We all experience anxious moments in life. It is a part of the life journey. But some people just live with anxiety. Anxiety becomes the very
fabric of their existence. Worry and stress are knitted into every second thought. So, their life is full of misery and sorrow. Is this necessary?
We have a choice. We can live with peace and tranquillity or with worry and anxiety. We must make a conscious choice because the mind is an expert in popping toxic thoughts. The mind is like a popcorn machine. It need not be told to produce thoughts. The function of the mind is just that. And just like we wake up, we eat, drink and breathe, we also think. But what we think is a choice. If we feed the mind with worry and stress and other such negative emotions, without doubt, the mind will produce depressing thoughts. But if we change this and feed the mind with thoughts of courage and confidence, then, we can replace our anxiety with tranquillity.
Look around you and you will notice that some people are living nervous lives. They are always worried. They live with the constant fear of the future. They don’t realize that most of their fears are baseless, just as their worries and anxieties are. In fact, it is a habit for them to jump from the past to the future. Therefore, they do not enjoy peace in the present moment. The past is gone, something has been done. They can’t change it but they are still anxious about what is already done and dusted. If that is not bad enough, they jump to some distant, faraway anxiety that is still around the corner. They imagine the anxiety. They create it. Nothing has happened yet but they worry so much thinking that something bad will happen. Such worry destroys their life, their peace and their tranquillity.
We have a choice. We can live with anxiety or we can live with tranquillity. We must remember one thing, if we let one enter, the other will exit. If we make it a habit to live with tranquillity, we will eliminate space for any anxiety. But if we permit anxiety to fill our thoughts, then there is no scope for tranquillity to enter our life.
So, what are you going to do today? When an anxious thought arrives, are you going to open your doors or are you going to flush out every worry, every anxiety that comes close to you? What method are you going to use to stop these toxic thoughts and emotions? If you are going to fill your life with peace and tranquillity, then how are you going to do it? You can’t wish away anxiety, just as you can’t pray for tranquillity to be your guest. You need to make this happen. First, you must be aware that you have to make this choice. Next, you have to consciously fill your life with tranquillity, just as you have to consciously flush out anxiety. And this, you must do every day, otherwise, your life will stink. Imagine not flushing your toilet for a couple of days. Even the thought is disgusting! What we don’t realize is that not flushing out anxiety is far more disgusting. The former only creates a stench in your toilet, but the latter creates a stench in your life and it’s a choice.