Stress / Anxiety

The punishing pressure we feel in this life is not because of what life is but because of what we perceive life isn't.

Beginning this very moment, intentionally separate yourself from any rushing inner condition by voluntarily stepping out of it. Here's how...

No anxious state exists apart from the illusion that the security, happiness, and wholeness you long for exists somewhere outside of you -- "in a time to come." Then why do we go on embracing anxious thoughts and feelings that do nothing but steal from us our love of life? The surprising answer to this question is the same as opening the door to a life free of anxious thoughts and feelings. W...

The following key lessons are taken from 365 Days to Let Go. Use their insights to bring you nearer to true freedom... Here is one of the great spiritual mysteries of all time. Freedom is either found within one's suffering or not at all; the only thing one escapes who runs from his or her pain is the possibility of discovering its purpose and how to transcend it. --- Real faith and...

There may be no greater self-deception than the false notion that rushing through anything actually helps us in any way whatsoever.

Trying to dominate our destructive thoughts and feelings, or seeking to liberate our "better" parts through some form of self-discipline, is secretly at the expense of our freedom, and not in its cause. Freedom from the ties that bind, victory over our own nature, is not a conquest in the usual sense. Try to see the following as deeply as possible: *anything that has to be kept in check must a...

Before you can step out of the rush and into your own life, you must first see that while anxious, hurried feelings often lend a temporary sense of self-importance, these same racing emotions actually rob you of the power you need to be self-commanding. A brief investigation will confirm this finding. Self-command begins with being able to choose your own direction in life. And whether you're...

The next time you run into some familiar blockage or begin to feel unsuited to face some new and difficult personal challenge, don't do what you've always done before. Don't try to think your way around it. You no longer want a way around your troubles because what goes around, comes around! What you want is to grow beyond the level of that disturbance. And to do that, you must not act from...

When some anxiety comes along and takes over your life, are you an awake, inwardly centered person or are you an unconscious, outwardly driven man or woman? Which are you? That you're outwardly directed is pretty obvious. Why? Because that anxious state could not exist without your false belief that who you are -- your well-being -- is connected to something happening exterior to yourself. And...

We find it natural to seek relief from the world around us, a world appearing to be one stronghold atop another of stressful conditions and anxiety-producing events. Accordingly, we seek relief from these contentment-crushing states by struggling to change those circumstances we see as being responsible for their cause. Think of all the ways we've attempted to escape those unwanted pressures...

When we turn on a faucet connected to a hose with a small nozzle at its other end, we know from experience that we have to keep the hose in hand, otherwise we will likely get soaked chasing down the runaway end. What happens is that the water pressure, as it passes through the nozzle, transforms our ordinarily tame garden hose into the equivalent of a tethered rocket. With this picture in min...

Rebecca had decided that her best chance of getting hired by a company doing geological survey work in the Alaskan wilderness was to earn a private license to fly twin-engine planes. A few days later she began taking lessons from a wise old bush pilot, highly respected throughout the region for his cool and collected ways of dealing with the worst possible situations. After the mandatory gro...