ANXIETY

What really is anxiety?

Anxiety is actually an expression of fear in our mind. In the volatile mind everything swim and swirl up. And something, little or big, begins to bother us. We feel a bit of silent panic inside us. There is doubt whether we can overpower the problem. The mind in its weak moment says the problem will overpower us.

Like everything else, anxiety comes from our inner resources , the inner power. Sometimes some people call it God.

Anxiety to some level is very much needed to live. It makes us work. It makes us do things when mind and body begins to become lethargic for a more than required period of time.

Anxiety can be little or big. The more and deep the rooted the fear is the greater is anxiety. Although a little level of anxiety is good and makes us work ,greater amount of anxiety can cause mental and physical damage and even death. It is a prime cause for depression.

What is treatment for anxiety?

Well the best treatment is to act immediately.

First of all we need to diagnose the problem well which is causing us anxiety. In a confused state of mind it is not sometimes easy. Mind is full of little things and changing. Lots of thing clamor together to get attention inside the mind. But if something is causing anxiety and worrying you, you must give prior attention to it because anxiety is the foremost killer of happiness.

So the first thing is to steady the mind ,make it still like a quiet pond and keep it away for sometime from unwanted disturbances.

One can make one’s mind serene in different techniques. But the best technique perhaps is meditation.

Sit at some quiet place with your backbone fully erect and steady and try to think of any single object for a little period of time. It is a difficult task. The mind always prances around from this thing to that. So to make it still is like making a dog’s tail straight. But you can hold your mind steady if you give a little effort. Many things will come to the fore but slowly the mind gets calmer and you can fell quietness coming inside your mind . After sometime as the mind becomes serene little noises which we do not hear normally in our business becomes audible. And the silence and quietness begins to make mind steady.

After meditating a little you should ponder what is making you bother really. There are many branches and twiglets  of an anxiety. But in an uncluttered quiet mind the root cause will become clear and make you decide which problem to attack first. When you start to attack a problem with pro-activeness slowly the problem begins to melt and ultimately disappear.

The second thing necessary is enough of physical exercise each day. Sufficient physical exercise makes both your body and mind strong and gives you the resources to settle a problem. Any exercise is good but two of the best are yoga and pranayama which are correlated. These two are great for body and great help for a troubled mind.
After the exercise a brisk walk in the open for sometime is doubly effective.

Another thing which is really very important is enough of sleep and enough of good food.

Now anxiety is a great sleep destroyer. But if the body and mind is tired enough with healthy physical and mental work it is bound to become tired and sleep comes naturally. If you attack the problem which is worrying you it will give you mental relief and sleep will come.

But some anxieties are so deep rooted that our normal resources fail to cope with it. So medicine helps There  are many anxiolytics or anti anxiety drugs .One of the main is Benzodiazepines. Among Benzodiazepines are drugs like Alprazolam,,Clonazepam,Diazepam,Etizolam,Lorazepam and Oxazepam.One should consult a doctor ,particularly a psychiatrist before using these drugs. But alprazolam is perhaps commonest.As these drugs give temporary relief from anxiety and perhaps bring much wanted sleep we must take opportunity of that little respite to get to the bottom of things which is causing us anxiety.

 So to be precise we have to face our problem with a positive attitude and exercise , meditation, food and sometimes medicine helps us to get us into the right positive attitude.

But there is another greater help.As someone said no lock is made without a key. So every problem has a solution somewhere. The power that gave us the worry in the first place has also provided us with its way to be eradicated.

So the greatest help is to submit to that eternal power completely and let yourself remind that eternal and supreme power dwells inside you and it will do the right thing for you. It will make you act in the best and right way. As the great Hindu ascetic Shri Ramakrishna once said “ Dependence on God is like reclining in a bed and smoking tobacco after  a tiring day’s work”( That is, whatever necessary will be done by Him, there is no cause for tension and worry).

Without any anxiety there is no work done in any necessary period of time. So it is a great driving force.

So like everything else it is a necessary part of life and like everything else should not be unbalanced and disproportionate.

As Lord Buddha said too much of anything is poison.