A Modern-Day Buddha Explains the way to address it is as follows.

“I’ve experienced some terrible circumstances in my life, some of which actually occurred.” [Mark Twain]. Are stress and anxiety delusions? Yes, the physical symptoms of anxiety are quite real, but is the source of our stress and worry purely mental? Numerous spiritual and psychological schools blame our erroneous cognitions for our uneasiness. But precisely what is anxiety? From a physiological standpoint, we are aware that when we experience anxiety, it is because our sympathetic nervous system is prepared to either run away or fight when we detect a threat in our environment.

Our ancestors used this reaction to mobilise all of their physical power in order to survive an attack from a tiger that was waiting in the trees to turn them into meal. Even though the situations that cause worry in us modern humans are far less serious, the physical changes taking place inside of us nevertheless emerge in the same way. Every time we feel anxious, whether it’s related to our employment, finances, or interactions with others, our body is ready for the proverbial tiger lurking in the trees to attack.

But what exactly is anxiety in terms of our daily lives and on a psychological level?

Many spiritual teachings have a common theme regarding anxiety, and this theme always appears to come down to our monkey mind and its inclination to wander off course. So perhaps the most frank way to characterise anxiety is to state that it is what happens when the world doesn’t turn out the way we want it to. There is only one and one reason why you feel stressed, and that is because you have a very rigid idea of how the universe should be, and the universe is not cooperating with you, according to renowned MBA professor Srikumar Rao, also known as “The Buddha of Success and Happiness.”

Let’s think about all the things in our daily life that cause us worry and anxiety. Most of them, we’re likely to discover, are unimportant issues that cause constant, low-level anxiety that never seems to go away. They fall under the following four categories:

1. Everything that occurs in the outside world, including the dreadful news stories you read and watch, widespread disease, the economy, terrorism, dishonest political figures, etc. It seems like there is a new threat to be afraid of every day.
2. Changes at work, dealing with annoying coworkers, taking care of things in our personal lives, duties to our family and friends, etc. are examples of situations that might be personally inconvenient.
3. The elements of our lives that we find lacking. This covers everything from our aspirations for our careers and businesses to our physical characteristics, the state of our relationship, the style of house we live in, and even the college we want our children to attend.
4. The root cause of all daily tension and anxiety is the plague of having too much to do but not enough time to complete it. This is our extensive to-do list, which we never manage to cross off. It’s the stress we experience from juggling all the parts of our lives, including work commitments, family obligations, personal objectives, and our health.

Why can’t we escape the worry hamster wheel? A lot of tension is mental chatter, as Srikumar Rao succinctly stated in a seminar. What is mental babbling? Pay close attention. Are you hearing it? That’s it. As you read this post quickly and wonder what the author is on about, that voice in your head is speaking to you. Mental chatter is the constant mental dialogue that goes on in our thoughts and that we can never get to stop talking to us. Mental chatter keeps us either worrying about the future or ruminating on the past, which keeps us from ever being totally present. It’s what consistently transforms a mildly awful one to a dire one.

The second arrow represents chatter in the mind.

The Buddha used the metaphor of shooting the “second arrow” to describe mental chatter as the archetype of what causes human suffering. In other words, the first arrow stands for everything that befalls us in the world and everything we wish we could change about our life, but the second arrow is the true killer because it represents how we respond to it. When the world does not turn out the way we want it to, it is our fears, judgments, and stories that we tell ourselves. (a.k.a. anxiety). After a contentious dispute with our significant other, we start to worry that they’ll depart. Working furiously to fulfil a crucial deadline turns into an act of desperation to avoid being dismissed. We already expect to be afflicted with the worst of illnesses when a health worry arises for us or a loved one. Trust me, I understand. A long back, I experienced eye problems, and I convinced myself that I was going blind. As a result of events in our lives, we begin to imagine the worst-case scenarios and dwell there. The second arrow is what causes the constant mental chatter that causes our anxiety and tension.

How can mental chatter be eliminated?

Regrettably, you don’t. There is just addition and multiplication in the mind, according to spiritual teacher Sadhguru, who wrote the book Mind is your Business. From the mind, nothing can be forcedly removed. All we can do is learn to watch our mental chatter rather than allowing it to take us off on a private aircraft to an uncharted territory. In other words, prepare for the first arrow’s inevitable slings… that the universe is more likely than not not going to match our narrow conception of it. But more importantly, be aware of when you throw the second one because of the confusion you’ve brought about in your head. I enjoy grinning and telling myself, “There I go again shooting that second arrow,” when I am successful in doing so.

Hi, I’m Garima and I write about life experiences. I have several books available on Amazon. Check them out today! Any purchases or KDP reads will be greatly appreciated. If you like my books, do leave a review. Here’s my author page on Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0BQDZXYNV