Only naturalness feels good. So when anxious feelings arise here’s a great solution… TAKE CHARGE OF LIFE(Vernon Howard, Conquer Anxiety and Frustration)
When meeting any situation in life, one of two things always happens:
1. The situation takes charge of you
2. You take charge of the situation
It is one or the other. There is no third choice. So it is important to examine both of them. When a situation takes charge of you, it is always accompanied by a feeling of anxiety. Listen to this discomfort, for it is trying to teach you something valuable. It may be trying to reveal that you are imagining yourself to be in command of the situation, when in fact you are commanded by it. Exposing imaginary self-power is highly helpful.
So you need to understand yourself in relation to any situation. This understanding changes you, which in turn increases your general command of life. The situation is in charge of you when:
1. You feel drained of energy by it
2. You are doubtful and indecisive
3. You anxiously seek allies
4. You worry over the final outcome
5. You fear and resent the condition
6. You blame others for your problem
7. You constantly change plans
8. You can’t see how it trapped you
9. You fear other involved people
10. You wish to evade its responsibility
Taking charge of a situation can only mean one thing–taking charge of yourself. No exterior event has any intelligence or authority in itself. You make the situation whatever it is.
A way has been provided for you to remain in command both day and night. No matter how many other people may be defeated by a condition, you can be its conqueror. That higher way is called Cosmic Command. It becomes your power as you invite higher truths into your life. Cosmic Command, working thru you, easily does everything needing to be done. You are in charge of the situation when:
1. You never see it as a threat to you
2. You remain calm and efficient
3. You are not influenced by others
4. You have no pretense or bluff
5. You feel rightness of your actions
6. You handle it all by yourself
7. You wish no ego-rewards from the event
8. You have no hostility toward others
9. You don’t care what others think of you
10. You do only what is true and good
Anxious feelings arise from being wrong about life. For example, if you claim to possess a virtue that you don’t really have you will feel bad. You will feel bad because artificiality always feels bad. Only naturalness feels good.
To understand anxiety and frustration you must also understand egotism. All painful inner states arise from egotism, including anger, jealousy, weakness, a refusal to learn. Egotism is a substitute life, an artificial existence. Not living from his real nature the individual fills his emptiness with self-praise and self-promotion. But this is self-betrayal, for the very act of trying to build himself is the very act that keeps him nervous about himself. He is like a sailor caught in a storm at sea who tries to feel safe by imagining himself at home. He will never convince himself of it. Imagination cannot take the place of Reality. The individual must admit that he is caught in the storm of his own wild nature, for that attracts intelligence for sailing safely home.
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Inner Life Exercise
Watch how guilt and anxiety prowl together. Keeping your psychic system bothered and then directing you to do something foolish and wasteful to relieve the guilt. Watch as you put the light of awareness on the whole process. They vanish. Guilt and anxiety are two bullies…call their bluff. You were made to enjoy your day.
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I started reading this and immediately noticed a voice inside that said “none of this applies to me… of course I am in charge of my life and all situations in it”. Then when I re-read it with an open mind I realized that everything Vernon points out is very true and personal for me! What a shock. But now I can go forth and start taking charge of my life and with persistence, end my suffering. The first step in getting help is to see that you need the help!