Every person knows what it feels like to be carried off by an anxious state, so you decide: 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...

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...

Topics covered: Real spiritual work is not about taking things, acquiring possessions to add to yourself; The fundamental difficulty in authentic spiritual work is that you must see things about yourself that you don't want to believe are true; Everything you tell yourself about fear and anxiety is the fear and anxiety telling you what to do so that the fear and anxiety can remain hidden...

Topic: Transform Painful Anxiety into Perfect Self-Command (3/31/21 Classroom Talk)

Topics covered: illusion, delusion, unconscious, depression, anxiety, crisis, overwhelmed...

Topic: How to Wake Up from the Nightmare Called Fear and Anxiety (Classroom Talk 11/9/22)

Topics covered: suffering, unnecessary suffering, attention, attentive, negative imagination, worry, anxiety, stress...

Classroom Talk: 9/2/2020 - The only true solution to any stress, anxiety, fear or frustration -- that rears its ugly head in unwanted moments -- is to do the (interior) work it takes to outgrow an unconscious, conflicted level of self that sees its pain as proof that it knows... the true nature of peace.

When it comes to fear, anxiety or any other kind of negative state, we can learn to observe and bear the state that is being revealed so that a new understanding of the moment can begin to dawn within us.

In this answer to a viewer's question, "Secret of Letting Go" author Guy Finley explains how our minds call upon the assistance anxious and fearful thoughts in order to save us from anxiety and fear. Seeing this contradiction gradually brings an end to our dependence upon thought to lead us to freedom from these negative states.

The more any thought pushes you to run toward a time of some anticipated rest, the more you should work to slow down to see the following truth: with one hand, an unconscious self points to a "peace just ahead," even as its other hand is stirring up some form of anxiety that you might not get there!