyone who walks into my treatment room has at least low grade anxiety if not full blown social anxiety or panic attacks just leaving the house. By being really steady in myself it offers clients a space to let go and drop into their bodies more, to feel what’s really going on inside.
What an amazing support this simple commitment to your body then allows another the space to feel what it is to be with someone who is not lost in raciness and anxiety.
Yes, Vanessa, it is incredibly powerful to hold steady and reflect another way to someone who is overwhelmed or anxious…a bit like seeing a lighthouse when one is lost at sea.
I love the symbolism of the lighthouse you are describing here Janet, a steady light at any time and regardless the circumstances. Beautiful.
This is beautiful Janet – a place of stillness to feel held in the quality that you bring in your treatments.
Beautiful Janet, the steady stillness that is felt in you, holds that anxious body and confirms what’s true.
This link http://www.unimedliving.com/voice/audio-of-the-month/what-causes-anxiousness-2015-07.html takes you to the lovely short audio “What causes anxiousness?” and some great quotes.
Ahh beautfiul Nicola
What a wonderful link Nicola, thank you. Just listening to this short audio again I felt my body relax, even though I didn’t think it was in any anxiousness/tension! Such wise words from Serge Benhayon who always brings the simplicity and practicality to every aspect of our lives that support us to be fully present so that we can live from all of who we are.
Thank you Nicola, great start to the day, reminding us that we are equipped to handle everything that is before us – that we are made to live with presence.
If we are all fearful that we won’t be liked and constantly changing ourselves to fit, I would have to ask what is it that we are trying to fit with? If humanity is in a swirling, shifting state of trying to be liked, there is no set marker of who we actually are or how we should be with ourselves and each other, therefore the image we are trying to fit is an illusion that can’t be met.
Great point Fiona… we are all scrambling for something that doesn’t exist! Enter Serge Benhayon and we have someone who is that steady, consistent, loving truth and wisdom as our reflection of who we all truly are equally so.
We vehemently protect the status quo, attacking anyone or anything that asks us to be honest. Yet what we get to live with everyday is this mixing pot of stress, anxiety and anger. What a place to be. Surely the time is here for us to deeply consider how we want to live from this point forth, and choose wisely.
The more we are in our bodies and present with what we are doing the less space there is for feeling anxious.
It certainly is a major accomplishment to travel stand by with two young kids and keep your cool. Such an easy situation to get flustered in, so a super impressive example of the power of your inner connection. Long may it continue to flourish.
Anxiety has become a normal part of life. We seem to have gotten it not a cycle of anxiety and relief never coming back to true stillness and connection. No wonder the need for relief ( through things such as entertainment, food, alcohol, caffeine, excess sports, or relaxation and checking out) has risen sky high.
Anxiety really is a global problem as is connecting to who we really are. inside us. What a clear and simple message you are sharing that is invaluable to us all as is a true honesty in how we are living needed.
Sometimes we feel anxious because we have connected to who we truly are. We feel the power and responsibility that comes with that and also know that if we choose to step up many things in our life will change, people will react etc etc and we don’t feel comfortable with that!
So true, Nicola, so instead, we choose to stay safe and comfortable and to not rock the boat too much – dis-honouring the absolute amazingness of who we truly are which also prevents us from offering the inspiration for others to choose to discover their own magnificence. Everyone loses out.
Accepting our power and embracing the responsibility without having any pictures how that would play out and look like is huge. The more we do that , the less we need to ´make friendsˋ wherever we express that power. As there is no outcome in expressing true power.
The anxiety that comes from not having lived the truth of ourselves only to then feel that truth and panic.
‘It takes a while to shed the false layers of who we identify ourselves as.’ True and only when we start to discard them do we get to really feel how crippling they truly are.
“It takes a while to shed the false layers of who we identify ourselves as. Education, media, even misguided parenting (with all best intentions), lead us often to feel that we need to be someone or something else.” – so well said, sometimes it feels like these layers are all there is to us, but if we stay steady and keep working at letting go and recognising all that we have taken on, underneath is an essence that is not in fact naturally anxious but rather steady and solid.
“Anxiety – a Global Condition” – the more you look at anxiety and see how this quality may be in your life the more you start seeing the epidemic that it is in the world with those around you. Anxiety, anxiousness is everywhere. The more awareness we have of something the more opportunity we have to make different choices about the way we live life and relate.
This is an excellent contribution. When we don’t know we are, we don’t know how to be, we don’t know what to say and we don’t know how to act and behave. When we don’t know who we are, we are lost and anxiety takes its hold.
Yes no wonder we feel anxious – we are trying to play a role and keep up the appearances of being something we are actually not.
The feeling is the same as having committed a crime and living in the permanent fear of being found out.
Andrew that is spot on for what I have just experienced. I put myself in a situation that from the start didn’t feel true to me but I let my mind kick in with various thoughts and sure enough so did the anxiety. Right from the start I new the answer yet still chose to go down that route. An interesting learning and one I clearly now see.. with no anxiety.
It’s as though we’ve found ourselves in the middle of a play naked on stage. But we can step out of the play anytime, just seems we’ve forgotten it’s all a choice.
‘We can turn the tide and make the changes. It is possible.’ – very true, Anonymous, the choice is always there for us to re-connect with our amazing selves and to start a relationship that is based on truth, honesty and open-ness – this is what we then have as our foundation to bring to all our relationships.
Is it possible we never lose the scars because anxiety is always going to be running through our bodies we simply learn that it is not us? Then it no longer has any control over us. We simply learn to live in a way that is has a handle on all that is going on around and within our body, so we can observe and not absorb, thus we accept the anxiety is not who we are.
And live and bathe in the glorious light of the Soul!
The wires going haywire totally represents humanity in its current state of disharmony … and then there are wires that are re-connecting, choosing to live a life of harmony and Divine order.
The greatest tool in the box to support me out of anxiety has been the use of the Gentle Breath Meditation and staying focused on my physical moment ,when carrying out any task. It brings me to the moment and leaves less room to worry about what is coming up.
I agree there is absolutely so much more gold when we allow ourselves to connect to our truth and let go of the false layers. It is such a joy to uncover our true selves.
Jane anxiety is coming in at very young ages now, I have seen it in kids from as low as 8yrs old.
Beautiful, turning the tide on anxiety, living the person we truly are and not what others want us to live. When we connect to that inner wisdom, and the connection to our truth, we have the power to live who we are and it that we inspire others to do the same.
Connecting to a true sense of ourselves and living our fullness, would sort out most if not all of our issues. Wonderful that as well as deepening your own connection, you are also expanding your ability to support others do the same.
‘It takes a while to shed the false layers of who we identify ourselves as.’ – Well said, the ingrained patterns carried out by ideals and beliefs have many layers, but it is never to late to start to let go of them.
I recently read about people with anxiety asking for people to not text them things like ‘we need to talk’ or ‘i need to ask you something’ or ‘call me’ without explaining what the context is because for someone with anxiety it can cause a lot of distress. I have experienced the anxiety when someone messages you saying ‘we need to talk’, as the self doubt crowds in – but what we need to look at is why a typically inane text with no sinister intention, causes such strong and anxious reactions in people? Yes, provide context in our messages as a way to manage it, but also look at why people have so little strength in their foundation that a simple text can cause a lot of distress and then work with this.
I have observed other situations where this play out too – when words say one things but there is an underlying energy playing out. So important to be open and honest with ourselves so we can be transparent and intimate with others.
true Michael, there is always an energetic communication first and foremost and this is always felt and reacted or responded too no matter what the words may say.
I would agree that in my experience it is impossible to really connect with someone when you are anxious.
The more we discover about our selves, the more we realize the choices we have, starting with the quality of energy we want to be impulsed by that will initiate our every thought and movement. Then we can see that anxiousness is a choice not an affliction created by a disconnection to our essence, a steady flame that remains constant even when we flicker in and out.
Anxiety is a like a rudderless ship being tossed about in a storm. Universal Medicine has given me the tools and skills to set anchors, tie off ropes and bring the ship to a steadiness; by building a connection with myself and a truer purpose to my movements. The storms still hit and water occasionally splashes over the bow, sometimes I fall asleep on watch and stray into troubled waters and a few times the sails have been ripped out of my hands….but, the days of the ship-wrecks, broken navigational systems and broken masts have long gone. Thank you, Universal Medicine for teaching me the ways of the sea!
Connection to who we truly are is the antidote to anxiousness. Its pretty insane when you contemplate it, that we still struggle with this primary relationship whilst at the same time considering ourselves an evolved, intelligent and advancing species. I mean, is this not the most important question of them all? (and yet we spend time and energy contemplating what is happening on Mars)
Anxiety is the snowball we create and start rolling it down the hill, that we keep pushing till we can no longer move. Are we building the new ice age with un-melted snowballs everywhere?
The anxiety we experience in our body to me is because we do not express from the connection with our inner most but more so from our calculating mind, that as is so beautifully explained in this blog, either tries to be liked by or other people or to impress them.
Actually you can say that anxiety is the outer result of a lack of self worth, self respect and self appreciation, all qualities when not lived that make it hard to connect with our own inner qualities and values, which when connected with will make us steady and firm in all interactions in relationships we have.
Anxiety is like a epidemic disease as there are so many people around me suffer from it. Therefore I like it very much that you have written so honestly about your experience with it. You opened up a door so that people do not have to live with it – wonderful.
For many, anxiety is such a nebulous condition. Blogs like this bring it to its tangible simplicity.
Anxiety is so common, every other person has it, lots of children suffer it, its so common and yet very little is talked about whats truly going on. It makes so much sense when we are not living our truth we are holding back, which is whats contributes to anxiety.
Getting onto anxiety has been one of the key things in totally turning my life around. I realise that I used anxiousness as a ‘go-to’ familiar place of comfort, even though it was so uncomfortable! I simply stopped doing that and faced everything that came up squarely and simply, knowing that I have everything needed to handle whatever it is. I feel brilliant as a result of this and this affects everyone around me. Imagine if we all say ‘no’ to anxiousness.
Filling space within with love, appreciation and connection leaves no space for anxiety (note to self).
Beautiful that is the simplicity of it, connect within and you will connect to the love that you are and in that appreciation there is no space for anxiety.
Love this Kim. Pin this on billboards.
The steadier we become within our selves, the greater the platform we provide for others to connect to them selves, a welcome presence in uneasy moments.
So true Rowena… we can all reflect that steadiness for others because it is innate within every one of us… and it is most certainly a ‘welcome presence’ in this uneasy world we have created.
When we are in a constant anxiousness – aware of it or not – it affects everyone around us… and they will either choose to join in the anxiousness or to reflect that steadiness for others to be inspired to also be steady… this is how change happens and lives transform.
This is very true Rowena. A work situation recently showed me exactly this. A major set-back occurred; many around me lost themselves and went into reaction or give-up. It was my choice to stay focussed and transparent and collaborative that inspired everyone around me to let go and more forward.
A steady ship in choppy waters Otto, you inspired and settled your colleagues. A lovely example of true purpose: constantly reflecting to others another way to be.
I am still very much in the learning phase of this. Kindergarten. But what is interesting to see is how it is in the lack of reaction that the emotions and frustrations have so much less hold on you. It’s like the hooks can’t grapple onto you so easily, and this brings a simplicity and clarity.
Opportunities present all the time for us to truly meet another, and this is one of them. And we can do so in simple ways: all we’re asked is to be true to ourselves, steady, still, present and miracles happen. Gorgeous to feel your appreciation of yourself and what you brought to the situation.
Anonymous, I love this; ‘mostly it felt like an exciting adventure we embarked upon.’ I can feel how we can see things as stressful or see things as an adventure and a learning. At work I can feel how I can either get stressed, doubt myself and find issues or I can relax, stay present and enjoy my work. Two very different ways of being and experiencing life.
It is extremely “important to take this journey” because no one else can partake in the evolutionary steps that we need to have. “But finding me I am!” So it is our inner-ward journey that allows us to reconnect to our essence and find our true self.
How beautiful it was for your family to feel how much fun this was, travelling all around from plane to plane without any anxiety. Your steadiness will have affected everyone you met in such a positive way.
One big cause for anxiety is wanting a particular outcome and when that outcome is in jeopardy, then anxiety can easily surge or rise steadily and will continue to do so until the ‘wanting’ has been dealt with.
I was also a very anxious person when I met Serge Benhayon. The single most powerful tool to support me in this was the gentle breath mediation and understanding that moving my body with conscious presence and tender movement allowed my body to drop anxiety and become settled.
Susan that brings an instant settling in my body as I hear what you are saying, very supportive to read and come back to the possibility that there is just one life.
‘People appear fearful of not knowing how to be; they appear to be experiencing a deep unease and disconnection to a sense of who they are.’ It is so reassuring, settling, inspiring when we speak with someone who is comfortable in their own skin and can be present with themselves and us. My experience is that it feels like a breath of fresh air and my body settles. This article reminds me that we can never underestimate the power of supporting others when we have this stability with ourselves.
That makes sense Simone, the anxiety is there because we are not with ourselves. It feels like if we leave our body unattended while it needs our continuous presence with it. That’s why we feel settled when we meet someone that comes from this connection and in that energy invites us to do the same. We reconnect our mind with our body, a way of being we are designed to be.
When we bring in the fact that we are a being into the anxiousness equation then it is very clear to see how and why we experience it. I used to be very anxious and it still can run me, but I can now see that it is something that I choose and that is has absolutely nothing to do with who I am but is something I use to not be with me and others.
Just about everyone that I speak to these days admits that they have anxiety, in fact it is difficult to find many who genuinely do not. So what is it about the way we are living that is preventing us from being in our bodies? This definitely needs to be researched.
Yes, it is as if we are all much more aware and hence have more anxiety.
This is interesting Christoph. It is harder and harder to ignore the fact that the way most of us are living is simply not working..and that the consequences of this are ever-intensifying. People can feel this tension. It’s everywhere. Thus, the anxiousness. It’s great to point this out because it then proves that we don’t not know exactly what we are doing.
Great question Elizabeth, we are living far from what supports us, hence anxiety is on everyone’s doors. It would be great to find out “what is the way we are living that prevents us from being in our bodies.?”
I love that ‘to be supported to a greater ease’ is turning the tide on the dis-ease that is so prevalent in the world today.
It’s a great point – challenges don’t have to be stressful!
Trying to be something we are not in order to meet expectations leads to anxiety so living who we are more and more in the moment supports us to not be in anxiety.
Living who we are not and trying to meet expectations will definitely bring up anxiety. Bringing it back to simplicity in living who we are in the moment to moment will support not to be in anxiety.
Are the scars we bare, the trail of breadcrumbs we leave to find our way back home to who we all are?
One day we will be living this way again, we won’t need to imagine and we will be dumfounded by why we chose to ‘drown underwater’, when we had the choice to ‘come to the surface and swim’.
Anxiety – the symptom and response of the human from feeling separated from their body, a body of Love, Stillness, Joy and Harmony
“Do you like me if I say this, or act like this, or take on this opinion, this posture…?” This is what is happening with social media we are getting hooked on likes and comments from others so much so that it becomes an addiction and this is becoming our way of life instead of true connection with ourselves and others.
I kinda see anxiety being a bit like standing on a balance ball but having no core strength to maintain your balance, so as life comes along and is a bit tough and pushes you around, you don’t have the inner strength to stay steady – you feel unsteady and feel like you will fall off, which creates this underlying tension and preparation for what is going to come your way, rather than feeling at ease in life.
We create anxiety by relying on others to confirm us, and because everyone is living in this state the goal-posts are constantly changing so no wonder we end up with even more anxiety! To live from our essence, our very core, creates a steadiness, a marker that is always there holding us in the love, joy and harmony we naturally know ourselves to be, which constantly confirms us for who we truly are.
What is it that runs our silent dialogue? It is like a fear of how the world will perceive us run by self-doubt … and so when we connect more deeply to our essence, our inner knowing, there is a settlement as we no longer need to rely on the outside world to confirm who we truly are.
Anxiety is such a low level illness it has become normal, and we are only unwell if we have a more ‘serious’ condition on top of it.
Is it possible that we have based our lives on survival and if so this means that the body is in a constant state of flight or fight? Too me from what I remember from studying Human Biology years ago this puts a strain on the body to be constantly living in this condition. So is it then possible this is why so many of us are so exhausted and live off foods and liquids that we think are giving us energy to get through the day but are actually harming us because they are full of sugar which raises the blood sugar level then drops it, so that we feel we need more food, liquids to sustain a constant false energy level that can get us through our day.
Anxiety – being focused more on the outside than being with ourselves.
When we get distracted something is keeping us from being present with what we are doing so anxiety has a place to exist within us. So when we are consciously present with what ever we are doing at the end of the day we feel complete and this can be a prescription to stay connected to our essence.
I loved re reading this and felt it deeply soothing of my tangled wires!
We have created a world where by it is focused on what we are not and what we need to do to become that. Going around seeking from outside of us so anxiety has become our normal because we don’t feel we are enough. It’s like we have to re-train ourselves, like babies and connect to our pure divine essence and feel how magnificent that is and know we are more than enough, we have been given everything and then some!
Inspiring to read of your journey in understanding your previous anxiety and the realisation that anxiety affects so many people and the communications and relationships between us. We all can learn from this.
With feelings of anxiety I often find there also comes a desire for control, which only leads to more anxiety as nothing can really be controlled.
“This expression seems to be communicating things like, “Do you like me if …” Something I used to live my life by a lot, but is now diminishing the more I reconnect to my innate qualities and get to know myself, thanks to the teachings and presentations of Serge Benhayon.
Anxiety is something we create and then feed. Does it not grow and become the, we hit ourselves with a hammer because we feel better when we stop, and then we perpetuate the cycle! We can feel and be affected by someone that is angry when they enter a room, so, how does living in a sea of anxiety affect us?
‘An analogy would be like sparks of electricity or energy trying to connect. But it’s all going haywire. This to me explains why we seem so lost and at such unease with ourselves, because we are not actually being ourselves.’ This feels like a very apt description Anonymous – because when we live in unease and restlessness and disconnection we are living off the nervous system rather than the impulse of the inner-heart, and the nervous system is like sparks of electricity.
I can distinctly recall a moment after becoming more aware and developing tools to be more present, when I realised that I did not feel safe around other people. This was an important moment because I got to feel how much tension this created, how this kept people away or affected how I related with them. Once named the feeling of being unsafe reduced a lot and made me aware that I need to keep staying with my body, so I would feel safe within me and not focus on what other people were doing.
The more we know what to do or how to be the less anxiety we seem to experience.
‘ I’ve dedicated myself to a knowing and loving of who I really am and it is this intention to know myself which has led to a deeper ease and self-confidence to be more myself in daily life.’ So great Anon, and if we all did this our level of responsibility and love towards not only ourselves but humanity, would grow and blossom.
A great acknowledgment of the anxiety that is around. That alone is a huge step towards less anxiety, as with awareness and honesty we are willing to see what is going on which enables us to see what is needed.
I can feel how anxiety makes me contract and withdraw but that seemingly inward movement is not bringing me home to myself, it paralyses me and holds me away from myself, and actually pushes me outside into the world I am so afraid of, with nothing to support me. Whereas if I take time and space to truly feel myself inside my body the impulse to respond to the world comes from a warm, heartfelt place, and is a movement from inside at the deepest level outwards, and I have all the support I need to interact with all around me.
Anxiousness is at the root of so many of our ills behaviours. I know I used many things to try and quell my anxiety such as cigarettes, alcohol, chocolate and caffeine. Learning to connect to myself using tools like The Gentle Breath meditation and these days staying with the quality of my movements has enabled me to let go of the substance abuse and embrace the real me, a very tender, calm and gorgeous being. The knock on effect on my health has been incredible and an unexpected contribution to staying steady through those unpredictable areas of life.
The society we live in feeds anxiousness, if we let it. Pace of life, constant news streams of violence and abuse around the world, unrelenting demands as parent, employee, student, business owner or carer. Somehow we have to find that place within ourselves to go to for stillness and balance. We may be in mayhem, but unaffected by it.
Yes, beautifully described, there may be a lot going on around us but we need to find a way to observe all that but not take it all in, otherwise we are always at the mercy of our outer circumstances.
Yes, the number of distractions and their severity seem to be increasing, making us less able to deal with what is important.
I find anxiety presents itself less and less in my body. I’ve learned to live simply and not over-burden myself with expectations I’ve imposed on myself or allowed in from others. Sometimes it’s about the quality of what we do, not quantity.
Anxiety is enormous in today’s world. I know of so many teenagers who are prescribe drugs as a matter of course to curb their anxiety but this does not fix the problem.The way they are living is the cause and changing that to a livingness that comes from a connection with their true body will do it.
That is so great that you can show others how to not be tense in situations where people can get so anxious. Whether it is a long journey with a young family, or the dying of a close relative, the details don’t matter.. the way we can approach something without anxiety that others find stressful is so powerful for everyone to observe that there is another way.
This is a great observation ‘People appear fearful of not knowing how to be; they appear to be experiencing a deep unease and disconnection to a sense of who they are. There appears an unsettlement, a distress and a scrambling panic that ensues.’ If we allow ourselves to truly feel and be aware of the disconnection we feel that is awesome because then we can start to address it and truly heal it. Awesome you have called this out.
When we start to remove our layers it is like redecorating a room with wallpaper, once you pick a lose corner, large sheets come off and the more you remove the easier it becomes to remove the rest!
Recently I have noticed just how much people will sometimes go to great measure in order to keep conversations from going to a deeper level that might expose how they really feel about themselves and where they are at in their lives- always looking to go to the small talk about the weather, sports, or the usual superficial stuff.
‘Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are? ‘ This turns how we usually approach life on it’s head! We’re brought up to be prepared by learning and recalling information but this imbues a fear of not being enough and so we try to learn more – never once considering that the greatest preparation is being fully present which allows us to be more in connection with ourselves. My connection with me which connects me with a grand wisdom is the greatest preparation and leaves no room for anxiety.
The amount of times I have felt awkward and out of place, anxious and fearful is beyond your imagination. Today however it is fast becoming a pattern that I am breaking by simply connecting to my inner essence. When I am fully claimed as myself not and ounce of anxious enters – there is no space for it.
‘But during the past few years I’ve dedicated myself to a knowing and loving of who I really am and it is this intention to know myself which has led to a deeper ease and self-confidence to be more myself in daily life.’ – I really relate to this, as we deepen our relationship with our self, there is no need to be unsure, to try to be something we are not, there is a solidness we feel within, a deep love and appreciation for who we truly are and a knowing that we are already complete.
“What I often observe is that when an interaction with anyone else then occurs, an intense anxiety seems to present as we worry that we are not going to be liked” This was certainly familiar to me until a few years ago, and I would also feel anxious even before meeting someone new or going somewhere to a place that I didnt know, because I felt I may not be liked for who I am. But by learning to connect to the innate stillness within me, regardless of the situation I find myself in and in doing so accepting that I am enough just as I am, I have developed an inner confidence and am able to remain steady in way that I never imagined was possible.
How different life is when we first connect to our essence so that the ensuing expression comes from a lived platform of love. Then every relationship builds a way of expressing the love we all are with a true purpose of deepening that expression with all we come in contact with. So anxiety becomes something we understand as having never been who we are because we have found the love that has always resided within.
I have recently been with some people who were extremely anxious about a project they were on which required a firm deadline and in their anxiousness errors and mistakes were made. This made the situation even worse and they dealt with these by drinking alcohol because they felt less anxious and more able to cope. They said alcohol is their preferred de-stressor in times of anxiousness or stress or when they want to just chill out.
Anonymous, this is really confirming to read and helps me to appreciate that I do not have anxiety like I used to. I noticed this yesterday when I was asked to do an activity that involved leading a class of 30 children with dancing and getting the children to follow my instructions. When I was asked to do this, I felt absolutely no anxiety at all, in fact I felt joy and was very much up for giving this a go. For me this is pretty remarkable as standing in front of groups of people has in the past caused a lot of anxiety and has been something I have tried to avoid doing. This is huge progress and shows me how I am enjoying being the true me more and that I have a confidence and trust in myself that I have developed over the past few years.
Rebecca, I can relate to what you share. I not only used to feel anxious standing and speaking in front of a group of adults but would often feel moments of panic too. This could simply be making a statement in a whole school assembly! But I have come a long way since then. Things that made me anxious then, do not make me anxious now… and so I continue to build to each next step. Two days ago, I was able to get up and speak at a national teaching union conference and yes, there was anxiousness but as I have now experienced this and got over this hurdle next time will be easier. I am trusting myself more and more with my solidness and what I bring.
This makes a lot of sense that anxiety is a symptom of not being our true selves. And it comes in many forms: worry, overeating, negative self comments, judgement, blaming….I could carry on. Anxiety is not a person who’s having a meltdown in the corner of the room but can be with us in our everyday happenings.
Human conditions are global, that is why we need Universal Medicine.
I know that when I get anxious I am not connected to myself. When I am out of myself I don’t know what to do, what to say, how to stand, how to walk etc etc. In a split second I can remind myself to focus on my inner connection instead, and I instantly feel a solidness that is always there.
What is so amazing though is that even when we think the wires have been cut, our inner spark is constantly there waiting for us to make connection. What an immense and exciting moment it is to feel and realize this connection and that it is only a delicate movement or gentle breath away.
Yes it is Rowena, our inner spark is always there and a few simple choices and changes can begin the reconnection to this deeply beautiful part of us, that is our essence.
It is so important to see the real person first especially in ourselves, that is when the judgement stops and those sparks of energy can really connect.
For the most part many of us live life in the ‘go, go, go’ of it all never stopping to truly rest and replenish ourselves. Is it then little wonder why we end up exhausted and anxiety ridden when we live life through our nervous systems, ever ready to fight or take flight? It is only by building a solid foundation of repose that we can then move with the quality of this stillness and not get consumed by life and all it seemingly demands of us.
The balance of repose and motion is what sustains us to move through life without needing to take time out or compromise our quality.
Is it possible we get anxious about our natural power and just how awesome we really are… and this is actually what we are fighting against?
This is very possible Rachel, and the anxiety can also be around how people will respond or react to us in our power. We think it is safe to keep ourselves small, but if we do this we live in anxiety. It makes no sense.
We take on all of these roles and pictures of how we should act and what that looks like to the outside world, but as a result, we lose ourselves.
The moment I catch myself thinking or saying I should do this or that I have to stop myself because it always comes with a picture or ideal as an outcome and goal rather than just bringing the love that I am and letting it play out without it needing to look any particular way.
We live in a world that is off the rail and with a humanity that considers it normal to be lost and disconnected from themselves and everyone else.
To me there is a truth in what you share Anonymous, that when I am not with myself but in the ideals and beliefs I have taken on, my body feels evacuated, not connected with and not attended which to me is the anxiety as I have my body at the mercy of the whims of my mind.
It is interesting to consider what all is happening to us when we are in conversation with strangers, people we have never met before. Are we open and ourselves, allowing the other to be themselves too or do we try to impress on the other or are we in constant protection mode afraid for what may happen to us in this interaction we have. The later two situation I can understand, will cause anxiety and stress in the body as we are not in connection with it and in fact have left it unattended. Who would not get anxious if you are not properly looked after?
I think that you explain here very clearly the impact that our lack of knowing who we are has on our relationship with the world. It is like heading out of the house with no clothes, money or a phone – it would freak me out! But symbolically thats what it is like heading into life without a solid, lived connection to who we are.
When connected so many if not all our perceived problems vanish, which is by us choosing to live in a way that sees the situation as not who we are but a reinterpretation that is love-less that cause all our woes. So who are we if we are not this reinterpreted version? Could it be we are divine beings who are living in a way that does not feel the essence of Love we all come from? Then connecting all the sparks would be living in harmonious way with a stillness and joy that accepts nothing other than truth, which is the connection to our essence!
Greg that is so true, and when I am in a space of support in being connected its like the whirlwind of an issue (if they are there) vanish and all I have is clarity. It shows the great gift we offer the world when we are in connection with ourselves and by simply living that hold others in that space so they to gain clarity as they get inspired to connect.
So simple as you have shared DN, as a divine reflection is felt and one day will be looked for!
It sure could be Greg! But then what would we do with ourselves if we did not have all these problems to worry about? Would it mean we would have to take responsibility for all of our choices? The crazy thing is why would we not want to be living connected to our essence? Perhaps and just maybe is it because when we do it brings up how others are not and so we do not always get the loving responses we would expect to and they may not want to come of their creation.
Maybe James, and if I can add to the purpose of this discussion, is it possible that when we have a true purpose in life then we are seeing the problems from the inside out so they no longer have any hold on us, so we do not become problematical about the proverbial problems their position in our life or lack there of! To make it even simpler the questionable reality that has us looking in every area of our lives for the legendary evils, or problems disappear when we are connected, and this happens in the most magical ways.
It sure is magical how literally all our thoughts and worries disappear when we connect to our inner-most.
Thanks James, may I add to what your shared, by adding the blessing about true magic it is humbling quality that is available to us all in and from our essence that simply knows all we have to do is walking and express in our connection to the full-ness of our essence.
I agree Greg, we do not need to do anything just live and walk the love we are and as simple as it sounds everything then is taken care of.
And by not trying we actually allow the blessing of heaven to rain down on us.
It almost seems to simple to be true, and hard to fathom that it is not about the ‘doing’ rather the ‘being’.
Simple but a responsibility to understand life as a Livingness and how we are going to reincarnate into the blessing we have held as a lived Way. Thus! “Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?”
The presentations of The Way of The Livingness have shone a light on God and reincarnation from day one and seeing it is part of the lineage of The Ageless Wisdom in its current form, so is it any wonder that the media and society are often continuing the age old patterns of discrediting, condemning, censorship and reinterpretation so that we get anxious because we are held from the truth.
I agree Greg, at least for me anyway anxiety stems from not expressing the truth and what is there to be said, it stems from living less than the God that I am. The moment I hold back expressing what is there to be said or done then I feel my body tense up and the feeling of unsureness creeps in and then comes the anxious wobbles.
From all that has been shared it is simple to express or expression is everything as it keeps us true to who we are when expression comes from our essence; inner-most; esoteric all-one-in-the-same.
And if we express love then naturally we are vibrating the same quality of love. If we express hate, anger, rage etc.. then that is the quality of vibration we are offering the world. So it shows the massive responsibility we have to express love otherwise we are simply adding and contributing to the lack of love we see and hate in the world all around us.
What goes around comes around! So it is Lovely to swing on the cycle of love and wait for it to come full circle to experience even greater evolution.
It sure is Greg, something I have also clocked is how old patterns or behaviours come up as well and so I can prepare myself knowing the temptation will be there and so it is a firm no to it as I have already said a strong yes to love.
Do we have to wait for the temptation or can we be proactive and plan to allow our-self the space to side-step any “feeling of unsureness” that “creeps in and then comes the anxious wobbles” because we “have already said a strong yes to love.”?? So any ill energy is seen for what it is and how our planning can stop us from being “held from the truth.”
We could and can plan ahead Greg to not get caught out by the bouts of ‘unsureness’. The best way I have found to do this is to express and give my all where ever I am at this moment and then there is no space for the ‘unsureness’ to come in. So it is not so much planning how to deal with the unsureness rather paving a way forward that leaves no room for it.
Knowing that our steps are “paving a way forward” then is it not wise to know what and how that movement feels like so we do not ever get tripped up? So if we walk-back-wards for a few steps the clarity going forward becomes a truer expression that we have developed by our movements and thus the wisdom to know when and what “to express”.
It is very wise indeed knowing this and also that we are not only laying the path forward for ourselves but also for everyone else around us. The more we move with the love we are the more everything we do comes with this love and the more other people also get to feel and sense the love they too are as a reflection.
So true James, as you have shared walking and moving in a loving way is felt by everyone as a reflection of what we can all equally bring.
It is so simple no words needed just us being in the fullness of the love that we naturally are.
I can really feel the importance of the steadiness here and of learning that very young. If we are permanently putting out flailing wires that are looking to connect with someone but not actually staying steady enough for anything to connect to then we miss out on the one thing we are so wanting. In fact everyone misses out on knowing who we truly are.
Very true, Lucy, when we allow the space to deepen our relationship with our selves and take the time to truly appreciate who we are, our innate qualities that we can share in whatever it is we are doing, this builds a very solid foundation for us to meet others from. We know who we are, we love who we are – how beautiful it is to be met by another from this place of love and stillness, not needing anything from anyone else as we are already complete.
Beautifully expressed Alison! It is a gift to ourselves to not need anything from another and a rare gift to the person we are meeting as well 🙂
It is great to recognise anxiety and stress as condition and accept it as a normal state of being. Anxiety and stress has actually become normalised in modern society – and even sometimes accepted as a way to ‘motivate’ and ‘achieve’. This is a travesty against the amazing natural state of harmony and flow that the human body thrives and evolves in.
So true, Jenny, it’s quite accepted in certain business sectors that the working environment is highly stressful, so much so that a lot of people resort to drug taking just to get by and not sink under the pressure and workload.
So often with work environment if you are stressed people think you must be doing a good job. So the more stressed you are the better you rank, comments like ‘I have so much to do’ are baited about to get a reaction out of others – it appears at time who ever has the biggest workload must be the best. Not because they are doing more work but ‘appear’ to be. Out sell someone like this without going into stress and they get really unsettled as it goes against everything they thought they needed to do.
Which is ironic, as being stressed shows we are not coping. Interesting how we can twist things around when we are struggling to make it seem like we are doing really ‘well’, when the opposite is true.
Upping the love, upping the appreciation, upping the care, and upping the commitment to be lovingly honest about how you are living your life are some pretty good ingredients to build steadiness and when we do that, there is less space for anxiousness.
And more space for love, which is what space is.
A life without anxiety may be considered to be not human as it seems to be so normal for the human being to feel anxious most of the time or at least a bit in certain areas of life. Not being anxious means to stick out of the mass of an anxious humanity.
It can be fun being the lighthouse in the sea of the anxious humanity! When we have removed the layers that caused us to be nervous in the past allows us to shine and be a marker for all.
It makes sense that anxiety is about us not living who we truly are.. When we’re not quite feeling ourselves there’s an unsettled and unsteady feeling but when we commit to listening to and taking care of our bodies on a deeper level, and expressing whatever’s perhaps getting in the way, the anxiety starts to fade.
I agree Bryony, it can feel like something that is slightly out of place, something that we have forgotten to do, but it is really just a low grade anxiety. When we listen to this sense and work with ourselves to begin to feel more confident in life, we can begin to feel more at ease.
I distinctly remember the anxiety I felt as a child, sitting down to do an exam when i knew I hadn’t put in the work to be able to answer the questions, it felt terrible, like I had purposefully chosen to ‘let myself down’. It’s the same in terms of how we are in life, if we are not connecting with our selves and taking care of our body by feeling what will support us, we are choosing to ‘let our selves down’ by dismissing who we truly are.
I totally agree – whenever I get up late and rush in the morning, I’m setting myself up to feel on the back foot and anxious, or if i get to bed late and end up feeling very tired the next day. If this becomes a consistent way of life, it becomes a perpetual state of tension, not feeling prepared
What happens is the anxiety becomes the normal. The body stops sending messages of this underlying tension so we stop registering it. Only when there is a change of behaviour, or an esoteric treatment when the false layers are shed, do we feel the difference in the body.
I agree Gill, anxiety has become normal but I am not sure about what you’ve shared here, ‘The body stops sending messages of this underlying tension so we stop registering it.’ Could it be that the messages are constantly being communicated by our body but we have become very good at numbing them and blocking them out that it could feel like the messages have stopped? Therefore, we do not register these message.
This is so true gillrandall. I remember one of my very first Sacred Esoteric Healing sessions where I lay on the table and felt how much space and stillness was in my body…me who had been a nervous wreck for most my life since I was a child, feeling ill equipped to handle all that was in front of me. I was gobsmacked at the depth and volume of this and how exquisite it felt compared to the constriction I otherwise moved through life with. A definite turning point for me.
I’m not sure that the body does ever stop sending messages of this underlying tension. One of the divine purposes of the body is exactly that, to continually keep letting us know what’s going on with it, so that we can know what’s going on with ourselves because without the body’s communication we would be completely adrift, with nothing as our reference point.
We may give up on our body, but our body never gives up on us. It is constantly working to restore balance and harmony within, even alerting us before we do or eat something which is not going to be supportive. It’s our arrogance in overriding and dismissing these messages that lead to our dis-ease and ill-health.
How true Alexis, the absolute purpose of the body is to signal when we are off track, our job is to listen and adhere to these signals.
So true Gill, we get and end up living a version of normal and reality that is anything but normal and true.
My feeling is it’s worse than that – we have calculated precisely what we need to eat, do, way to live to dull how we are truly feeling – we medicate through checking out, being entertained, over eating or overstimulating, drugs, alcohol etc. All ways of living to ‘cope’ but really all designed for us to feel less of who we truly are.
Anxiety has become such a normal way of living we don’t even feel it anymore through the constant motion we live in… take regular moments to stop and feel our bodies and guaranteed it will expose an underlying anxiousness bubbling away, constantly running the show from behind the scenes.
I know that mode of living life too Paula, to live in a constant anxiety because of the expectations I had how life should be, or look like for an image I held as my ideal, instead of in the reality of life my body is constantly experiencing. Living in such a way is to me causing the anxiety and stress that can be felt in the body because my body and mind lived in different spaces, the body in reality and my mind in an ideal image while they actually should both live in the one reality here and now life simply is.
Yes, to live…”… in the reality of life my body is constantly experiencing…” is to live the present. It is when we focus on the future or re-live the past that we create so much anxiety. Like you say Nico… because our mind and our body are in two different places – no wonder we get anxious! It puts a whole new meaning on ‘having it altogether’ … if we have mind and body together life has a natural flow and order and becomes very harmonious.
We all know this from young Paula how to live with body and mind united. But we have been distracted from this path by our up growing by parenting and education that has made us something we are not, Our body and mind in separation and a lost knowing of who we are.
I agree Paula. A more honest relationship with ourselves is to feel what is there, rather than be blasé. Sometimes we bury anxiety and put on a brave face that all is well. As you say taking ‘regular moments to stops to feel our bodies’ is better than pretence and cover up. When we know where we are, we can choose to do something about it.
Very true, Paula, it’s like a low grade current that is constantly there, buzzing away. We are so used to it being there that we don’t register it’s existence, which begs the question, what else have we accepted as our norm, that is not our natural way of being?
Beautiful blog and a beautifully simple answer to what often feels like an overwhelming and complex issue.
From my experience, having had bad anxiety for many years, building a loving caring relationship with myself and my body and learning to stay present with my body changed how I was relating and being with the world and so my anxiety healed.
Is this why playing games on the internet where we take on a different persona are so appealing? There must be a feeling of security in having a personality that you have created and are sure of and that you are identified by….if you haven’t already got that in real life. The challenges relegated to the game that is being played. It seems we have created the perfect escape route to facing what is really going on.
For me, letting go of how I think I will be perceived and worrying about the judgements of others supports the dissolving of the anxiousness. The more we claim the truth inside and claim who we are, the less anxious about life we get.
We are totally responsible for a quality that makes us feel anxious and not enough. We could go into the blame game that we were not celebrated to just being who we were, that our parents and everyone asked something from us. At the end of the day we chose to conform to such beliefs and the minute we did this the seed of anxiousness was planted.
When I am connected to my body and am still, there are no doubts and therefore no anxiety can enter.
So true Michelle… it is our minds that run with anxiousness – connect to our bodies and honour the stillness innate within and there is only love, joy, stillness, truth and harmony.
When we are in our heads and therefore not connected to the body something has to enter to fill the void of presence. Quite often when I find myself in my head I clock my breathing and I can find that I am not breathing freely but like I am almost holding my breath. Thus my physiology is altered and my body tightens and It really is no wonder why anxiousness is so prevalent given how so very few of us are taught the importance of simple presence.
“Because, if one person in the interaction has an understanding of who they truly are and is steady in that, in a non-imposing-up-yourself confidence, then the other person is supported to connect to who they are.” I have really experienced this. When I have been flailing or indulging in anxiety, the rock-like-steadiness of another just magnetically zings me back into line. You know how when a magnet attracts another, it flies towards it and then has a bit of ‘pedoinggg’ when it hits…also when an arrow hits it’s target…pedoinggg. That’s what it feels like.
Have we become bunnies in the headlights? Frozen in place afraid to move and be seen? When we connect to ourselves can anxiety exist?
Anxiety is something that many of us use to get through the day because we are exhausted on a global scale. This too shows that we are not living a natural way of living and need stimulants of many forms including anxiety just to get us through the day.
“Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?” how simple this sounds and yet how true it can possibly be, when I am being myself in full and not holding back or worrying what others think, I don’t feel anxious. When I try and calculate I am anxious. Just one example of how we allow that anxiety into our lives.
When I am fully present in my body I do not feel anxious.
Every event in life, it’s like we think we need to dodge the claws of the boogey monster, when in truth all we need to do is accept and allow our true power. It’s not life we are scared of but our light.
An amazing reflection that through a dedication to knowing, loving and caring for yourself, you were more accepting of yourself and less anxious – and a perfect example offered here with a situation that would completely throw most people especially if there were children involved. This shows the external factors are not the fundamental cause of our anxiety. A great insight offered here.
When we are anxious, we leave ourselves behind, we incapacitate ourselves from being able to read the energy and know what is truly going on, which feeds our anxiety even more.
A constant state of anxiousness exhausts us… hence the constant need for stimulants like coffee and ‘relaxants’ like alcohol and drugs.
It is great to expose what is going on behind the anxiousness, the background conversations running the show… to out them so they no longer have the same hold and or control on our lives, allowing us to live more freely from the truth of who we are.
Recently a friend of mine had a total melt down over a piece of work. I was talking to them on the phone, working them through their panic and what I noticed was the lack of a basis we have to fall back on when life get challenging as it sometimes does. Without this foundation, we are lost at sea with no life support and it is all too easy to get caught up in the anxiety
What I have always appreciated about my learning journey with Universal Medicine is that Serge Benhayon always confirms our essence and wholeness first, and then empowers us to peel away the layers of false protection we have erected around our selves. The more we remove, the easier it is to access the real us, sitting there all along just waiting to be expressed.
‘Love-a global condition ‘, ah, now that reads better.
Very often people turn to alcohol or drug abuse in order to deal with the kind of anxiety you speak of. To be able to deal with it through simply being aware and being yourself is super cool.
‘What felt like a very complicated journey was actually very simple, because scratch the surface and there I was.’ It is like every complication we make underneath is the simplicity, the solid knowing of who we are.
Almost as if we are avoiding the simplicity, I wonder why that would be…
Situations we experience are heavily decided by what we set up and input, therefore if we bring stress and anxiety to a situation, the situation is obviously going to be stressful.
Us humans may be separated by continent and seas, language and culture, but the global condition of anxiety appears to have no boundaries, indicating that separation from our Soul within our body is equally a pandemic.
I agree, so many people are full of anxiety and that is why they seek numbing behaviours like overindulging in food to try and take the edge off the anxiety. The problem is that this does not work as getting to the root cause of our anxiety is the only thing that will bring true healing.
In the street I live in there has been a history of violence, theft and use of alcohol and drugs resulting in noisy disputes and in the past people have been injured. Since we have been living there things have not been as bad as we were warned, but the warnings left their mark. It would be very easy to feel anxious about anyone walking past our house but I am learning that when I simply approach people as fellow human beings, we have the most beautiful conversations and we are slowly making connections with everyone on the street.
We are brought up to disconnect from who we truly are, so not surprising there is anxiety about how we should act, what we should and shouldn’t say, if we are good enough, pretty enough, smart enough and the list could go on forever. Knowing who you are brings with it a sense that you are equipt to deal with whatever comes your way on any given day.
It is definitely true and something I have noticed when I really stop and observe people – there is a widespread underlying anxiety or unease in most of the population.
Connecting deeply to my body and building a steady relationship with myself which informs me constantly in daily life, has been the most powerful antidote to long term anxiety and ‘fear of life’.
Yes indeed, when we are steady in ourselves and open to being with another without all sorts of inner turmoil occurring, the other person can instantly feel that and it supports them to settle in themselves.
“But during the past few years I’ve dedicated myself to a knowing and loving of who I really am and it is this intention to know myself which has led to a deeper ease and self-confidence to be more myself in daily life.” this is something that should be taught in schools, if all our kids were supported to get to know and love themselves it would transform society.
I’ve lived with anxiety in the past and definitely attribute it to not knowing who I was.
‘But during the past few years I’ve dedicated myself to a knowing and loving of who I really am and it is this intention to know myself which has led to a deeper ease and self-confidence to be more myself in daily life.’ Anonymous, I have experienced the same. With the greater knowing of myself and a steadier presence my anxiety levels have reduced. I find now, that I am far more able to express, speak out and generally take part in activities and life events that would have, in the past, left me feeling frozen!
Anonymous, this is really interesting to read and very confirming for me. I can feel how there are many situations where I used to get anxious that I now simply do not. Anxiety feels awful in the body and I would feel exhausted and lacking in confidence. Now I hold myself much more steady in situations and notice that I am more lighthearted even in challenging situations, knowing that the anxiety serves no-one and that steadiness and trust in myself will support me through any situation.
When we encounter someone that is truly being themselves, without all the nonsense of trying to be liked and all that, it is inspiring and the loose wires do get connected. I’m just wondering how much conflict emerges out of anxiousness because we just don’t know how to be ourselves.
It’s very true what you share. Anxiety seems to be endemic, everywhere I turn I feel it’s impact upon us all – especially in my work. It’s close ally, nervous tension, feels at an all time high especially as I feel in my own body it’s need for confirmation rather than simply living from all I know I am. The more I do live from the essence of me, the less anxious and needy I am.
If anxiety grows and is unresolved, it often becomes debilitating. It is the same as a small scratch that gets infected and eventually affects the whole body.
When I feel anxious these days it is such a wonderful reminder of the anxiety I once lived with 24/7 without any understanding of how to deal with it. Now if I feel anxious it feels so out of sorts that it doesn’t take long to come back to a place where I feel far more myself.
When we return to ourselves and find settlement within re-connecting with the wisdom we all hold, it can be very baffling to understand how we ever became so lost, but understand we do as we have all been there. It’s this awareness, tender confidence that is felt by and supports others who may be struggling to find their way home.
There is such a simplicity to knowing who we are and yet we choose complications and anxiety to override this.
We worry too much about what other people ‘think’ of us, whether we will be liked or rejected, are we on the ‘in’ or the ‘out’ and this creates a falseness and a stiffness to our interactions with each other. This cycle can only be broken by us letting go, and trusting in our gorgeous selves. By allowing ourselves to feel and truly appreciate how amazing we really are and to know that this is enough, just being who we truly are.
I feel that anxiety can be contagious- when we are anxious with another they feel this and it does not confirm in them that they can truly be themselves. Instead they align with the anxiousness which in turn gets reflected to others. I am much less anxious when I am connecting back to me more fully and then what I reflect to others is much more solid.
Having had the experience of living without anxiety means that the moment my body becomes anxious it is like a ‘red’ flag alerting me to the fact that I have separated from who I truly am – a simple few gentle breaths and I am re-connected. What I have realised is that up until the last few years I have lived with anxiety and had no idea that the anxiety was there and that it could be different. ‘Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are? We can turn the tide and make the changes. It is possible’. Thank you Anonymous.
Being ourselves to the best of our ability does bring…”…a steady stillness for true connection and interaction to occur.” The stillness allows us to connect to our truth and innate wisdom so there is no hidden agenda or complication… just the simplicity of openness, transparency and honesty.
And when we bring responsibility to connect to the stillness, we will be more responsible in our connections with all others.
When something becomes a ‘global condition’ it should set alarm bells ringing but unfortunately, often the opposite is true, when something becomes a global condition it means that because we see it everywhere, we see it as normal and hence become complacent and apathetic about it. And this is how and why our standards keep continually dropping.
Yes, and we try to find solutions to medicate it instead of declaring it as a condition way off our normal and look into why this could have happened.
We’re happy to look into why things have happened, as long as we don’t look in the right places because if we did, it might implicate us and that we avoid at all costs.
I was like that, feeling super anxious for not knowing how to be in certain situations. As you say it was down to the fact that I had totally disconnected to who I am and once I started to return to this connection with the support of Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon did things start to change and the confidence that I am now building is not letting anxiousness have a foot in the door.
“I have deepened my acceptance of myself, and I am now far less anxious.” This one short statement confirms the relationship between diminishing anxiety as we grow to know and accept ourselves.
Due to letting go layers of falseness and who we are not that anxiety can drop away. When we choose to live connected to who we are, anxiety is then not part of the equation in life.
‘What I am learning is to see the ‘real’ person, and in that I’m more able to support others to make a connection to that true sense of themselves.’ To see the real person in all it’s grandness, the person that dares to admit we are so much more than just the ‘human being’, we all have this connection to something far greater is very beautiful. It allows us to feel that we are all connected and that love is our way.
‘I’d spent so many years willingly giving my sense of who I was over to the outside world to layer over false identifications, the ‘me’ part was hard to find.’ – this is such an important statement, how much of our anxiety comes from our sense of ourselves being built on things outside of ourselves.
It is an interesting journey to find ourselves, who we really are, and not need to have the anxiety that can be felt from many people. It is like unwrapping a parcel to shed the layers and find the real person inside. There we find a settlement and anxiety is not a pattern that is needed.
“… it is this intention to know myself which has led to a deeper ease and self-confidence to be more myself in daily life…” Agreed. Knowing yourself comes through body connection, and it is in this connection that you feel deeply settled and at ease. Anxiety then has no entry point and can not exist, when a person feels their innermost quality when in connection to their body.
Yes almost everyone in the world is anxious in one way of another and this may look different in each person but the results in the body are the same. It causes exhaustion. I noticed yesterday how I am anxious driving the car and how I often get very tired after driving for a while, it was very subtle but there. And it is indeed the connection with ourselves that makes this anxiousness less and less the more of who we truly are is recognised, lived and embodied.
Anonymous, I love this analogy; ‘when there is just one solid wire emerging to connect with – and not many flailing all over the place – it is easier to make that connection.’ This is very beautiful and helps me make sense of how supportive it is for others if we are solid and steady within ourselves.
“And you know why it is so important to take this journey? Because, if one person in the interaction has an understanding of who they truly are and is steady in that, in a non-imposing-up-yourself confidence, then the other person is supported to connect to who they are.” Yes, to that, and the absolute beauty you are showing here is, that when we heal our hurts we potentially heal everybody else, because we are bringing another reflection to the world, that there is another way.
‘Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?’ It seems to me that anxiety is a reaction to a situation , a ‘go to’ place for the human spirit who desires ‘comfort(not matter how uncomfortable) rater than evolution.
Beautifully stated. This is so important to understand! Not all anxiety is bad. Indeed anxiety is a way for us to recognize that something is making us uncomfortable. Perhaps it’s because we’re in a growth environment where anxiety is actually good and should be embraced. Or it could be induced by not doing what we know needs to be done or procrastinating doing something important.
Anxiety, on a physical level needs to be studied. For something that the mind itself totally causes, our bodies are the recipients of what we allow the mind to think. What needs to be studied is our heart rate, breathing rate and depth and tension in our bodies. As anxiety directly affects these functions, then over long term conditions it more deeply affects our endocrine and nervous systems. For something that we simply let run in our mind, we are becoming victims to many diseases that could be halted, if not completely eliminated if anxiety was addressed as it has been in the above article.
I would have to agree that most people are experiencing some degree of anxiety and that most of us are anxious because we are playing a role that doesn’t fit us. I find we get anxious when we leave our body in the need to get something, be it recognition, being liked or attention from others. I loved the clarity of your analogy that explains how we have surface conversations but are distracted by all the anxiety and unsaid stuff underneath. This underlying conversation makes it almost impossible to focus on the words being said.
Anxiousness is another thing in our lives that becomes normal because there is so much of it around, but also a thing that is a choice and we don’t it need in any shape or form
I find that staying present and connected to my body is one of several great antidotes to anxiety. Walking with presence is one of the many ways that can bring me back if I do disconnect.
Yes me too, Nicola. When I can feel some tension or agitation in my body, a walk provides the opportunity to feel more precisely what is going on and then it is possible to let go with the movement.
We even have a common expression “walk if off” – sometimes that is used if we have eaten too much, but metaphorically speaking if we have taken stuff on that is not ours and therefore gone off in some way, we have in a way eaten (taken in) too much and can walk it off simply by reconnecting through our true movements.
I have often experienced anxiousness, but never when I am able to truly be myself.
When we walk away from ourselves, we are leaving the door wide open for anxiety and all of its mates to step in and get comfortable, making us miserable?
“So what could have been a tense journey was not at all tense for me… it was amazing confirmation of how I have supported myself out of what appears this global condition of anxiety” – isn’t it just the best when you look back to see how far you’ve come from former days of something that used to imprison. I recall having to do a public presentation where in the past this would have been quite impossible due to the huge level of anxiousness that surging throughout my body, though with the practice of the inner quality of stillness [something in my busyness I fought for years] I found a level of confidence growing which supported towards being less wavering and more solid not just in expression or communication in front of groups of people but this too in my life through decisions, choices, attitudes that brought great sense of well-being and independence.
“An analogy would be like sparks of electricity or energy trying to connect. But it’s all going haywire” – I really like this analogy, and how it captures what’s going on with humanity and anxiety. As a result of our internal struggle with our own sparks, place in the world and expression, we ‘fuse out’ when we meet other points of electricity due to the anxiety and tension that has built up inside.
When someone speaks from the sound settlement of who they are, you are met with a simplicity that is so counter to the motion, complexity & spin that is our own making.
And put like this it becomes clear how damaging it is when we come to accept anxiety as a ‘norm’ simply because it is so statistically common.
True confidence never seeks to impose but steadily holds a quality that all can return to.
Yes, there is no arrogance or attitude, true confidence feels completely different to a facade of forced confidence.
Striving to be something we are not, to fit into perceived ideals, is exhausting and, like building a house without foundations, leaves us feeling unsure and unsupported because we are not living the simplicity of the truth of who we are.
It can take years to shed the armourer we have spent a lifetime or lifetimes, to build around us. It becomes that comfortable old pair of shoes we all hang on to and can’t seem to get rid of. The real person we have hidden has never left us and is always waiting for us to return to who we all are.
Anxiety stems from the control that we feel we need to have of life rather than stopping to feel the ease of responsibility.
Natalliya thats a really interesting point, for me its whenever I think I need to be something rather than simply being me that I get anxious.
Beautifully expressed Natalliya, and the antidote to anxiety is to allow ourselves to feel and connect to who we are and the ease of responsibility then comes very naturally.
Knowing who we truly are supports us to have the confidence to be all of who we are in life which then in turn has the potential to inspire others to choose to re-connect with themselves and find their own amazingness to claim, cherish and share with the world.
‘… it is this intention to know myself which has led to a deeper ease and self-confidence to be more myself in daily life.’ – the relationship we have with ourselves first is the foundation to all of our relationships in life.
There is a simplicity and truth to this that we can duck around and avoid or accept and work with. Our relationship with ourselves is the foundation for our relationships with everyone and everything we encounter.
This sharing is a great example of how we can choose to react to situations… or we can choose to respond – to go with what is offered, to see it as the learning that it is and also a reflection of where we are at in life.
This is quite an extraordinary sharing Anonymous as there are very few who would not be stressed about taking two young children single handedly across the world and on standby – many would be stressed just travelling on their own across the world, let alone if they were on standby. It certainly does confirm how you have supported yourself and is something to inspire us all and deeply appreciate.
Brilliant Anonymous. Recently I’ve been looking for a new place to live and can feel in this search the huge anxiety most people have about this part of life. I realised for me it’s knowing that I am looked after and totally supported that makes a big difference. In fact all I need to do is surrender to what’s headed my way. And isn’t that the thing – we all know what lies ahead but use anxiety and going into our head to distract and hide from our power instead.
I can understand why anxiety is a global condition. Living on this planet is enough cause for anxiety. And it’s something we all have in common. The way we deal with this determines how much anxiety we will live with.
I realised recently that I was setting up situations to be anxious. For example, in work I was leaving things to the last minute and then approaching them with a drive and anxiousness that then carried into how I was with each task- it was a set up to not be in front and prepared for what I was needing to do.
Yes Kristy, we sabotage ourselves in ways that go against our natural flow and rhythm – totally relate to that one.
As a fellow past anxiety sufferer, I totally agree with what you have written here. It was only when I deepened my acceptance and understanding of myself, and upped the self-love and self-care, that the anxiety was replaced with an inner steadiness. I love that I bring that to the world now.
This is a great definition of anxiety, that we can feel we are not living all of who we really are, so we can feel the gap. We simply need to fill it with more of us.
I too have noticed an increase of anxiety and feel one reason is because people are more aware than ever and don’t know how to handle their increased awareness. So in a way it is not because we don’t know but because it is becoming harder to pretend that we don’t know and in that case we have to do something about what we are seeing (which is not always pretty) or at least be more honest about our choices to not do or say something.
This is so true Nicola, it makes sense why we are seeing an increase in anxiety globally and if we continue to fight our awareness then the anxiety will simply become more intense.
It seems like a very old pattern for me and I can quite easily go in to anxiety about pretty much anything – especially anything new. But when I am steady and connected to myself, and when I am more aware of the bigger picture in life, those thoughts that can usually lead to anxiousness don’t have so much hold.
I have observed levels of anxiety within myself and its when I am not feeling able to deal with a situation or circumstance. The truth is I know that everything that I am met with in life, I am given to learn from and I actually know how to deal with. So if I am becoming anxious about something then I have separated from this knowing, separated from me. When I am connected, there is no doubt or anxiety and I know what is needed.
We are all permanently on edge, even if we don’t consciously feel that we are, because it’s not possible to be working as hard as we all are, as constantly as we all are, to perpetuate the illusion that we are separate human beings living an unrelated life to one another, without feeling the constant pressure of the magnitude of the lie.
There are few that are willing to be truly real and down to earth these days.
No wonder we have so many issues with breakdowns in communication when there are so many subtexts to conversations because of the levels of anxiety of how to be with each other: the constant measuring of if what we are saying is going to be met with a favourable response or whether we are going to be rejected etc
The more we connect to our inner stillness, the more steady the world around us becomes, as the quality we are tuning into gently sets the tone of engagement. It is very magical to experience everyone responding to this quality, one that we all know but have just lost touch with.
Absolutely stunning thank you, i loved reading this line which reminded me of how I used to live life “People appear fearful of not knowing how to be”, this was me totally lost in how to be me, like I was living but not for me, not as me but as who I thought I needed to be, and that changed depending on who I was speaking with and what I thought they needed me to be – so in essence I would pride myself on my abilty to adapt to be everything for anyone and in that no one got to know me – as I didn’t know me – it means I was super anxious all the time.
In moments when we don´t have a clear sense of who we are anxiety is often nearby, and it makes sense as what or whom shall we trust if not ourselves. Hence knowing oneself, the true self, is essential and always goes hand in hand with a solid body connection and presence.
Anxiety was so much my norm from a very early age in life that I was unaware until recently I had been living with low-grade anxiety for as long as I can remember. As I free myself from the pattern of anxiety so life increasingly becomes more expansive and brighter.
“Each person in the interaction is distracted in the hidden communications, obstructing any opportunity for a steady stillness for true connection and interaction to occur.” Spot on! It’s like a game of manoeuvring to find the point where both feel comfortable even if it means compromising ourselves.
When you have true confidence, which is presence with oneself, there is no need for anxiety.
I agree Elizabeth, I have noticed everything feels completely different when I let go of anxiety and allow myself to reconnect to my steadiness and strength, and my inner heart. It is the best medicine we can give ourselves and everyone around us. When we are feeling anxiety and allow it to take over, it is interesting how easily this affect others too. It is like a virus that can spread out of control, it is an infectious dis-ease.
The fear of not being liked, not being in control, not being ourselves etc. all creates anxiety. Pretty much fear of any form generates anxiety because it only exists when we have disconnected from who we truly are.
People complain about anxiety and feel anxious a lot, but we create it ourselves, thinking it lies outside of us. So many trics to not connect to ourself and feel what is going on for us. We think we can get away with it, but our bodies tell us different.
“What I could sense, and I have continued to since, is that people feel almost fearful. But fearful of what?”
I feel we are fearful of each other to be honest. For example I was part of a group that was asked if we wanted to see a famous local site while in country and of course we said yes please. We were briefed to only take the bare essentials with us to not take handbags as these could be snatched, put money into our front pockets, to not sit on a lavatory seat if we wanted to go to the loo. Too be honest the pep talk was very off putting when we got to this famous area it was teeming with people and they were all there like us to take a look around and enjoy the day whether they were locals or tourists. It felt to me that the local person has a fear of other people and that fear was transmitted in the way they described the possibilities of what could happen; nothing did happen we all had an enjoyable time as did everyone else who was there. The fear of other people and what they might do breeds the separation and it is the separation in my opinion that is killing us. Humans are after all pack animals and we get lonely and feel isolated when we feel separated from the pack.
Thanks for what you have expressed here, Mary. It’s so true how we are warned about things that might happen when we are not in familiar territory. It’s almost like we are set up, before we even start, to fear what people might do to us, instead of embracing it as simply another opportunity to meet new people and enjoy their company.
Thank you for sharing this. Anxiety and depression are so prevalent, that we consider them ‘normal’ – but what low-level baseline are we accepting in terms of the status of our health and wellbeing, when we accept these health conditions as normal?
In schools, we don’t even acknowledge how the system itself creates anxiety and tension for our kids. It is not even on our radar. Many mornings, but especially going back to school after a holiday, my son experiences a knot in his stomach – simply the demands placed on children in school that prevent them from truly connecting to themselves and expressing how they really feel develops into less than full relationships with themselves and consequently much low-level anxiety that is simply ignored.
School can often be where the self judgment, comparison, feeling like we are not enough all begins as we are measured against our peers for what we can do, without the appreciation for all that we already are.
“‘People appear fearful of not knowing how to be’ … ” Yes, I would agree with your observation, and what I have also noticed is how a disconnection to the body seems to feed and confirm anxiousness, and then, the vicious cycle of anxiousness continues. Esoteric Yoga is an incredible modality that helps develop presence, awareness and body connection – all ingredients that dismantle anxiety.
Yes, the body is the key to breaking that cycle of anxiety, looking for the little warning signs there is something ahead that we don’t yet feel equipped to manage and learning the skills to recognise this and then know how to deal with that.
I was curious to find out more about anxiety so I went to the UniMed Living website https://bit.ly/1JyJkDq this is such a truly Fabulous rich website FULL of resource ✨’Anxious is you escaping you’, ‘being afraid of your power’ ‘being afraid of your awareness’ .. and nearly EVERYONE! has some form of anxiousness. WOW crazy that we are afraid of being us!
Our innermost connection is only a breath away and anxiousness may be a habitual way of being but it is not who we are
Great point Carmel remembering that ‘Our innermost connection is only a breath away’ takes away the anxiousness and pressure to be something. The more I surrender to the love that I am the more content I feel and the anxiousness is no longer there.
Hear hear Carmel, very well said. Often we think going into anxiety is very quick and easy but like you shared ‘Our innermost connection is only a breath away…’ which means it is super easy and oh so natural for us to reconnect to our innermost. It is effortless and very powerful.
Reading this reminds how when we’ve healed something in ourself it’s like it allows us to open up more to truly seeing and understanding others.
‘Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?’ Absolutely! The more claimed I choose to be, the less anxious I get about life.
Anxiety has become a global normality. People don’t even treat it because ‘that’s the state of the world’ when actually it doesn’t have to be. I see when people around me get anxious and what happens when you just sit and talk about it and debase whatever is going on in their minds and bodies. So is it that perhaps we are not connecting with each other on a truly deep and supportive level, and so anxiety naturally builds up?
Low-level anxiety is most definitely a plague in humanity. The only reason it’s not considered as such is that we have accepted it as a part of life.
There is so much anxiety in young people these days – from my own experience but also looking around and observing those my age and younger, there is this deep and damaging sense of panic or tension, uncertainty and lack of confidence in our youth because they are not supported to grow and develop a sense of who they are as their foundation and live true to that. Instead they are raised to develop an intellect first and foremost which whilst needed, leaves them without any sense of who they are with which to step out into the world with confidence.
Anxiety is certainly a very real emotion that it common to experience, but it’s really important to not blame the incident or person who is ‘making’ us anxious as the root cause, but be open to seeing for ourselves and assisting others to see how there are many deeper layers and potential hurts or things we are holding onto from the past that also contribute to the precipitation of the anxiety.
When I feel prepared and together with myself, connected, I find anxiousness lessens and instead confidence is allowed to be walked. Confidence being the ankles of steady poise.
I feel there is something that we resist in life, something simple, beautiful and accessible for all, it is a universal wisdom / intelligence that is all about the flow…we resist the flow, we do not surrender to the richness of life, we make it complicated and flat and feel anxious in this choice to deny our interconnectedness and the flow that we are all part of. Travel can illustrate this, we either flow and respond or resist and react..a great example of the way we can choose to approach life.
Yes it has been my experience with anxiety also that it comes from trying to live in a way that it is not our natural way and trying to fit into the world and its expectations rather than living true to ourselves.
Not living who we truly are causes enormous stress and ensuing anxiety; imagine trying to live like an elephant when you are in fact a human being! You’d be forever trying to figure out what to do, how to do it, how you come across, whether your four legs are synchronised, your trunk well groomed … The anxiety would be through the roof, always wondering whether we’d be sprung as the impostors we are.
You can only be fearful of how to be if you are not clear who you are.
The unsettlement occurs because we do have a deep sense of all of this and we are not aligning to it. It is us fighting us. This is why relationships are so important. There is nothing like another person willing to see US and relating to US, not to us in a superficial manner.
When we are not being who we truly are, we know that something is missing – we feel the void. It follows that this would create anxiety in wanting to find what is missing, but without any direction on where to find the missing part, we become even more anxious, even feeling like everyone else has found the key, apart from us.
What happens if we lose our phone or break it, and it doesn’t work? Could this be the worst panic attack we can suffer other than public speaking? In fact how many broken screens have we seen others using because they cant be without it while it is away and being repaired? Could it be that this phone thing is just the tip of the iceberg that we are creating for ourselves that has become a foundation for anxiety and it becomes a magnet for other worrying energies?
Exploring the seeds for our anxiety is interesting and revealing and, like with so many things we avoid, being at the coalface is much less scary than we imagine.
‘if one person in the interaction has an understanding of who they truly are and is steady in that, in a non-imposing-up-yourself confidence, then the other person is supported to connect to who they are.’ – beautiful, Anonymous. As we walk in connection with our selves and everyone around us, the choice is there for everyone to feel that they to can make this choice for themselves.
Universal Medicine has supported me to re-engage with my body, with its sensitivity and ability to respond to what feels true and nurturing for me. By consistently practicing self honour and self regard; I feel infinitely more steady and less likely to be drawn into the emotion or drama.
I’ve lived with an intense anxiety pretending I didn’t feel what was really going on around me. Now I have a low grade anxiety about not acting on what I’m feeling. I can see though how I can choose anxiety as a distraction as well. Thank you for shining a light on this topic Anonymous.
What I have noticed about anxiety is that it feeds into itself, making an apparent stressful situation feel worse and often how this feeling of anxiety also feeds the challenging situation making it seem more complicated. We can get carried away in the ‘e-motion’ of anxiety, but when we catch ourselves running with this, and make the decision to stop, simply connect with the body, it is quite incredible to recognise the internal change that happens, where it is like an open window of pause to the perpetual internal drama going on, giving you some distance between the ‘e-motion’ and the situation to be able to see it more clearly.
The more awareness of being ‘with the body’, the deeper the inner connection to our divine essence is felt and becomes the norm. The Ancient Wisdom Teachings presented by Serge Benhayon bring the opportunity to re-claim ourselves back from anxiousness and move and express from a true inner confidence.
Yes, I have found that ‘being with the body’ – i.e. simply staying with what I can feel, whether it’s my feet on the ground, or the delicateness of my fingertips as I type, has really helped to reduce anxiety, and so has self-acceptance.
There is always more to deepen, and perhaps let go of, instead of to fix. If we all truly accepted that we are enough, then would be no room for anxiety, because there’s no need to try and nothing to prove, improve, fix or make better. If we accept that we are enough, then nothing we can do can be bigger or more important than who we are, already, in essence – it’s simply an extension of, or expression of that essence.
Like you anonymous I have dedicated myself to re connecting to me and loving myself unreservedly this has given me an ease and self-confidence as I learn to trust myself again. I seem to give this reassurance to others as quite a few people in the last few days have come to sit next to me and openly expressed how they want to sit next to me because something about me helps to calm them down and make them feel less anxious. I’m glad to be of service.
“People appear fearful of not knowing how to be; they appear to be experiencing a deep unease and disconnection to a sense of who they are.” – I have felt this underlying unsettlement from both other people and myself from time to time, and it always seems to stem from a sense of trying to fit into some mold of how the world wants us to look like or act like in order to be accepted and liked, as if it’s never enough just being ourselves without trying to prove something. I feel this tension as a tightness or knot in my stomach area when I have gotten into this exhausting way of looking outward for acceptance and now I try to breath while relaxing my belly (like a Buddha belly) when I feel this way, which really works to relieve the tension.
“Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?” – this makes so much sense for how can we feel confident and equipped to deal with anything if any part of us is missing?
In recent months I have been feeling far less anxious and yet it wasn’t until I had a day where I felt anxious that I appreciated the enormous difference.
‘So what could have been a tense journey was not at all tense for me’, recently I have been appreciating just how steady I now am and how much more I can handle these days.
‘People appear fearful of not knowing how to be’ … this is so true, we all spend so much time second guessing each other and in doing so there’s a deep unease and we each busy playing a role we think the other needs and yet we’re all anxious that we’ll be found out, or that it’s not right, even as I write this I can feel the stress and yet I know this well, I’ve played it, and can indeed still do so, but increasingly I’m finding that to do so hurts very much and being more steady is so much more preferable.
It’s like we turn ourselves into chameleons, forever changing posture, colours and shapes and most importantly, second-guessing what might be expected of us.
It makes perfect sense that not being who we truly are, would make us anxious because deep down we know that we’re pretending to be something other than who we are in truth and that is a very shaky foundation to live from. It’s as if we’re living in permanent fear of being found out and that would definitely be enough to trigger an ongoing and deep seated feeling of anxiety.
Reading this blog has brought back how I was when it came to interaction. It only takes one person to connect to offer another a point of light to connect to.
When we want thing to be a certain way or when we put on the know-it-all facade the undercurrent will all-ways be we are going to get anxious, because anything as you have shared An. that keeps us from our divine nature will allow the tensions in life to bring on different forms of nervous tensions.
Knowing anxiousness in myself, I love what you expose here Anonymous about the silent dialogue… this is so true… it is all the comparison, self-doubt, self-judgments we have – in fact our lack of self-worth running amuck, which most definitely blocks our true and open connection with another – something we all in fact crave.
That feeling of anxiousness or unsettlement in the body comes in when we are ahead of ourselves in any degree. In my experience when I am present with my body and not looking ahead or back I can simply meet the moments that present before me. Without this connection with the body the mind can race ahead. Also stimulants affect the innate stillness within us, which feeds this unease. Thank you Anon.
Yes indeed, there is a direct link between anxiousness and lack of presence.
I had a dinner last night with some dear friends and for the first twenty minutes i just sat there in silence, marvelling at a very new feeling. All my life I have spent hundreds of hours around dining tables talking, gossiping, debating and socialising…but all of it underpinned by a push, try, presentation, facade…all building up this base layer anxiousness. But last night felt so different. A settlement in my body, and at the end of the evening a sense of completion. It was pretty cool!
That is very cool Otto. How often do we leave a dinner party feeling drained and exhausted because we have gone into social anxiety. When we stay present, deeply connected to ourselves and to others we feel completely at ease and settled in our body.
It’s exhausting to be selling a non-ourself version of ourselves. Requires an enormous and constant force.
Yes, to the best of our abilities. There will always be more to do and always a deepening to be had, so I feel that inherent in this completion (and very much part of it) is then a willingness to say ‘great, what is next’.
It is only when I have been able to drop my anxiousness that I have begun to realise how deep-rooted it was. It had become my normal – but in a very subtle way – so that if you met me, you’d never classify me as anxious. And I feel that is the same with so many people; whichever of the plethora of masks we present, underlying it it as a root of anxiousness that you have described so well in this blog.
That is the thing isn’t it, we get so used to the anxiousness as a backdrop that we don’t question its existence. And an article like this invites us to explore a bit and maybe unearth things we live with that are detrimental to our well-being.
Yes. The joy and power of these articles, these comments and these web-sites. A forum for humanity to re-learn what they already know but have lost in the fog of of our dishonesty
Most people suffer from anxiety and don’t even know it. It has become so normal that it doesn’t seem to raise alarm bells or cause much concern these days. But if we do not address anxiety it will hurt our body and affect people around us. Long term anxiety will impact our health, our relationship and our quality of life. It is a sign we are not coping with certain situations in life and if we ignore these signs they will just get louder and louder.
There have been many times where I have felt that internal panic of not knowing how to be, what to say and what to do but on the outside I look like I am under control and know what I am doing. This tension of being two different people is exhausting, and neither is who I really am.
I have often felt anxiety to be like running a million miles an hour internally, whilst on the outside attempting to appear normal. The warp speed occurring in my brain and body makes me feel on edge and out of control, unable to handle life because I just can’t be present long enough to connect or feel settled. The more I work on slowing that internal environment down, giving myself more space to meet the day and its challenges and demands, the more I am able to feel more at ease in life.
It is great that you have been able to change this for yourself and I agree when one person makes a change it can be felt by others all around.
Dear anonymous,thank you for penning pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), anxiety is a modern day plague and we need to have discussions around this, getting to the root cause of what anxiety is, and offering a true way forward.
I have this sense that most people live with an anxiety, a fear of what comes next, as they feel they are in no way prepared for the eventuality. And I know it because this is how I lived for so long, continually on edge waiting for what came next and hoping like mad that I could handle it. Now I realise that this anxious way of living had simply come about because I didn’t know who I was and as a result I had no connection to the wise being that I naturally am. I have finally found that living in connection to me leaves no room for anxiety and fear but plenty of space for the knowing that I have everything I need for whatever comes my way.
I love your analogies! It makes sense this way and agree 100 %, if there is one person who is connected, it supports everyone else around to connect too.
Beautiful ponderings “Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?” It makes sense. When we are living life being ourselves, nothing from the outside matters because we are living life to the best of our ability being true to our inner most.
“What felt like a very complicated journey was actually very simple, because scratch the surface and there I was.” That is gorgeous to feel, so many ideals and beliefs are about the journey back to ourselves being long or hard – a struggle – but in fact it is really simple when we allow it to be so.
This is a great observation that most of us feel uncomfortable in their own skin so to speak and do not know how to be with others other than putting on an act in some way or another – and then to realise that all it takes is allowing oneself to be more and act less, step by step, and that alone invites others to do the same. And so we can all gradually return to being our natural self.
Ps just reading that you flew stand by with two kids over three days made me anxious! Very inspiring that you were able to do that without getting stressed.
That’s what caught my eye too Vanessa, I have never flown stand by, but I am sure I would have been anxious wondering if everyone was going to get a seat and if not how long we would have to wait. Just shows from the blog that if you stay connected with ourselves everything flows and there is no need for anxiousness.
I loved your observation ‘scratch the surface and there I am’ so sweet and simple, our on mass unease is also anxious making which would be comical if it wasn’t so sad.
The biggest smile came over my face when I read this line too Vanessa, so so sweet and so so simple. We don’t need arduous hours of therapy to find ourselves.
So true, we feel lost when we don’t know who we are and then everyday is underpinned by anxiety as we look to the outside world to confirm us. I too have the scars and the joy to prove that there is a way out of this debilitating condition that enables us to know our real essence and so hold a steady space for others to lock on to and return to that quality within them selves. This blog brings to the fore the saying “be the change we want to see in the world” and connecting to our inner essence is what we are all truly searching for.
If I was to be honest and I am, I feel anxious right now in making sure I am honest in my response. This is because of my obedience to truth and therefore love. I want love you see. But this can be easily misinterpreted as wanting it from others and thus as Anonymous has announced the love is then sought outside of myself with minimal or no connection to me. Once this becomes habitat and slowly but suddenly the norm, the loss of you is devastating. You then no longer want to feel You, and thus disconnection is the default option. The trick is to surpass this and be in the action that goes straight to all of you are, to be absolutely honest and appreciating every moment that is on offer to be more of who you are – thee discovery is GOLD forever momentarily more!
When we loose ourselves to a situation, it can become all consuming as we start to think of all the different scenarios that could happen and we start to become anxious. Learning to stay with ourselves and not let things influence how we are, is the antidote to anxiousness.
Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are? It is living from the mind without any connection with the body, not willing to feel the enormity of who we truly are. I have lived like that, deep down knowing there was so much more but hiding it away and chose to be anxious instead. It is about allowing myself to surrender to the wisdom that is within and express this in every movement I make, that’s a work in progress but it is our responsibility.
A very relatable and inspiring blog Anonymous. In my experience the gateway to anxiety is the lack of connection to ourselves.
” People appear fearful of not knowing how to be ”
This is so true ,people are afraid of re-jection and so want to mould themselves into what they think will please the other and therefore not get rejected. But the humour is if two people meet like this they are only feeding the needs of another and not expressing any truth or any love.
I have felt anxious in even the most subtlest of ways when talking or speaking with others. The more I let my body speak the more confident and less anxious I become.
It is awesome to be aware of when we go into anxiety, like you shared Joshua, it can appear in the most subtle forms. When we understand where anxiety is coming from and why, then we are more able to let it go and shift the quality of our expression and communication.
‘Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?’ Yes and in different words:
could Anxiety also be: saying NO to the love, to all the greatness and universality that is on offer?
I absolutely love the way you have described anxiety. I recognise this very well. Our presence speaks volumes.
When we have an awareness of what is happening and we don’t know what to do about that awareness, that is usually a recipe for anxiety and that is what I see happening again and again.
I remember some years ago when I became aware that the anxiousness I was feeling was because my awareness had increased and I did not have the lived experience of handling that, it became a great antidote for the anxiety. I was then able to confirm and appreciate myself in those situations for being more aware and embrace the learning experience rather than go into anxiousness.
I can remember feeling that anxiety for so long in my body, being desperate to be liked. I remember teams being picked at school and feeling so anxious..‘please pick me, don’t leave me til the last’, such was the desire to want to be liked. When we come to knowing and loving who we are, it is an inside feeling, that needs no confirmation from the outside.
Anxiety is about not being sure of how to control a situation. It comes about when we go into our heads. When we are with ourselves we don’t get anxious as there is no double guessing ourselves.
With that said — we know deep down that connection to Our Soul is who we are – and that we are actually by this source of energy, even if we have not chosen to connect to it. But when we do it is oh so strong !
Absolutely the reflection of someone deeply connected with themselves inspires others to discard the layers of protection that they have armed themselves with which has an immediate impact on their levels of anxiety because as your analogy playfully exposes their wires are not flailing around trying to connect. There is a settlement and an ease that allows the anxiety to settle which is so much more effective than medication.
‘when there is just one solid wire emerging to connect with – and not many flailing all over the place – it is easier to make that connection.’ When I was in a swimming pool recently I was not with myself, I was tense and anxious and I had real difficulty breathing out under water through my nose. However when someone really steady came and stood next to me my breathing changed immediately and I found I could breathe easily! It was a beautiful example of how energy works and what can happen with each energy choice.
Love what you offer here anon, thank you and I can relate to all that you say. Developing a more honest and loving relationship with ourself builds a foundation that supports us in all areas of life.
Beautiful. We can drop the anxiety and simply be ourselves. This makes my whole body breathe. Knowing this we can give ourselves permission to not be a part of the game, and to drop the personas we create. Being real and true can enable others to be real and true, and we may help the global levels of anxiety along the way.
It does take time and commitment to let go of the things we identify with, and it’s super important to honour this process of unfolding and not bully ourselves into achieving complete ‘non attachment’ to whatever we have previously used for protection. Letting go of anxiety is a great example; you can’t bully yourself out of being anxious, but you can start to replace anxious behaviours with different ones, and look at WHY there was anxiety in the first place and start to change this root cause.
There’s a constant low level anxiety for me as i’m Not living what I know myself to be, and there are spikes and dips within that when I feel that I am not approaching a situation with the readiness it requires.
A non-imposing self-assuredness and steadiness – you are right; it’s what is needed, even if only by the odd spark here and there, until everyone gets reignited and is connected, once more.
“I have deepened my acceptance of myself, and I am now far less anxious” – most definitely this is the case for me too Anonymous. Acceptance brings the greatest dose of understanding and understanding brings the greatest dose of wisdom with which to feel steady and at ease.
We had a discussion at dinner last night with some men and women in their twenties and their concern was for the bullying that goes on in the public domain, often in the way of snide remarks and put downs that are hurtful and can leave their mark. It seems that there is a general desire to be accepted and fit in and at the same time a wish to be noticed and recognised for something and to be different, quite often one’s appearance. Not only could this be anxiety making but also cause a conflict within on top of the deeper impulses to be true to how we feel.
I can totally understand that anxiety in people stops us from having a true connection because when we are anxious we are not our true selves. When we are at ease with ourselves and give others the room to be also that is where true connection starts.
It seems that most people don´t know who they are, and that has been true for me as well. Disconnected we seek for identifications of whom and how to be on the outside. Then we have a communication of roles, pictures, expectations, needs, fears, protection and survival, but not real people truly connecting. And so the cycle goes, children born into such a society get a reflection of roles and pictures, not a confirmation of simply being who one naturally is.
Raising three children can bring some anxiety up in me especially when around others whether it is in the home or when we are out and about but they are a wonderful reflection to learn more about myself. What am I afraid of? – exposing others and not wanting to deal with the reaction in others? When anxiety is sensed in my body I have left the connection to myself and placed the outer – what others may think before me… there is no love in this movement for myself and hence towards another. It is based on hurts and indulgence in that which is not true and certainly not who I am.
When we express our non-imposing self, we present an invisible Faraday cage that can ground any harmful energy.
I know this underlying dialogue all to well A, and it has been there for all of my life. The self critic was always active, constantly analysing and commenting on every move and thought. Exhausting. It has been an ongoing journey for me too but through the absoluteness of the loving reflection of Serge Benhayon, the benhayon family, and the student body of the Way of the Livingness I am connecting more and more with myself and all those around me. And not just connecting but from an ease that who and what I am is more then ok.
“I’d spent so many years willingly giving my sense of who I was over to the outside world to layer over false identifications, the ‘me’ part was hard to find. But finding me I am!” I can relate to this – giving away my sense of self to the outside. Coming back to the true me – feeling from the inside and from my body what feels true for me feels great.
Really true. I have started the process of reconnecting with the real me and it feels amazing whenever I can be that. Deepening brings up old ways of being to see clearly what hasn’t worked so far! Learning to observe and let it go has become easier as my true self surfaces and reassures that this is The Way of true living…
“during the past few years I’ve dedicated myself to a knowing and loving of who I really am and it is this intention to know myself which has led to a deeper ease and self-confidence to be more myself in daily life.” What a beautiful sharing that is simple honest and a real inspiration for the truth about how to cure anxiety and our role in it.
I have felt how being with another who is simply with themselves and still is so inspiring and allows a contentment and letting go of anxiousness for others around you who feel this also. What a gift we can offer and a responsibility we all hold. Very inspiring and loving supportive sharing on anxiety that I know only too well and really is a growing global condition.
As we become more aware of the triggers and causes of our own anxiety we become equally aware of level of anxiety in others.
On a plane with a young toddler while everyone wants their food and movie and no disruption is a place where I can let anxiety in. I can get caught up in what people think and then impose that onto my toddler, who of course responds by shouting or running around. She feels it all. But – if I go in with a knowing that we can work together, that she is a gorgeous person who loves others, then the anxiety drops away and she settles. In fact, any time I am anxious she feels it and so is teaching me that anxiety is a choice we indulge in.
‘In fact, any time I am anxious she feels it and so is teaching me that anxiety is a choice we indulge in.’ Hannah, this is a powerful line! If we indulge in anxiety (I am one who has chosen this, like anonymous, for most of my life) then there must be some pay off, something we are getting form it? By choosing anxiousness we are actually avoiding that deeper connection and being part of that one solid wire.
That’s a great example Hannah about how the way we are effects others and also how much others can also show us. Thank you for sharing.
Great point Hannah it can be so easy to indulge in anxiety, and as you have shown with your toddler it affects other people, but if we stand back and take a moment to observe anxiety it is because we are looking to please everyone else and not be present with the situation at hand, and the tension we put on ourselves perpetuates the anxiety.
What amazing teachers children are if we only listen to the reflection they give us by being barometers of our emotional state by their reflection.
Hannah that’s brilliant. It also shows us that how we are does and can effect others and it shows that we have a responsibility in all of our actions and behaviours. We are amazing reflections for each other.
I remember doing this too Hannah with my sons when they were young, and to be honest am still doing at times. I would impose onto them what I think others would expect to see from them and then feel intensely anxious living up to that. I can now see the payoff I got, like what anonymous observed, getting that approval or being liked by those watching, especially older women.
This is so true Hannah, our children make is enormously clear when we have lost our connection and got caught up with something.
Huge appreciation for our children and how they support us to learn and grow ourselves! They are such a beautiful reflection of where we are at and if we are open to seeing this then we all benefit.
Anxiety is the exact opposite of the truth of life: We are stunningly supported by everything in this world to be well, yet by disconnecting and living in our head we create a vicious cycle where anxiety seems to be justified. It’s time to let it go and realise it’s the cycle that is horrible not our life. Thank you Anonymous.
The key is when we don’t know how to accept that support – what do we do then? Anxiety seems quite natural then.
Without a doubt anxiety is the consequence of living in our head for, as you say Joseph, it is the cycle that is horrible not life.
Thank you Anonymous, for someone who has travelled so far in terms of healing and understanding your own anxiety your input has great value. I noticed this line “I’ve dedicated myself to a knowing and loving of who I really am” and I can relate, with the inspiration of all that Serge Benhayon offers I have also dedicated myself to the same thing. And, it’s very true from my experience that if one person is able to just be themselves then it opens up a space that supports others to do the same.
“Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?”
Thanks anon , this makes sense as many of us live absorbing the miriad ideals and beliefs the world has to offer as well as our hurts which keep us in protection mode .This un – naturally seperated way of living keeps us from just being our true selves , not mention disconnected from others but deeply yearning for connection .The anxiety a result of not being able to just be , in a swirling pool of crazy energetic imprints and complicated systems .
Thank god for the ageless wisdom and it teachings that explains how we can re -develop our awareness then choose to support our selves to live in a more holistic or true way- hopefully with less anxiety 😄
Very true Greg, I know without Serge Benhayon and the Ageless Wisdom I would have continued to be very lost – knowing there was more to life but not knowing where to turn and tht was my problem I was constantly seeking outside of myself answers not realising that everything I could ever need or want is within. So no wonder I was super anxious and on edge.
‘Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?’ Brilliant question and brilliant blog. I’d say yes to this. It makes sense why this is a global condition after reading your blog and I can very much relate to what you’ve shared Anonymous. I notice when I am at ease and being myself, this supports people to also be the same and often I can feel people’s anxiety drop as a result.
If we allow ourselves to be really honest here, how much do the thoughts we choose affect how we live and what do they stop us from doing?
We all have so much potential to be a shining light and of amazing service to others, but how often do those niggly thoughts slow us down or completely stop us from living our potential?
Anxiety is indeed a ‘global condition’, as is not being the truth of who we all are. And so the antidote? Be the truth of who we all are in everything that we do say and think; which is actually the antidote to every single ill condition on the planet. How wonderfully simple is that? Although granted, not easy to put in place but eventually we all have to do it, there’s no other true way forward, other than back to the truth of Us.
This article explains anxiety and how it affects us very well, in fact, in my experience it is spot on.
The secondary conversations going on in our heads is very harming. It takes a dedication and the willingness to love ourselves deeply, warts and all, to begin to halt this eronious voice and lay to rest the anxiety.
This is such a great observation on life and the anxiousness we all seem to feel, and the inspiration to live as me and stay steady in that: ‘Because, if one person in the interaction has an understanding of who they truly are and is steady in that, in a non-imposing-up-yourself confidence, then the other person is supported to connect to who they are.’
I remember traveling with my young son alone and the anxiety came from feeling unsupported. But I have now learned that to feel supported I have to support myself in all my physical and emotional movements.
This is a beautiful exploration of the root cause of anxiety, thank you. If it is raining and you are not equipped with your raincoat or umbrella, you feel the soaking you suffer and it causes a tension within you. So too is it when we step out in the world without connection to our Soul. We ill equip ourselves to not be able to handle what it is we step into. Hence why anxiety and the ensuing exhaustion it creates is the modern day plague. We have drifted so far from the truth of who we are and deep down we all know and can feel it.
Thank you for sharing. Anxiety for me has been massive as soon as I think I need to perform or be someone or something that is expected of me, essentially me not knowing that simply being myself is more than enough! So yes to your question: ‘Could anxiety simply be not living all of who we really are?’ For me definitely because the more I live who I am the less I feel the pressure to be something I am not and the anxiousness just isn’t there!
Ditto, James, I couldn’t agree more. Once in a Universal Medicine course, we were asked if we knew who we were or words to that effect. I came away with the realisation that I hadn’t a clue who I was, what ideals and beliefs were mine or what I truly liked or disliked – no wonder there was anxiousness.
It is crazy really how so much of the time we look outside of ourselves for answers, for love, for everything yet we are born with everything already within.
It really can be that simple James.
Anxiety is an underlying current in us all … because we aren’t living true to ourselves – we know it but society as a whole doesn’t reflect to us what being true is… until now when we have role models like Serge Benhayon who uncompromisingly live the fullness of their truth for all to be inspired by.
We can live a whole life not knowing who we truly are.