Worried minds are seldom able to focus on what is happening right now. Anxiety usually dissects either the past or the future and that gets in the way of happiness.
Eastern philosophies have had something to say about an overactive mind for thousands of years. According to the Buddha's famous teachings, suffering is a result of desire and attachment. In particular, he believed that thoughts, feelings and ideas were all fleeting, and that attaching to them would only lead to suffering.
To counter this, most schools of Buddhism today encourage mindful awareness, and the understanding that what goes on in the mind is not necessarily reality, and is not the self. Through meditative practices, practitioners can learn to detach from a busy, ego-filled mind and attain a sense of serenity.
When you think about it, worry always lives somewhere outside the present moment. Either we worry about what has already happened in the past, or we worry about what might still happen in the future. The result? We are never truly in the present moment.
Try and cultivate a deeper appreciation for the moment, i.e. being more aware and alert to your surroundings, as well as learning to detach a little from busy and overactive thoughts. We'll look a little more closely at techniques to combat mindlessness in part three of this course.
What do you think? Does this theory ring true when you think about your own worry?