“Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad.”
Proverbs 12:25
There are many reasons for anxiety to corrupt the mind of man. Biochemical reasons in the brain, external reasons at the workplace, internal reasons because of personality or whatever it may be. I won’t tell you that anxiety is curable, but that is never an excuse for us to avoid making an attempt to improve.
This is the Spartan way: to work to improve our state, even if there is no hope for a cure.
Negative anxiety can be from chemical imbalances or some other anxiety inducing source and has negative effects on our minds. It cripples us and slows us down, preventing our best work. It makes us live in constant fear of death, and in fear of the Judgement Day; any Christian who says we should not fear Judgement Day is ignorant of the standard by which we will be judged. It is a weakness, a chink in the armor of the mind.
Positive anxiety is a force that can drive us on. We are anxious about our death, therefore we do not waste any of our time. We are anxious about money, therefore we work harder and spend less time in vegetative-state laziness.
The difference between positive and negative anxiety is the result it pushes us to produce.
We must change our mind about anxiety and use it as a tool to improve rather than letting it beat us down. Anxiety can be channeled into constructive pursuits just like our anger if we are willing to practice controlling it and make it work for us.
Mantra
Anxiety is fuel and power.
Application
The difference between negative and positive anxiety is extremely small, so it can be difficult to tell which one you are being driven by without examining the results you produce. When you feel the physiological effects of anxiety (Increased heart rate, increased breathing, “feeling” in your gut from reduced blood flow) become conscious of yourself, notice the feelings with your conscious mind, and smile. Smile because you found the energy source, now all you have to do is bend it to your will.
Shift your thoughts to constructive pursuits. The mind will try to resist, it wants you to go into fight-or-flight mode because thinking is too difficult, but you need to harness it and make it obey your voice. Turn your mind to the positive, and start taking action. A great cure for any anxiety is action, especially if that action is aimed towards completing the task/job that is causing the anxiety. The majority of your fear lives in the few moments before taking action.
If your anxiety is the fear of death and judgement day, use that anxiety to drive your decision to do what is right.
Motives are irrelevant, action is what matters.
Conduct yourselves like Man.
