My Theory On Anxiety

[Mike]

I've had a few thoughts swirling around in my head the last few days regarding anxiety. Not sure why. It almost felt like they were handed to me.

I think anxiety is the result of chronically ignoring your conscience.

Your conscience is there to instruct you in proper thought and action. Of course you don't have to listen to it. Often you don't want to. It's usually imploring you to take personal responsibility for something. It's telling you to get in the gym, read that book, register for those classes, save that money, stand up to that bully, do that thing you're avoiding or afraid of, etc.

You can get away with ignoring it for a while, maybe. But then it gets louder and more insistent. Harder to ignore. To stifle its call you may drink alcohol, smoke some weed, or whatever. And that may help for a while.

But then it gets louder yet. The beer and the weed can no longer silence it. Nor can the internet porn, the gaming, or whatever one is doing to distract oneself.

Finally, one becomes non-functional. They can no longer avoid what they've been avoiding and are in a position of having to engage life finally. A feeling arises, one of sheer terror. It happens again and again. Where is this coming from, they wonder. And why? They don't make the connection between the call of their conscience and the anxiety.

As a last resort they see a doctor, where meds are prescribed. Meds powerful enough to drown out the conscience once again. But that which is stifled or repressed only reemerges later with a vengeance. So soon more pills need to be taken, more powerful pills.

It's called "anxiety attacks" and the stifling of them is endorsed and encouraged by docs and family and friends. You now have a "disease". You are now a "victim". Ignoring the conscience has now been entirely justified by society. You're facing a lifetime of medication and isolation. The soul death is complete.

[Johan (Keyholder)]

Hey Mike. Good thread!

Yes, I agree that "anxiety attacks" are most often a sign that you are "off track".
I do believe it goes even further, deeper than only one's conscience.

Most of us here know that we are here "for a reason", whatever that reason may be.

Personally I do think that this "reason" evolves with "soul age", meaning the "older" one gets, the more responsibility one will get, because there is more consciousness. Viktor Frankl (logotherapy) made that link and explained it very well: with a greater consciousness level comes more responsibility.

Anxiety would then be like a sort of "spiritual GPS". You know how annoyed we get when the GPS keeps telling us: "try to turn around" (in Dutch: "probeer om te keren"). Only this spiritual GPS has indeed our conscience to inform us more in detail, and it works pretty much as you so well described it. Imagine that the GPS in your car would eventually made you come to a standstill! Now, thàt would be something, wouldn't it?

immobilized car = soul death (or at least soul stuck completely, tow away necessary)

Wise people know how this spiritual GPS works and make good use of it. One problem though: TPTB do know this too and do all what they can to make this spiritual GPS dysfunctional. Can you imagine that you have a detour every two minutes. It could drive one crazy or mad... even the very patient ones. Some people realize this, most don't I think.

We can learn to "integrate" this spiritual GPS, get less anxiety (become fear-less) and get on with our Mission, the reason why we are here.

[Harmony]

For me I have found it helps to decide what are the most important things that really matter in your life above all else. Even take it to the level of "if I only had 6 months to live what are the lessons I would like my soul to have realised from the lessons in my life, the knowledge you could could take to your next reincarnation.

Sometimes the less important things then cause less anxiety and inner inspiration can be focused on what is important and possible and brings inner contentment.

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

Interesting take, and conscience could well be a primary cause of anxiety in many people, but what of outside forces?

One example I can share was a period of time during my mid twenties. Fear induced a quite acute phase of anxiety that lasted several years. It was fear of the dark. Fear of going to bed at night. Fear of waking up paralysed to see non-human entities standing over the bed etc. Confronted with forces that I didn't understand and couldn't control I lived in a constant state of anxiety and dread.

I have also experienced anxiety (far less severe and overwhelming though) in the workplace. The pressure of work, I think, for many people, is a very common cause.

[PurpleLama]

While I absolutely agree with the OP, there is also an overlooked element of mineral deficiency in relation to anxiety. To dovetail with Starmariner's post above, when one has not the internal chemical wherewithal to metabolize the biological byproducts of stress, then a condition of chronic anxiety may occur.

That said, there can also be a purely psychological/psychic cause of such a condition, as Mike has rightly observed.

As a "healer" of sorts, I have encountered sometimes one, sometimes the other, but more often a combination of factors.

[JackMcThorn]

The ability to solve problems can eliminate some anxiety. Anxiety born of second guessing one's self. Experience is the best teacher.

I agree with the op to a point. Not all anxiety is spawned from personal responsibility, nor a candidate for medical treatment.

A healthy reflection of one's decisions might be necessary when gaining that crucial experience.

[Mike]

Posted by PurpleLama (here)
While I absolutely agree with the OP, there is also an overlooked element of mineral deficiency in relation to anxiety. To dovetail with Starmariner's post above, when one has not the internal chemical wherewithal to metabolize the biological byproducts of stress, then a condition of chronic anxiety may occur.

That said, there can also be a purely psychological/psychic cause of such a condition, as Mike has rightly observed.

As a "healer" of sorts, I have encountered sometimes one, sometimes the other, but more often a combination of factors.

Yeah for sure. I'm with ya there. It would be pretty convenient were it just one thing but there are often multiple causes. I know that all too well, sadly, due to various health issues over the years.

I'm wondering, however, if ignoring one's conscience can - over time - result in the rewiring of one's brain, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, etc. People that get diagnosed with chemical imbalances, for example..I wonder if chronic negativity and poor mental habits lead to these imbalances or if the imbalances are the source of the behaviors. Chicken or egg thing.

Not sure. Just thinking out loud. No scientific reasons behind my premise here. No evidence in that way. Just goin on a hunch and some personal experience. And observations of friends.

I've got this friend, Jay. He's been on anxiety meds for years. He's the most hyper, high strung guy I know. If there is such a thing as anxiety disorder, he has it.

He was likely born that way to some extent, but I can't help but feel his life could have gone differently had he listened to his conscience and behaved and thought differently across time. His mother, tho a terrific lady, enabled him along the way in almost every instance. I think it crippled him more than any organic disorder he may have been born with. He never had a chance to work thru life's challenges because he always knew she'd be there to solve them for him...or clean up his mess when he screwed up in some way.

And it's extended well into his adulthood. He's 44 now, and until recently he didn't pay for his phone or car or condo or anything. He has his Mom's credit card and dines out daily in fancy restaurants and spends loads of money in the process. He's been in all kinds of legal troubles for all kinds of reasons and she always bails him out. And he always says the same thing after, that he can't help himself because of his anxiety and so forth...that he's mentally crippled and tortured and is the victim of a condition he can't control.

Well his Mom finally cut him off. About 20 years too late in my view, but she did. And Jay, who previously professed his inability to do all sorts of things due to his condition - like work a full time job, for example - has become unprecedentedly willing to do those things now Fear is a great motivator. He doesn't want to lose his fancy car, or condo. He doesn't want to live in any other way than the way he has become accustomed to. So he's acting like a big boy now. He's still a mess. Work causes him loads of grief. He still takes meds to curb the anxiety. But he's out there, performing like an adult and living his life.

I can't help but wonder where he'd be now if his Mom forced him into a sink or swim scanario when he was a younger man. He'd have been forced to listen to his conscience more, and obey it's suggestions, and I think he'd be much healtheir mentally.