On Anxiety.

Anxiety is a fickle, looming, presence that resides at the back of the mind. Masqueraded by the daily tasks of life. But rears its head at the worst possible times. It underlies a distinction between the conscious and unconscious. But, do these distinctions have any merit?

The default state of mind has an implicit and automatic response to threatening objects, anxiety. But in the majority of daily cases, they are false threats. Usually, based on prior experiences that have triggered the mind’s automatic response. Now, from knowledge of potential reoccurrence, the mind brings on a state of anxiety.

Generally, the conscious person knows that these states are false. Yet, is swayed by them nonetheless. How can someone’s mind have two stories? The conscious and unconscious. One of effective control and the other an automatic entity.

Is it that the unconscious mind controls the conscious mind? The unconscious receives stimulus from the outside world, interprets, and then dictates what we do or think. What if we can control the unconscious mind? How then are we controlled by our mind’s automatic responses? Can you control these automatic responses? I don’t believe so. I do believe that you can control how you respond to them.

In essence, anxiety will always occur, and an adequate response is needed. How can you control the beast of the unconscious? How does the unconscious learn? Can we use this learning to mitigate anxiety?

Confrontation is the answer. It is the mind’s imagination that creates the worst possible scenarios for a given circumstance. Imagination works both consciously and unconsciously, influencing eachother. The unconscious imagination being the most dangerous as you have no control and yet are effected the most.

Thus, reality will be the breaker of imagination and the effects of anxiety itself.