Detachment from Future Anxiety
by Swami Swatmananda
We live in an age of anxiety as the future is unpredictable.
Future by itself does not cause anxiety but the expectation of certain outcome or wanting to control it. This does not mean one should not plan for the future but drop insistence of the result.
Identify the attachments of what we insist on as sometimes small things like traffic jam cause anxiety.
Anxiety is a natural response and we should learn to cope with it. As seekers we should know the triggers that cause anxieties. Arjuna broke down as he did not know his triggers.
Likes and dislikes cause anxieties and in the Geeta, they are referred as daylight robbers. Anxiety is a fear response to a real or imagined scenario which can be amplified. Dhritarashtra is anxious for not doing his duty because of his attachment to his son.
Anxiety leads the mind to play the “What If” games. The way to control this is to discriminate what one can change and what one cannot. For things that one can change then "Just Do it" and for can’t change "Just Drop it" and accept.
Future = planning – anxiety.
Invoke confidence and face the situation, irrespective if we make a mistake. We can learn from our mistakes.
Pujya Gurudev gave 2 mantras "I Can, I must, I Will" and "Never Mind".
Arjuna thinks of future negatively while Lord Krishna gives him the positives.
We should equip ourselves with knowledge, as it helps dispel ignorance and which helps prepare for a situation, alternatively face the situation. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. It's important to postpone decision-making when overwhelmed emotionally.
The mechanism to control is 333 Grounding Reset. In anxiety the mind has disconnected from reality and is in imagined reality. The mind has to be brought back to reality.
Anxieties come because one thinks of extremes (all or nothing) and not balance. It is vital to understand that the world does not resolve around ME. Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that the latter was merely an instrument.
Swamiji ended the session with a guided meditation.
