Late Night Chat with Jeff: Dealing with Anxiety, June 23, 2024, live on Baba Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But once a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for conversation, more readings, songs, quotes - you never know what treasures will be uncovered!

Topic: Dealing with Anxiety

Dear folks of Baba,

One of the emotions these days that many people who come to the Center experience in their lives, especially young adults, is anxiety. Of course, one of the reasons is the unstable condition of the world today—widespread dishonesty and greed, distrust of our institutions, an epidemic of narcissism, and the increasing polarity between people in our society. In some of the Baba lovers, the anxiety is felt directly, but in many the anxiety is below the surface, a nameless shadow that is difficult to access and experience directly and give to Baba.

Where does anxiety come from? In my own experience, it is fear that is at the very root of anxiety, but rarely do we encounter fear is its raw form, and for this reason, it is difficult to give its enervating effect--which secretly saps our vitality--to Baba. When I am faced with raw fear, which rarely happens, I seize that opportunity to give that fear, the very source of anxiety and worry, to Baba. It takes tremendous inner work to give these to Baba, layer by layer, until their power to cast a shadow over our present moment, is diminished. From what I gathered from Darwin, it is best to go directly to the emotions that feed the thoughts in order to lessen the ticker-tape of mind chatter. In this case, a concentrated focus on anxiety at the heart level (thank Baba it interfaces with the body so we can follow it), and giving it energetically to Baba will result in creating what Darwin called "inner space.” And that is essential in developing detachment from anxiety. Mind you, the state of the world is not helping! Of course, the dissolving effect of remembering Baba and taking His name in the heart always does so much to counteract anxiety, and as the mandali have said, this is actually a form of loving service to Baba.

Baba has written, “There are very few things in the mind that eat up as much energy as worry… Worry has never done anyone any good, and it is very much worse than mere dissipation of energy, for it substantially curtails the joy and fullness of life.” Worry and anxiety, twin bedfellows, are often as close as we get to fear. I have found, unfortunately, that sometimes giving my anxiety and worry to Baba is like clipping off the tops of weeds without getting to the root itself. The tops keep growing back.

The worrisome conditions of our present fragile and unstable world situation fortunately drive us to take shelter in Baba within, which is a good thing. The outer world is not likely to change substantially with our small individual efforts, but Baba says He can work through us, even without our knowing. I have no doubt that our efforts to remember Baba and live a spiritual life helps Him to help the world. I am reminded of a cable that Baba sent to Delia DeLeon during World War II as Germany was bombarding London. Delia was a classic worrywart, with every reason to worry in this devastation, but in His cable, He wrote in part, “Remain calm. If you remain calm, I can work through you.” I try to remain as relaxed as possible at the innermost level in spite of the distressing news that is continually hitting the air waves.

How much are worry and anxiety a part of your life?

What forms do they take in your life at a personal level as well as when you think about the state of the world?

What methods have worked for you in neutralizing or diminishing anxiety’s influence?

What part does remembrance of Baba play in counteracting this?

How successful are you at seeing the bigger picture at play and becoming more aware of the grand scheme of things?

Baba has said, “I tell you, don’t worry, be happy. Why? Because I know the ending, and the ending is beautiful.”

In His love, Jeff

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