Reader Question: I have an anxiety problem, what should I do?

Words and poster design by Brian Thompson.

Reader Question:

I have an anxiety problem, what should I do?


Begin by understanding the nature of "who" is anxious. Is it you, or are you just aware of an uneasy feeling that is present?

If you are aware of "your" anxiety, then this anxiety cannot truly be you, since it is something appearing to you. In other words, this concern is separate from you. Always remember that whatever you perceive, you are not, as you are the awareness recognizing it.

So, who are you then?

You are the presence of awareness in which this anxiety is appearing, but you are not the story you have wrapped around it. You have attached your sense of personal self, for whom you fear, onto a concept and you have forgotten your present reality.

No longer identify yourself with any emotions that appear to you. Observe them, feel them, but do not analyze them, argue with them, or create a personal story of "me" around them.

It is the believing of untrue thoughts that causes anxiety—nothing more. No longer believe anything, that is all.

Realign awareness with the reality of your conscious Self. Breathe. Notice your breath. Notice the sensations of your body, mind, and environment. They all appear to you, and yet, you are not them. Relax and sink into the stillness of this awareness. Surrender your anxiety into an even deeper self-investigation of this precise moment, here and now. Observe the thoughts appearing within the mind. Do you see that there is no anxiety, except for whatever the mind creates?

When you let go of whatever stories are spinning through your mind, you will find that you are already at peace within yourself, as yourself.

Create a conscious space around your thoughts. Realize you are not them, rather, you are the awareness that is giving them an appearance of false reality.

Remind yourself of this frequently.

You are a stream of pure consciousness, perpetually flowing, in which your self-image and the entire world and all of its problems appear, but you remain free of them all. You, this presence of awareness that you always are and have always been, are the source from which all things are born and into which all things die, while you, consciousness, remain as their changeless, invisible, selfless, aware presence.

The mind appears to limit awareness through its beliefs, and when you believe in its fearful stories of personal conditioning anxiety appears, with which you mistakenly become self-identified.

The prescription for the ego's suffering is this—no longer trust any of the emotions that arise within you, simply watch them float by, one after the next, like broken twigs drifting downstream. Be the quiet space of stillness in which all thoughts and emotions flow, without creating any false obstructions. Allow all thoughts, beliefs, concepts, and concerns to disappear into the emptiness of consciousness.

Realize your presence of nothingness. Allow all emotions to do whatever they may, feel your feelings but attach no story. Quietly observe and allow all discontent to naturally fade into nothing.

No longer seek to define yourself. Remain mindful of the egoic mind that tries to self-identify with whatever thoughts it thinks and with whatever concepts it wants to believe. When you are finally able to see through the egoic fog of mind, you are free.

Ask yourself, Who feels this? Who is this “I" who is anxious? What is its source? From where does this “I” appear? And, to whom is this "I" appearing?

I Am the watcher of I.

I am consciousness, but I am not the ego, I am its silent witnessing presence. I am the emptiness in which all phenomena appear.

Practice this method of self-inquiry with great curiosity and deep intention, and allow all anxiety, discontent, fears, sadness, and untruths to dissolve within you, thereby revealing the true nature of your all-encompassing peace.