AJIT KUMAR BISHNOI says anxiety helps us be alert, and plan in a focused way
Do not let anxiety scare you or send you in panic. like stress, some anxiety is good for us. While stress, which has not reached a level of harmful overstress, motivates us to become serious, concentrate better, etc, anxiety — which has not turned into a debilitating feeling — helps us become alert, and plan in a focused way.
Whether we like it or not, anxiety is very much part of our lives. The following examples will confirm this fact. A student has gone to appear in his final exam, would his parents not be anxiousIJ A woman has just been admitted to a hospital for delivery, would the family members be not anxious about the health of both the mother and the childIJ A person has suffered a serious heart attack and has been admitted to ICU of a hospital, how do you think the members of his family will be feelingIJ A candidate is appearing for a very important job, which could change his life for better, is he not likely to be anxiousIJ A soldier has gone to the war zone, can his family members remain immune to the dangers he will be facingIJ The last example is that of a mother whose daughter is very late in coming back from school. She has no idea why her daughter is late. Imagine what will be her anxiety level.
Therefore, we can agree that it is impossible to be completely free from anxiety in some situations. let us see it from another angle. For not to be anxious at all, we must have full knowledge of what all will transpire in the future. Is that possibleIJ Does this idea not go against the very concept of free willIJ Does our future not depend upon many factors, including what we are likely to be doing in the future, which even we may not know in spite of all the planning, because circumstances changeIJ
Having agreed to the fact that we will get anxious occasionally, an intelligent person learns to manage it. He or she rather makes good use of it unless the level of anxiety is excessive, which also happens, though infrequently. let us understand how we can manage both the situations, ie when the anxiety is mild and when it is excessive. How anxious we will feel is person-specific. Sensitive persons get more anxious than persons who are carefree. The solutions offered herein apply to all kinds of anxieties.
If anxious, we should first examine whether we should really be anxious in a given situation or we are being foolish. We must examine the cause behind our anxiety and try to deal with it. In most cases, we should be able to manage it. There are short-term solutions and a long-term solution. I have used a singular noun in the case of long-term because there is one only.
Taking up short-term solutions first: To be able to deal with anxiety successfully, we must know ourselves well, ie we should generally know what makes us anxious. And we should be prepared with suitable remedies. There can be many like talking to a family member or a friend, chanting a mantra, praying to God or even taking an SOS medicine prescribed by a registered doctor. The solution depends upon the person concerned, ie what suits him or her best.
These were short-term solutions, now we are ready to know about the long-term solution. This relates to God. We need to take shelter of the all powerful God. This process takes considerable faith in God; we should leave whatever is making us anxious to him after having done our best in a given situation. This is the same as being soul conscious rather than being bodily conscious, which we normally are. Then what did we learnIJ That there will be occasions which will give us anxiety, but they can be dealt with if we know how. To remain anxious hurts. A wise person learns to manage his anxieties well. I welcome your comments.
Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reached at spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com