Worrying about finances, anxiety about job security, worried about relationships, fearful of personal security, obsessed by feelings of inadequacy – these are the thoughts that entertain the normal mind. Unfortunately, psychology has proven time and time again that the normal mind is actually obsessed by negative thought. This negativity is entrenched in the subconscious – that part of your mind that was programmed with this form of negative thinking during our formative years – and is nurtured by the ubiquity of bad news, negative comment and the horror stories on which the mass media thrives. We are surrounded – from outside and inside – by negativity.
For some, that negativity leads to anxiety – we become anxious about all the things that we don’t want to befall us. Anxiety often leads to fear – again, we fear the things that we don’t want to happen. And, for some, that anxiety can lead to outright panic – and that panic sometimes overtakes us when we least expect it.
For starters, you must to appreciate is that, if you’re feeling anxious, fearful or panicked, it’s got nothing to do with you – it is the product of your over-active personality. Your personality – the person that you think you are – is a fiction based on all the psychological ‘snapshots’ that you took when you were young and impressionable. You took snapshots of events that impressed you at the time but, now, your subconscious mind is using those photographs to create what you perceive to be your reality. And, because your subconscious automatically pours your energy into these negative emotions, you generally end up proving yourself right – you were right to worry, right to be anxious, right to be fearful – your life turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Psychology tells us that we can only perceive and experience what we expect to perceive and experience. In other words, if we change our expectations, our experience of life will change. This, however, is easier said than done because, as I’ve already noted, not only is your subconscious mind occupied by the long-term squatters of negative thought, you are surrounded by other people who are stuck in the same nightmare. It is hard to envisage life being so different.
So, you need to start re-building your naturaly ability to ignore destructive, self-sabotaging and negative thought by refocusing on what is real. Reality is only to be found in right here, right now. To be blunt, this breath could be your last – you had better get busy experiencing, living and capitalizing upon the reality of the here and now. The real here and now is a place where anxiety, fear and panic are simply not. It is a place where you take real action – action that points your life in the perfect direction. It is a place where challenges are met head on – without anxiety or fear.
But try explaining this to someone who’s in the depths of despair. Try explaining this to someone who has given up on succeeding. Try telling someone who is overwhelmed by panic that it isn’t real. You’ve got to develop your ability to appreciate, experience and live in the here and now when it doesn’t matter so that you can be fully focused, fully alert, fully armed, when it does matter. So, right now, take a few minutes to sit and focus on what your five senses are telling you – not what your imaginary personality thinks that they are telling you. Root out that imposter – out of your life – and see where life might take you.
