Transcription
Foreign, welcome everyone to another video. So today, let's talk about anxiety and how a Buddhist practice can help you to deal with it. Okay, first of all, let's take a look at what anxiety is.
Anxiety is a common human emotion that we feel when our lives are in danger or when our lives are in threatening situations. We feel that fear and worry. So that is a common, normal human nature. But for some people, they feel this fear and worry when there is no such danger in reality, when there is no such threatening situation in the real world, but they still start to worry about it or they still start to fear about it. So that is where we can do something about it.
Most of the time, people, they hide their anxiety emotions. These anxious emotions, they try to hide them. They, they laugh, they smile, they seem to be good, looking good, looking bad. Inside their head, there are many things going on. It's like the monkeys jumping here and there. They are distracted, and they are constant. They have that constant fear and worry inside them. It's very heavy. So what can we do to ease up these things and how, how we can deal with these things?
Well, there are certain practices that we can practice according to the Buddhist way to help you to deal with these anxiety thoughts. First of all, the first step is to acknowledge the anxiety. Because our great teacher, Supreme Buddha, they told that every one of us, every living being, is subjected to suffering. Buddha said, where there is birth, there is suffering. So no matter how rich we are, no matter how talented you are, no matter what social state that you are living, fear, worry, suffering is the common ground for all of us. So first of all, we have to acknowledge that my mind has these anxious thoughts. Because most of the time, when people become anxious, when they have these panic attacks, and when they have these anxiety thoughts, what they do is they try to hate that emotion. They try to fight with that emotion. The more you fight with that emotion, the more you become angry about that emotion, the more you consider about that emotion as a monster, it will take control over your life.
So what you have to do, first of all, you have to think, this is a common human response. Oh, this is a common human nature. So I must acknowledge it. That is the first step, right? Because you can remember the Buddha's word, all beings are subjected to suffering without any exception. That's the first step.
Then the second step. This is one of the most wonderful practices in Buddhism, that is the mindfulness. And you know that Buddhism has a great background of mindfulness. So our great teacher, Supreme Buddha, taught us there are four rounds of mindfulness. This is taught in Sati Patanasutra. So the first one is being mindful about your body. The second one is being mindful about your feelings. The third one is being mindful about your mind. And the fourth one is being mindful about the mental states. So we can do any kind of mindfulness practices in here. But there's an important practice that both mentioned, and that is being mindful about your mind. That is called chitanupasana. Simply, the Buddha teaches us, you have to observe your thoughts, right?
So when you observe your thoughts, and when you become mindful about, when you become aware of your thoughts, what happens to you? It creates this little space between you and your thoughts. Separates you from your thoughts. Because most of the time, or when we feel fear, when we become, when we worry about the things, and most of the times when you are living our life, we think that the thoughts are ourselves. That means when you feel angry, you think I am the anger. I am fear. I am the worry. I am the anxiety. But you're not the anxiety. And it reveals you that your thoughts are anxiety, and yours, your thoughts are in fear. It creates this little space between you and your thoughts.
It's like, it's like, uh, let me give you an example. It's like the sky, right? Sky is there, and consider the sky as you, the blue color one. And these clouds come into the sky. They're like your thoughts, right? So what is the nature of a cloud? It comes and it goes. Sometimes gloomy, sometimes shiny, sometimes scattered. It takes different shapes and different moods. But still, there is sky. It is not changed. So it gives you this feeling. When you do this, being, being mindful about your mind, your thoughts, what happens to you is you're watching your thoughts without judging, without comparing yourself with that, and without being worrying. You just watch your thoughts. When you separate your mind, yourself from your thoughts, your thoughts become an outside object. It's like you're taking something to your hand and your, uh, just observing it.
Then what, what happens to you? Then you can take your time to think, oh, what is this thought? Then you can reveal and you can identify, ah, my mind is now in anxiety mode. My thoughts are anxiety. My thoughts are anxious. So when you identify your thoughts, that gives you and that, it gives you that understanding that I am not anxious. It's only my thoughts are anxious. And then you have to use your wisdom to think, what is the nature of the thought? What is the nature of this mental emotion? This is impermanent. That cut, this comes and this goes. Survey. So it gives you this feeling of impermanent, right? So that is what you have to think.
And also, you can analyze this thought. When you become anxious, if you are constantly becoming mindful about. Now, remember, when I say these things, it seems like, oh, it is for easy for you to say like that. But when, when we become anxious, it is very hard to do that. Yes, it's very hard to do that. Remember, every good thing that brings the happiness to your life is a little bit challenging. You have to take time. You have to practice it, right? You have to go through some tough situations when you are doing it. But if you are constantly doing it, if you are constantly practicing it, it gives you the result. Results.
So what do you have to do? Just analyze your thought. My, my thought is in anxious mode. So what gave me this action, anxiety? Always remember, your anxiety is always triggered by an emotion, a delusional emotion. So you can analyze the thought, what made me anxious? What made me fear? Then you can go deep into it. And then you can find, ah, without when you're not judging it, you can find, ah, this is not something to be feared of. This is not something to be worried about. Then you can come back and think, okay, this is just an emotion. This is just a thought. So let go. I will let go of it. That is what gives you this becoming mindfulness. And it, it gives you and it brings you to this present moment, right? When you're analyzing your mind and when you're constantly becoming aware of your thoughts, you come to this present moment, which is very peaceful, right? When you're thinking about the future, your mind is in anxious mode, right? Most of the time, when, when the anxiety kicks in, what happens to you? Your mind jumps to the future. What will happen in the next time? What will happen in the future? What will happen to me? That's what you're thinking. That means your mind is in the future, right? But when you become mindful, your mind comes to this present moment, which is peaceful, which is cool and tranquilizing. You can be here, right now, right here, and become more peaceful. That will help you immensely.
So practice mindfulness, little by little. This is a simple trick that you can do. Just ask from yourself, and what am I thinking now? When the fear kicks in, when the fear or the worry comes in, when you're becoming anxious, just remember to yourself to ask from your mind, what am I thinking now? What are my thoughts? Then you can identify your thoughts, right? So that is the mindfulness practice.
And then the last part. Show some compassion to yourself. Don't expect 100% perfection from yourself. Remember, perfection is not the success. People, people have this delusional idea to be perfect always. And think about it, no one can be perfect like that. Just do your best. That is what you can do.
So I hope you get some, got some light on this topic. So I wish you all, may all of you have a peaceful life, a healthy life, and may all of you be able to live happy forever.