Conquering The Enemies of The Mind

by Bhakti-Tirtha Swami

How To Avoid Anxiety
How do we break the pattern of constant worrying? How can people who have protection of the greatest shelter, spiritual shelter, still worry so much? Although we can endlessly worry and consider ourselves to be at the mercy of circumstance, we understand the influence of karma, which refers to any material action that brings a reaction, binding us to this material world. We also understand that higher authorities, our spiritual guides and even supernatural sources such as angels, also have control over all things.

Considering these factors, where does all the worry stem from? We should never think that our higher spiritual guides have left us alone without any help or guidance and without any way to get us out of our problems. We want to find ways to break the worry habits before they break us. If we do not stop such habits, our fears can easily overwhelm us and even turn into chronic depression, phobias, panic attacks, and compulsive behaviors.

We have all seen people who worry about every little detail. If we simply present them with an idea, they will immediately try to show point out its fallibility. They have an insecurity complex along with an existential mood about life, feeling . They feel defeated before they even start. Since they will not take the risk, they lead a life of great boredom, frustration, and mediocrity, which also means less ruci or spiritual taste. We do not want to fall into these destructive patterns; therefore, we want to offer the following techniques to help rescue our consciousness from such a negative mentality.

Do Not Fear The Future
We should try to avoid any worry that revolves around fears of the future. As we live each day, we should simply do our very best today and let the future take care of itself. When we worry too excessively about the future, we often fail to take the necessary actions that will lead to an auspicious future. In many ways, the future is an extension of the present along with influences from the past. Our own mind can create the exact situation we wish to avoid, and an unhealthy mental culture often blocks the divine power that can work through us. When we worry about the future, we do not offer our best today.

Collect The Facts And Then Act
We should get all of the facts. People often try to make decisions before they have a sufficient amount of information about the problem or issue. This lack of knowledge will definietely result in anxiety. We should look at the entire issue and then develop a plan. We should not avoid problems; instead we must recognize the need to work through them in ways that can help us accelerate our spiritual consciousness. When we find ourselves absorbed in worry, we should take the time to reflect on the actual variables involved in the issue because this might help us develop a clearer insight and find a more positive way to respond to the situation. At the very least, we should clearly understand the reasons for our anxiety.

Keep The Mind Busy
Keeping the mind busy is a valuable technique. Plenty of action is one of the best therapies or cures for a worrying mind. Many times we get absorbed in our anxieties because we do not have anything productive in which to engage our minds and bodies. All that loose energy needs to go somewhere. Therefore, a simple technique is to look at our use of time. When we are engaged in a healthy way, we will not be subject to such excessive amounts of anxiety.

Avoid The Trifles
We should carefully avoid worrying about the trifles that can ruin our happiness and faith in the Divine, our spiritual guides, and other saintly personalities. Sometimes we have to be practical by trying to understand the probability of our worst fears actually happening:. What are the chances that I will actually fall down and break my leg? It could definietely happen,s but what are the chances?

Help And Serve Other People
An even greater way to avoid anxiety involves utilizing that energy to think of ways to help another person. We can put so much of our energy into finding ways to serve or assist someone else. There will always be another person whose problems far exceed our own. If we can relinquish some of our selfishness by trying to help another person in distress, we will not waste unnecessary energy in creating the exact problem we want to avoid. By thinking about another person, we will naturally take our focus away from our own appetite and concerns, and this will actually cause to us become more powerful.

If we think too much about ourselves, we actually become powerless because we block the Divine from channeling coming through us. As our selfishness increases, we will correspondingly lose our power in spiritual life because we will check the Divine's real sakti or spiritual power from coming through in our lives. We will prevent the miracles that can occur when we remove our mental and physical disturbances and embrace divinity.