Anxiety and depression seem to be the two most common afflictions in our society today. The T.V. ads won't let us forget this. Depression is now called a disease and I'm sure that anxiety will not be far behind. I would like to first start out by saying that depression is not a disease (1,2) is not related to a chemical imbalance and neither is anxiety. There is no test in existence that can demonstrate or determine a chemical imbalance (2,3). This is a popular myth that has been so ingrained in our psychology that it is hard to imagine there is not some truth to it. However, those with a vested interest in selling you pills, namely “big pharma”, have perpetuated the myth. But enough about that. What I would like to discuss is the origin and nature of these two emotions and how to overcome their negative psychological and physiological aspects. Both anxiety and depression arise from incorrect views of the past, present or future states of being.
Depression is the result of feeling of sadness, guilt, helplessness, hopelessness, etc. These feelings result when the mind views the past as undesirable and tries to project it into the present. The depressed person is overly focused on what the past has been and often projects this into an imagined future resulting in more of the same.
Anxiety as defined by dicitonary.com: A state of apprehension, uncertainty, and fear resulting from the anticipation of a realistic or fantasized threatening event or situation, often impairing physical and psychological functioning. Again the mind takes an imagined situation of some future event and regresses it into the present moment.
The simple fact is that neither of these emotions has any substantiality other than what your mind is giving them right now. You can defeat these negative emotions by establishing a regular meditation practice. I used to suffer from some anxiety before I would engage in wrestling matches. Most of this would be rising blood pressure and rapid heart beat. When I had established a regular meditation practice I found that I could relieve all the anxiety by simply following my breath and returning to the present moment. All of the anxiety disappeared. It was only if I was thinking of the performance that I would get the emotion back. I have found that a regular meditation practice is necessary to be able to defeat these emotions effectively. Our minds are simply too scattered in the regular state and for most people returning to the present is a daunting task. The reason is because all of their lives they have either regressed to the past or projected into the future and very rarely do they get to the here and now. However, if you do not have a regular meditation practice, returning to the present by focusing only on your breathing will alleviate any power negative emotions that you are experiencing. If you cannot focus on the breath without being involved in some mind state then repeat a simple mantra while focusing on the breath. On the in breath say 'right here', on the out breath say 'right now'. The words are said silently in your head as you focus on the breath. On my next post I will share how to establish a regular meditation practice.
1.http://www.centerforconsciousliving.com/nf_depression.html 2.http://www.schaler.net/wtjan182003.html 3.http://www.freedominla.org/issue08i2/page04.htm 4.http://members.fortunecity.com/siriusw/Biochemical-Imbalance.htm
1 comment:
You speak of depression and anxiety as if the only cause is outside factors. It is dangerous for people who could not possibly understand what chronic depression is unless they have actually experienced it. I have chronic depression, and the environmental/past experiences had little to no effect on the problems. I finally decided to take medication, and I have never felt better. I am better able to deal with dail stressors, and better able to work on my own spirituality. I understand that this is a very controversial issue, but you need to be very careful about what you preach. Hormonal imbalances are REAL! Whether you have ever experience them for yourself or not.
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