Transform Through Awareness

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Worry thoughts cause anxiety and produce stress reactions in the body. Long-term worry creates long-term chronic physical illness. Living out of touch with God in this physical world easily creates worry. Worry of course is based on fear. We have chronic fear syndrome in this world. Even more so with the spread of the coronavirus.

I often went on long walks in the woods. The physical exertion eased the effects of the day’s stress, but while I walked my mind constantly jumped from one thought to the next rapidly and randomly. Occasionally a thought would take hold and that thought would go round and round and round in my mind for however long I held it.

Using the techniques of meditation helps calm the mind even when doing repetitive tasks, like walking in the woods, washing dishes, or folding laundry. Watch your breath, focus on your mantra, and empty your mind by letting the thoughts float in and out, without attaching or casting judgment. This also increases awareness of one's thoughts and helps realize the programming that operates below the surface.

Watching television, reading a book, or any activity that keeps the mind busy is passive. Watching television is more passive than reading, because when reading the mind has to imagine what the words depict. One effect of extended watching of visual electronic medium is what I call mindless, zombie syndrome. We don’t want mindlessness, we want a relaxed, calm mind that observes thoughts, but does not attach to them. This mind is open to God.

I have spent much of my adult life in a state of worry, anxiety, and at times panic. All fear based. It was difficult for me to even recognize I was experiencing one of these states. I thought I was relaxed and would look and see my hands tensed into fists. I developed shortness of breath from years of shallow breathing. I had to practice deep breathing. It seemed like I had to learn how to breathe again at the age of 50. I didn’t understand the effects of the stress I barely knew I had … until I no longer had it. I gave my mind and my complete trust in life to God. I let go of fears and thoughts that I had made a mistake or that I wasn’t good enough. I discovered that allowing thoughts to come and go without attachment, is vital to progressing on the spiritual path and calming the mind.

So many times our battle exists in the mind. Our mind, attached to our bodies, flits about and is drawn to thoughts of pleasures of the body or defenses of the body, leading to disputes and jealousies among others. If we continually draw our mind back to its source, God, then we will find joy and peace while living in the present.