Dear one,
You who are momentarily lost in the vortex of anxiety,
Take a moment to turn back in time and look at yourself five minutes ago,
Wherever you were,
Whatever you were doing,
Where you were sitting,
Where you were standing,
When you had the thought to reach for relief from your anxiety.
Look at yourself there.
See your hands,
Perhaps your fingers anxiously typing.
See your expression.
See your eyes,
Perhaps the worry in your brow.
See your mind,
The swirl of thoughts and images that caused your heart to race or your body to tense.
See that person,
That person you were just a moment ago with great compassion and tenderness.
Look at that person with great intimacy and kindness.
See how lost they are in the movie in their head.
Take a moment with curiosity to notice that movie.
What is playing?
What is the image of past?
What is the image of future that is racing through that mind to keep it anxious?
See how those movies are just hallucinations.
They do not exist in this moment.
See how those are just thoughts in the mind,
Just images.
They may feel very real.
They may feel like they have consequences attached,
But right now look at this person of five minutes ago.
Where are they sitting?
Where are they standing?
Are they physically safe?
Is there imminent harm?
And gently put your arm around that person yourself of five minutes ago and remind them there is no imminent danger in this moment now.
Point out to them the movie in their mind,
The hallucination,
The programming that has been downloaded into them to keep them anxious.
Now move back into the present.
Be in your body right here and now wherever you are sitting or lying down.
Are you safe?
Notice how the mind movie playing,
Keeping you anxious has no substance.
It exists in your head.
The only thing real right now is you sitting or lying exactly where you are listening to this voice.
Thoughts may rush in objections.
The mind may want to stay anxious.
The mind may say,
But wait,
What about this?
What about that?
Be afraid.
My friend,
That is an old program.
It is from long ago,
From childhood,
Even from evolutionary biology,
There is so much downloaded into you to keep you afraid and it is not personal.
See how this programming of fear,
Anxiety,
Depression is a kind of hallucination.
Concealing your true essence.
And even if you cannot believe this right now,
Even if the hallucination,
The images of past,
The images of future,
All of those fearful ideas abide for this moment,
That is fine.
Let them continue.
Let the movie play.
But for a moment,
Just let yourself watch it.
Detached,
But with an intimate,
Kind curiosity.
Not subject to it,
But observing it.
Seeing how it captured you.
Seeing how you have been hijacked by that programming.
And feeling how even as it continues to play,
You are free to not respond to it.
You are free to step out of it.
My friend,
You are not your thoughts.
The negative self-talk that has hijacked you is not who you are.
So take a moment just to watch it.
To watch the whole vortex swirl around you.
The hurricane of thoughts and ideas and worries.
The sense of doom.
See it swirl around you and see how it is impersonal.
It is not you.
It is a weather system.
And move down into that deeper part of you.
Not the front of your heart that may be beating hard or going out to the world or being fearful,
But step into the deep chamber at the back of your heart.
Let yourself rest there for a moment in that still,
Quiet,
Silent place.
And watch the movie.
Watch your dear self lost in that fear and anxiety.
And extend your love,
Your radiant love to that self.
Put your arm around yourself in your mind's eye.
The more you can step back into that deep,
Quiet,
Observing place,
That place of radiant compassion at the back of your heart,
The more that hallucination will begin to thin and dissipate and drift away like morning fog.
And you will be able to look in the mirror and see not anxiety,
Not depression,
Not the veil of illusion of whatever circumstances you feel have confined you.
See through that.
See into your own eyes at the radiant love that is your center.
Connect with that love.
And even if you cannot feel it,
Trust that it is there,
My friend.
It is who you are.
It is your essence.
Storms of worry and anxiety may come and go,
But that essence,
That love at the core of your being never changes.
You are whole,
My friend.
You are complete.
You are radiant love.
Be brave and see yourself.
May you be happy,
My friend.
May you be at peace.
May you be free.
