I woke up this morning with this mounting feeling of anxiety about the list of things that I had to do and the fear of not being able to get them all done. Everything on my list is something that I enjoy doing and that generally produces a state of calm within me. Realistically, I have time to do everything on my list. But anxiety is an insidious thing. It sneaks up and tries to convince me of its logic, that I really do have a lot to be scared about and that bad things are bound to happen if I don't do what I'm "supposed" to do. Before I know it I feel anxiety's rope tightening around my neck.
Sometimes I feel like I'm being chased by tigers. Rationally, I know that there aren't any tigers out there. I've never seen one roaming loose on the streets of Alpharetta, Georgia. And chances are that if I don't complete a project or even start a project, nothing horrific is going to happen to me. If I step back, examine the past, and think rationally, I see that there has never been an instant in which I was chased by tigers or any thing else for that matter. The only thing that has been chasing me and threatening to devour me all of these years is my own mind.
Basically, my mind can and will always be able to find something to fret about. The major part of life's journey is wising up to the tricks and the false logic of the mind; taming the mind and making it one's friend instead of enemy. For the moment, I have banished the mental tigers and sent them on their way to frolic in their own habitat for awhile, so that I can visit my husband and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate in peace sans wild jungle animals.
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