Don't bother how the path is if destination is beautiful

We start with a story of two monks, they were returning to the monastery in the evening. It had rained and there were puddles of water on the road sides. At one place a beautiful young woman was standing unable to walk across because of a puddle of water. The elder of the two monks went up to her lifted her and left her on the other side of the road, and continued his way to the monastery.

In the evening the younger monk came to the elder monk and said, “Sir, as monks, we cannot touch a woman ?” The elder monk answered “yes, brother”. Then the younger monk asks again, “but then Sir, how is that you lifted that woman on the roadside ?” The elder monk smiled at him and told him ” I left her on the other side of the road, but you are still carrying her.” When you’re walking. Walk. When you’re eating. Eat. When you’re watching. Watch. Stay in the moment. Runaway thoughts and anxiety are almost all about regrets and shame of the past and worry about the future. Don’t let your life be pulled away by a string of idle thoughts, worries and fears.

Be super aware. Look around you with a child’s eyes. How do you feel at this moment? Focus on one object, any object, intently, and in detail. Observe it’s texture, color, smell, etc. Did you notice something different about it this time? Did it feel as if there was something that you didn’t know/feel about it before? Did this experience feel more profound? ry incorporating this small habit in everyday life.

Observe your thoughts and behavior in various situations. Observe the source of your feelings mindfully and start practicing this habit of observing with a clear mind today. Do it everywhere. In the traffic. In metro. In your office. At home. As you do this, you’ll experience a richer, more joyful life free of worries and anxieties. It’s called..Being mindful. What you’ll experience through mindfulness will be stronger, more profound than anything else. 

Recognize but don't worry for what it really is. Worry is not an externally caused condition. It is simply a particular type of thought pattern - nothing more. We often believe we have no choice but to worry- we believe its our life circumstances 'doing it to us' but in truth it is simply a worrying though doing it to us! A ‘worry’ or ‘anxious’ thought occurs when the mind projects itself into the future and imagines something going wrong. What is the emotion generated by these types of thoughts or mental movies? Fear.

You may use more ‘socially acceptable’ words like stress, anxiety or worry but at the core of all these is fear. Though these imagined future events are not happening in reality, you are still going through the events in your mind and your body reacts accordingly, going into a subtle (or not so subtle) state of 'fight or flight'. Learn to recognize worry and anxiety for what they are. Just thought patterns. Thought patterns that you don't need to believe or buy into. By seeing worry for what it is it loses its power to ‘take you over’.

A great way of dealing with worry us just label and let go of people. One technique for dealing with worry proposed by Dr. Christopher Walsh is a technique he calls the “just worrying” labeling. It’s a very simple technique: Whenever you find yourself worrying about something, note to yourself that you’re “just worrying.” By doing this you become present as the witness of your thoughts instead of being completely taken over by them. You now have the power to choose to let it go. After you label it, then turn your focus to your breathing, or just simply bring your attention into the present moment and what your doing.

Every time you catch yourself worrying but no matter how often and when you employ the technique again. You'll find that this will gradually break the habit of your habit of worrying.That’s when I bought a hat it was more like a cap, actually and started wearing it while doing my leg workouts. After a while of using it, I realized that I was actually focusing on my workouts rather than worrying about what other people think of me.

This happened because the hat blocked my view of other people. I couldn’t see their faces properly. I didn’t knew what they were looking at or what they were talking about. The hat worked as a protection shield for me, letting me concentration on the more important stuff.

Since then, I’ve applied the hat theory to every situation in my life. Every time, I find myself worrying about anything, I put on my virtual hat. The purpose of the hat, is to remind you to focus on the more important stuff and not pay attention to the what if’s and what not’s of the outside world. It’s meant to be your own superpower of ‘not feeding the worry demon’ inside you. You cannot help feeling worried about something, but you can definitely choose to direct your focus on something else, something more important, and something that will yield better results. I hope this theory helps you just like it helped me. And like always, stop worrying, start living! Cheers!