What is Anxiety?

Everybody knows what the big things are in life that cause anxiety, but nobody tells you what the little things are that begin to upset you.

The Funk and Wagnal's dictionary defines the word 'anxiety' to be:

1) Disturbance of mind regarding some uncertain event; misgiving; worry

2) Strained or solicitous desire; eagerness

3) Psychiatry - A tense emotional state characterized by fear and apprehension.

It referred to anxiety as a 'disturbance of the mind'. So what is the opposite of a disturbed mind? The opposite would be a settled, peaceful mind. The Bible teaches that a person can have perfect peace at all times. But to have that, you have to be able to identify all of the things that work against your peace. They must become totally self-aware. We must begin to 'feel our feelings'. Often we don't, because we have had these same feelings from a very young age. That is why you can have anxiety and not know it. But now that we are establishing a norm as being in a state of perfect peace, we are in a position to identify thought patterns that compromise our peace.

Most people know what the big things are that throws them into a tail-spin, but few know the little things that are subtly working behind the scenes to slowly divest us of our peace. Here are some examples of things in everyday life that are minor irritants that cause anxiety, but are seldom identified as such:

1) Any kind of impatience is anxiety, whether it is waiting at a traffic light, waiting in traffic, waiting
   at the store check out, waiting for an important phone call etc. These are all irritants that cause
   the beginning stages of anxiety, and they need to be squelched as soon as they are detected.

2) Any kind of craving is a form of anxiety. Our body or our mind is wanting a certain something
   and all of a sudden it disturbs our peace. Most people believe they have no power over their
   cravings, so they just give in to them. That is not true. You can command your body to get in
   line with what you know is right.

3) Any kind of resentment, jealousy, thoughts of revenge, any judgmental thoughts about others,
   these are all little everyday natural reactions to life that get us aroused emotionally and steal that
   perfect peace that we are meant live in.

4) Any kind of sudden realization is a form of anxiety. Perhaps you suddenly realize you are late for
   an appointment or let's say you are cooking something and you suddenly realize you are out of
   the last ingredient. That sudden little anger or self pity is anxiety. So when that
   happens, you can recognize it and command your mind to settle down.

5) Any kind of unsettled feelings when studying is anxiety. If you are a student who knows that you
   should spend time in the books, and you get that restless feeling, you can command that feeling
   to go away and be still.

Remember, you can take charge of your life and see to it that it stays in subjection to your wishes.

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