By Dr. Marta Adelsman
Life Coach in Communication and Consciousness
www.DrMartaCoach.com
(January 11, 2012)
I awoke on that Saturday morning filled with intense anxiety that bordered on panic. We hadn’t yet lived in the Verde Valley for a year, and we were experiencing a tough time financially. My mind projected a future in which we had lost our house and a whole lot of other things. All weekend I threw blame and lashed out (my poor husband!).
The fear lasted through all of Saturday and most of Sunday. On Sunday afternoon, I noticed that it had settled into a tight, painful knot in my solar plexus area. So I decided to practice a technique I had read about. I sat down, closed my eyes, and allowed myself to feel the painful sensation. All of my attention went to the discomfort in my solar plexus. As I sat quietly with my eyes closed, the tight knot began to loosen. After only about three minutes, it loosened so much that I couldn’t feel it anymore!
I opened my eyes. As I looked around the room, everything seemed fresh and new. The anxiety and panic had completely left. I had allowed my mental fixation on future financial disaster to distract me from the reality and truth and beauty of the present moment. I saw that, right now, we were fine financially!
I learned a lot that weekend…
- That my inner peace does not depend on my outer circumstances. It hangs, instead, on my interpretation of those circumstances.
- That I’m in charge of what my mind thinks. I actually have choices about where it goes. When I allow my mind to imagine future “what-if” disaster (or to wallow in “if only” thoughts of the past), that’s when the emotional drama and angst take hold.
- When I keep my mind focused on what I have instead of on what’s missing, I am at peace. There is always enough in this moment. When I refuse to focus on scarcity and lack, I draw to myself more of the abundance to which I pay attention.
- When I put my attention on what’s happening now instead of on the mind-made “story” (we’re going to lose our house, etc.), I can relax. In the present moment, there is no “story,” no problem. In the “now,” there is only a situation to handle.
- When I go into past/future thinking, I miss the guidance that comes only into the “now.” When I entertain and feed anxiety, I miss the present-moment inspirations to take action that could resolve my situation.
I share this experience and these concepts with you because many of you have experienced changes financially. I invite you to notice the link between your thinking and the emotions that may sometimes overtake you. As you practice staying focused on abundance rather than scarcity, you will decrease, even eliminate, bouts of anxiety and panic.
I hope that my experience can, in some way, support your journey through the challenges.