I receive many email messages from people asking how to get rid of anxieties. It seems that anxieties and worries are so common in today’s world, and people are looking for solutions.

I am not a physician neither a psychologist. I am writing about this subject from a totally different viewpoint, from the viewpoint of inner development - self improvement, spiritual growth and meditation. This approach might not be everyone’s cup of tea, as it requires time and effort, but the rewards are great, and go much further and beyond reducing anxieties.

There is nothing in the world worth to be anxious about, no matter what your situation is. Anxieties are thoughts tinged with negative feelings and expectations that take control of your mind and life. You are the Spirit beyond the mind, and therefore should be the one in control of your thoughts and anxieties, and not the other way around.

Being anxious is a habit of the mind, and you need to find a way to undo this habit. Often, it becomes an enslaving habit, which weakens and can cause a lot of trouble. One finds himself caught in a vicious circle of negative thinking, fears and worries, which are difficult or next to impossible to overcome.

How can you undo and overcome the habit of anxiety?

* You can start by telling and convincing yourself that anxieties are thoughts and feelings that inhabit your mind, and as such, they are outsiders, not part of yourself. Believe and tell yourself often that you don’t have to accept every thought that comes into your mind, especially negative thoughts.

* Learn to concentrate and you will learn to be in control of your thoughts.

* Work on developing some emotional and mental detachment, by being alert and aware of your thoughts, feelings and reactions, and trying not to get too much affected and involved with them.

* Focus your mind on happy thoughts, and avoid dwelling on negative thoughts and events.

* A regular practice of meditation can also help you reduce the level of anxieties.

All this will gradually help you reduce your anxieties, and even overcome them completely and bring inner peace into your mind.

Following this advice might sound too tough and difficult for you, and it also requires time and effort to implement. Some might prefer psychological treatments or taking medications to relax the amount of anxiety, but in the long run, the above mentioned inner development methods bring greater rewards and make you independent of treatments and medications. They will eventually make you strong, happy, positive and free of anxieties, and develop new positive habits.

Remember, anxieties are thoughts tinged with feelings. It is up to you to accept or reject them. They add nothing to your life, and life without them is more free and happy.

Clear, step-by-step instructions and guidance for overcoming anxieties and worries, and gaining inner peace, happiness and mental mastery, written in a clear and easy to understand language.

Peace of Mind in Daily Life

How to improve your concentration and attention and why is it important?

Paying attention to what you are doing is one of the most important keys to success. If you are not able to hold your attention on one thing for some time, how can you accomplish anything?

Successful people are able to focus their mind on their goals day and night, until they accomplish them, be it money, fame, power, self-improvement or meditation. How can you improve your ability to focus your mind on your goals, when there are so many things that distract your attention?

Napoleon Hill said the following words about attention: 

“Controlled attention is the act of coordinating all the faculties of the mind and directing their combined power to a given end. It is an act, which can be achieved only by the strictest sort of self-discipline.”

“Learn to fix your attention on a given subject, at will, for whatever length of time you choose. You will have learned the secret to power and plenty! This is concentration.”

“Keep your mind on the things you want and off the things you don’t want!”

This is good advice for anyone one wishes to learn how to improve the concentration and attention. 

(more…)

Has anyone any idea how to make SuccessConsciousness’s forum more active, and how to increase the number of registered and active users?? There are now about 890 registered users, but many are inactive, who have never posted a single post. As with many forums, there are more visitors than active participants. I would like to add that the number of the forum’s registered users doesn’t even come near to the number of daily visitors to the website, which is a much higher number.

There are several subjects discussed on the forum, which cover various topics related to the website:

1. Positive thinking, creative visualization.
2. Self improvement.
3. Achieving success.
4. The Inner Powers.
5. Spiritual growth, meditation, nonduality, Advaita Vedanta.
6. General, off-topic subjects.

What do you think need to be changed, added or improved? Do you think the forum’s script need to be changed, its color, the topics or something else? Do you have any suggestions how to make the forum more active?

There are many people interested in the topics that the forum covers, as evidenced by the number of visitors to the website, and by the articles they read. A more active forum, with more people posting their comments, questions and answers, and sharing their experiences, can benefit everyone.

You can either:

1. Post a comment at this blog.

2. Send us a message.

3. Discuss this subject at the forum, under the ‘general, off-topic subjects’.

Thank you for your help.

The mental noise is an activity of the mind that almost everyone experiences day and night, and which most people consider as a natural activity of the mind. Though it goes on all the time as a background noise, you usually become aware of it in an acute form, when there is a problem, worry or fear, and you find your mind thinking and thinking about it, until you feel it is about to explode from thinking.

The mental noise manifests as inner conversation, inner monologue and as a tendency to constantly think, analyze, compare and repeat thoughts in the mind. It is an involuntary activity, which prevents you from focusing the mind and concentrating on what you are doing. It causes distraction, never being in the present moment, and it wastes a lot of time and mental energy, which could have been use for better purposes.

Some, will not agree with me, and say that constant thinking is a sign of being alive and active, and that they prefer to be constantly thinking. They feel that life would be boring and lifeless without the constantly thinking. This is because they have never experienced any other state of consciousness, and constant thinking seems to them to be the natural state of consciousness.

When the mental noise is reduced, the five senses function better, the ability to concentrate grows, and there is calmness and self control. Nothing is lost in this process, there is only gain.

Here are two articles on the mental noise:

1. The Mental Noise

Mental noise is the constant chatter of the mind that never stops. It is the inner conversation or inner monologue that constantly goes on in the mind.

Many are unaware of this mental noise, because it has become a deeply embedded habit, and is considered as a natural and inseparable part of life.

This mental noise is like a background noise that never ceases, from the moment of waking up in the morning, to the moment of falling asleep at night. Often, it even prevents you from falling asleep. It is a sort of inner voice that constantly analyzes everything about our lives, surroundings and the people we know. It is a voice in the head that just keeps talking and talking!

The mind often repeats the same thought over and over again, like in a loop or like a record that got stuck. If this is a positive thought that’s fine, but too often this a negative thought or a negative mental images that just intensify stress, worry, anger or frustration. These are thoughts that you absolutely do not need.

Read the article

2. How to Calm Down the Mental Noise

After reading the article on the mental noise, it is time to start doing something about it. As you now know, the mental noise is the inner dialogue and constant chatter that goes on in the mind almost all the time. Sometimes we are not aware of it, and at other times it is most disturbing and distracting the attention.

When do you become more aware of the mental noise and find it disturbing?
When you need to focus your mind on a certain activity, such as studying, reading, solving problems or anything else. At this time you become more aware of the buzz and constant flow of irrelevant, and often useless or distracting thoughts.

Read the article

Clear, step-by-step instructions and guidance for gaining inner peace, inner happiness, mental mastery and freedom from worries and anxieties, written in a clear and easy to understand language.

Peace of Mind in Daily Life

Negative thinking is an obstacle to happiness, improvement and success. It causes laziness, low self-esteem and unhappiness, and is the number one reason for failure.

In her book, Slimming Starts in the Mind, Dorina Sasson addresses the problem of negative thinking, and provides solutions and advice on how to substitute negative thinking with positive thinking. Here is an excerpt from her book, where she writes about negative thinking and failure:

Negative thinking anticipates failure

I am sure that you are familiar with the term “Negative thinking”. It is a mental attitude of dwelling on negative thoughts, and letting fear, lack and worries run your life.

People who are prone to negative thinking use phrases such as:
· Nothing comes easy in life.
· It is too good to be true.
· This good cannot last long, something will eventually go wrong.

· I will apply for a better position, but I have no chance of getting it.
· Why bother, it’s in my genes to fail.
· I am not talented enough to win this scholarship.

· I would never be able to afford myself a trip to Paris.
· Living in a fancy house will always be just a dream.
· I may as well get used to what I have, because it won’t get any better.

If you anticipate misfortune, failure and disappointment, you will most probably refrain from taking any initiative and action, in order to avoid possible negative results. However, if you choose to be passive and take no action, you deprive yourself the chance of gaining success.

The tendency to negative thinking is not something one is born with; it is usually acquired from a negatively oriented environment, and is often transferred on from parents to children. Luckily, through awareness and training, one can learn to think in a positive manner, and consider failure, as a temporary step on the ladder to success.