People with anxiety disorders usually have recurring intrusive thoughts or concerns. They may avoid certain situations out of worry.

Depending on what you mean by anxiety, it may be possible that you are avoiding the situation of being inactive "out of worry" as the quote says.

Do you know what anxiety is? I mean, know it by having experienced it, not by having read a definition. What makes you think that anxiety is "troubling"? — Metaphysician Undercover

Yeah, I have suffered from and been diagnosed with anxiety at one point in my life. Both hypochondria and generalised anxiety disorder. Have you? Because it seems to me from your descriptions that you have an entirely different understanding from anxiety than I do. It's true that we can sometimes call the feeling one has before having to go on stage for a musical performance as "anxiety", and it involves a fluttery feeling in the chest and stomach, and heightened focus. But that's not what I mean by anxiety when I talk about anxiety the medical condition.

The American Psychological Association defines anxiety as:

Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure.

People with anxiety disorders usually have recurring intrusive thoughts or concerns. They may avoid certain situations out of worry. They may also have physical symptoms such as sweating, trembling, dizziness or a rapid heartbeat.

I agree with their definition. That's what I mean by anxiety. It absolutely is troubling. So have you experienced that sort of anxiety?

If a Buddhist deals with the threat of irrational anxiety through inactivity, and I deal with the threat of irrational anxiety through activity, then unless I am engaged in bad activities, by what principle would you claim that the Buddhist technique is better than mine? — Metaphysician Undercover

Well, are you happy about always having to be active in order to avoid anxiety? Many people who experience this aren't happy about it. It's not optimal since it doesn't permit adequate rest and relaxation, nor is it rational to be active just to avoid anxiety - that's just allowing yourself to be controlled by it. Though I'm not sure what to say now that it seems to me you have an entirely different understanding of anxiety than I do.

If you, Buddhists, or whoever, find that you can avoid anxiety altogether, by being inactive, and you believe that this is a healthy state, then you might maintain a condition of inactivity for the sake of health. — Metaphysician Undercover

Not for the sake of health. And the point isn't that anxiety can be avoided by doing this. On the contrary - the person who practices meditation can avoid being troubled by anxiety (cause you can't eliminate feelings, just be detached from them) when they are active and when they are inactive. This is clearly superior to merely being unaffected by anxiety while being active, since such people are unaffected by it through both inactivity and activity.

I however, find that anxiety of the normal variety, that which is not irrational anxiety, is completely healthy, so I have no desire to kill my ambition altogether just because it is associated with some degree of anxiety. — Metaphysician Undercover

I will wait until you clarify what you mean by "anxiety of the normal variety"?

Anxiety can be a very encouraging experience, and this is very uplifting, joyous, pleasant, and good. What needs to be avoided is the "let-down", which is often associated with a higher level of anxiety. Since anxiety is such a joyous, uplifting, and encouraging experience, it seems very rational to increase it as much as possible so long as this may be accomplished while still avoiding the associated let-down. — Metaphysician Undercover

Oh dear!! :-O :-O :-O I would never describe anxiety as a joyous, uplifiting and encouraging experience, so I take that you're joking?

Why would I believe that any of your actions are anything other than contrived deception? — Metaphysician Undercover

If my actions are also deceptive, then what is the truth and how can you find it?

As the Wiki definition states, the person with an inferiority complex experiences doubt and uncertainty. This is a condition of not knowing what to belief. You construe this as a person who believes oneself to have a certain condition. Your construction is contradictory to the condition described by the definition. — Metaphysician Undercover

Doubt is grounded in belief (cf. Wittgenstein's On Certainty).

They are not different "conditions". They stem from exactly the same source, only one more extreme than the other. Usually occurring when one does not change oneself appropriately, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, or physically - there has to be a real change. Drugs are suppressive and will ultimately make things much worse. This is not theoretical, it is demonstrated from real life experiences. — Rich

Yeah, I don't know why you're telling me this. In medicine, they are classified and diagnosed as different conditions. That they are related, I never denied.

As for drugs not being effective long-term, I obviously agree. I very much consider the drugs to be merely a crutch that must be let go of at some point, as the patient grows stronger.

It's the same as someone who can be depressed and not suffer from capital d Depression. — Buxtebuddha

They would suffer from situational depression then.

One can suffer from anxiety, such as a panic attack, without being subject to having an anxiety disorder. — Buxtebuddha

Those are different conditions. One is either diagnosed with anxiety, or with panic attacks, or maybe both.

Merely because a panic attack is its own medical condition doesn't mean it's not caused by anxiety. — Buxtebuddha

No, anxiety isn't necessarily the cause of panic attacks, it can also be a symptom if the panic attack occurs seemingly randomly, in a person who does not suffer from an anxiety condition.

And I never said that anxiety and panic attacks aren't related, so I don't see why you're chewing so much on this. You should read what I wrote in greater detail before commenting.

MU doesn't seem to be aware that anxiety and panic attacks are classified as different medical conditions, which is what I was saying before and what he was misinterpreting.

Where does he write that he doesn't agree with that? — Buxtebuddha

Where do I write that I believe the doctors are idiots for making the dichotomy?

Why are you telling me? It's MU who doesn't understand that. I perfectly understand that panic attacks and anxiety are related, but they are different conditions, and I agree with the distinction drawn by doctors.

Have you ever consumed caffeine and felt the effects of this drug? — Metaphysician Undercover

I don't drink coffee no... except when I drank 12 espressos in one day >:O

I didn't feel effects to be honest apart from not being able to sleep, and fast heart rate - but it wasn't troubling since it also gave me a lot of energy.

I would call it a state of hyperawareness, similar to what some might call hypervigilance. It is a condition attributable to my entire body, and therefore not something "wrong" inside my mind. — Metaphysician Undercover

So if this is so, why do the hyperaware Buddhist monks, or Christian contemplatives not experience anxiety while meditating, but rather a profound sense of joy and inner peace? These people work to cultivate and heighten awareness, so I'm not at all convinced that anxiety is hyperawareness.

Nor would I say that the sort of "high" you get from caffeine is hyperawareness OR anxiety for that matter, but rather maybe focus and energy.

Your an odd sort, if you think that the need to stay active indicates that "something is wrong inside your mind". — Metaphysician Undercover

Well, if your "monkey mind" to use a Buddhist expression, forces you to stay active, cause otherwise you experience anxiety, then I think there is something wrong with it. One should be able to be inactive, without experiencing anxiety - that is called relaxation, and it's important.

What I've described is the need to stay active for the sake of being healthy. — Metaphysician Undercover

Only if you equate "not being anxious" with "being healthy". And your little subterfuge doesn't actually do anything, except attempt to escape what I've been saying. Namely, if it is possible to be inactive at times without being anxious, that is what "being healthy" would qualify as, not distracting yourself (being active) so that you avoid experiencing anxiety.

Being active in a physical sense (exercise) is good - in moderation. That reminds me that I haven't gone to the gym for a long time in this new year :/

This is not relevant. You have not disclosed any unconscious belief, only the fact that you can consciously hide your belief from me by being deceptive. — Metaphysician Undercover

So through my actions, I'm not disclosing my belief? You can't infer, from the way I act, what I believe about the location of the keys?

WIKIPEDIA: "An inferiority complex is the lack of self-worth, a doubt and uncertainty about oneself, and feelings of not measuring up to standards."

According to Agustino, doubt and uncertainty are belief. You are scaling a wall of contradiction. Be prepared to fall when the reality that there is nothing but contradiction supporting that wall hits you. — Metaphysician Undercover

Right. So does one who experiences an inferiority complex not have the belief that they fail to measure up to whatever standard is under question? Or at the very least the belief that they MAY very likely fail to measure up to it?

Right, doubt and uncertainty "IS the belief". Wall of contradiction falls on your head. — Metaphysician Undercover

Doubt and uncertainty are founded upon a series of beliefs. Beliefs are foundations for doubt and uncertainty.

Of course one can be anxious without having a panic attack, but a panic attack is a condition of anxiety. You said: "That's not anxiety, that sounds more like a panic attack". Here's an example of your ridiculousness. Suppose having a "fever" is defined as a particular level of high body temperature, say above 38 degrees. This allows that one can have a high body temperature without having a fever, but fever is still a case of having a high body temperature. Then I refer to someone with a body temperature of 40 as someone with a high body temperature. You object and say "that's not a high body temperature, that's a fever". See how ridiculous your argument is? — Metaphysician Undercover

Anxiety is a different medical condition than panic attacks. Why is that? Are the doctors idiots?

You can assert this all you want, but it would take a lot more than that to convince me that unconscious drives are beliefs. I think that's a simple misuse of the word "belief". — Metaphysician Undercover

So if I tell you I believe the key is on the wardrobe, but then I go and search for it under the cupboard, wouldn't you conclude that I probably lied about what I believe, and my actions indicate better than my words what I truly believe?

Belief cannot be divorced from action.

Again, I think that to characterize an inferiority complex as a belief is to misuse the word "belief". — Metaphysician Undercover

An inferiority complex is a belief. Unless we are to go by your silly notions that an inferiority complex is some mysterious thing that causes beliefs that one is inferior *shakes head* :-}

This is not a case of bringing the belief into consciousness, it is a case of the therapist diagnosing the patient, such that the patient now believes that the symptoms are caused by an inferiority complex. — Metaphysician Undercover

*facepalm* - no, an inferiority complex does not cause the belief, it IS the belief. This is a clear case of reification of the worst kind on your part. There is no other entity or thing that you can call inferiority complex. If you remove that belief, then whatsoever we called the inferiority complex before would also have been removed.

Otherwise, I will ask you to tell me what is this inferiority complex? An inferiority complex does not function the way a virus functions, when we say that your cold is caused by the flu, etc. It's a false analogy when we're talking about the mind.

When the doctor tells me this, I then have the belief that I have the flu. It is not the case that the doctor is bringing my already existing belief that I have the flu, from my unconscious into my consciousness. — Metaphysician Undercover

...

Yes Doctor. But isn't a panic attack a case of anxiety in your medical textbook? — Metaphysician Undercover

No, panic attack isn't the same thing as anxiety. One can be anxious without having a panic attack. And people who are generally not anxious at all may have, all of a sudden, a panic attack. But prolongued anxiety may lead to panic attacks or make them more likely.

Ha, ha. I'll take this as a joke. All you're saying is that I'm in a terrible situation because if I loose control of myself I'll be in a terrible situation. Doesn't this apply to anyone? You loose control of yourself and you're in a terrible situation. — Metaphysician Undercover

Nope, that's not what I said. I said that if you have to keep active in order not to be anxious, something is wrong inside your mind, and you ought to address whatever that issue is so that you don't have to keep yourself active for the sake of combatting anxiety.

Edit: It's good to be active. — Metaphysician Undercover

:-} - no, I don't see how it's good to be active for the sake of being active. It's good to be active if you've got problems to solve and things to do. But if you have neither problems, nor things to do, then you ought to just be relaxed and do nothing. If in that state, you get anxious, there's something wrong with you, since it's a psychological reaction aimed at preventing you from becoming aware of something. That's why when you have nothing to do you get anxious - to prevent your mind from thinking or becoming aware of certain things.

You can easily purchase guanfacine or clonidine online if it becomes an issue. Or even propanolol. — Posty McPostface

I've tried that propranolol once before, and it slowed my pulse to about 50-55, gave me ectopic beats, made me urinate a lot, and made me feel dizzy upon getting up from a chair, and other sudden movements, so I discontinued it.

Full-blown panic attack is marked by very high blood pressure (although that is normal - there is nothing wrong with it, unless you're in panic-attack mode 24/7 - it also occurs during strenuous aerobic exercise). When I had panic attack, I took BP, and it was 210/110 :-O

Severe anxiety is marked by, what is known as isolated systolic hypertension - meaning, you have something like 150/75, with a widening of normal pulse pressure. Long-term (and long term it really means over 10-20 year period), this will have negative consequences.

I have had high blood pressure on and off since I was 15 or so, and never took any medication for it (still don't). I'm somewhat borderline 140/90 or slightly below. Doctors are reluctant to give medication in such cases, especially for young people. And mine doesn't seem to be related to diet, though it is positively affected by aerobic exercise (running) when I keep up with it in the summer (winter's just too cold to run).

Blood creatinine, cholesterol, tryglicerides, etc. are all okay for me. No excessive salt intake. But that blood pressure just doesn't want to decrease!!! >:O Maybe stress has something to do with it, I'm usually a very stressed kind of person :> lol

In fact, let me take it right now...

What did I tell you... 138/88...

Its not just marketing, look at the newspapers, television programmes, exams, social media. I'd challenge anyone to compare any of the above from 2018 to its equivalent in 1950 and tell me the population hasn't become more stupid. It's all glossy bold colours, pictures, and simple language, more like something you'd expect to see in a primary school than in intelligent public discourse. — Pseudonym

Yeah, because people don't have time anymore, there are too many things to do. So the pressure is to compress information in as succinct as possible of a format - this usually degrades the quality of the ideas too.

The population are largely idiots, they've been made that way by companies because otherwise they wouldn't buy stuff. Who'd buy a crappy toaster with a neon light that comes on when it's done even though their old toaster works fine? Who'd buy a t-shirt that's just as good as any other t-shirt just because it's got a tick on it and a famous golfer is paid to wear one like that? You'd have to be an idiot to do either of these things. The point is, since the 20s we've been slowly running out of stuff we actually need or want, so companies have had to rely on selling us stuff we don't need to stay afloat. You'd have to be stupid to buy something you don't even need or want, so it's been necessary for companies to work on making that happen. The result is a population that votes for a president with the mental capacity of a five-year-old. — Pseudonym

That is true - in marketing, there is a bigger and bigger insistence to write stuff at 5th grade level >:O - so clearly, we expect people to be dumb.

Right, that is my experience with anxiety. it always comes on as a general feeling, over my entire body, especially in the chest area, almost like an extreme form of anticipation, as if my whole body is prepared to act, but with no particular act being imminent. — Metaphysician Undercover

That's not anxiety, that sounds more like a panic attack. Not the same thing.

I may experience it day after day, but if I manage to maintain a high level of activity, directing my mind toward this and that, as important objects, and things already determined as needing to be done, this is effective in expending the energy build up, subduing the anxiety and the urge to think about what needs to be done. If I allow the anxiety to well up, I may be overcome by irrational thoughts and beliefs. — Metaphysician Undercover

Exactly - so your way to "keep it in check" is actually to give free reign to the anxiety to structure your life. You got to keep yourself busy, or else... That's a terrible situation to be in imo, since you lose control, and your anxiety controls you instead. It keeps you continuously on the move, giving no respite.

No. that's not what I said. I said that anxiety gets directed toward particular beliefs, so the anxious person can, with conscious effort, direct the anxiety toward various activities, aiming for a balanced life. — Metaphysician Undercover

No, that would be a life controlled by anxiety masquerading as a balanced life.

It is very clear, that we cannot deduce, in a necessary way, the existence of any particular belief from the observance of any particular action — Metaphysician Undercover

Sure, not in an absolutely necessary way.

nor can we demonstrate that any particular belief will necessitate any particular action. — Metaphysician Undercover

If you grant a specific context too, then we could, in some cases, demonstrate that a particular belief will lead to a particular action.

And, since "belief" is commonly defined as an opinion, or acceptance of an idea, I think that your claim that we can have beliefs which we are not aware of, is contradictory. — Metaphysician Undercover

It's not contradictory at all. We don't consciously know everything that we believe. That's why we have things like unconscious drives, or why in CBT the therapist tries to get the patient to become aware of deeply held beliefs that he's not aware of on a conscious and linguistic level. Someone, for example, may have internalised that he is inferior to others, and so, every time he sees someone laughing, say at a party, they assume that they must be laughing about them, and then they will start feeling bad, unwanted, etc. etc. So the therapist has to show the patient that he actually believes, on a feeling level, that he is inferior. Bringing this belief into consciousness allows the patient to dispute it, or to practice cognitive distancing for that matter. This is standard CBT practice, I really don't understand why you're not familiar with it.

gut — Rich

So, can you experience anxiety without a brain?

No, not at all. It is in the head in the sense that it is a response to memory, but the memory is real. Snakes are real, fear of snakes is an instinctive reaction. Anxiety about snakes is a natural response to traumatic experience of snakes. There is good cause to fear snakes, they can kill.

The problem is that the memory is not just of snake, but of the smell of grass in the sunshine, warmth at one's back, the glittering of hot stones, the flapping of wings of a passing bird. And any of these becomes a trigger for anxiety too; not just that place, but anywhere remotely like it. This is why avoiding anxiety is debilitating; it's too global.

So if the smell of grass makes you anxious, stay with it and find the traumatic snake memory behind it. When you find the snake memory in the smell of grass, learn about snakes; look at pictures of snakes and desensitise yourself a little; learn the habits of snakes, which ones are harmless, and get used to being with them, and so on.

You understand that when I say 'snake', for you it might be your mother, or school, or whatever. — unenlightened

This sort of procedure worked for me with regards to health anxiety. As I learned much more about health, my anxiety effectively disappeared.

Your avatar looks like my uncle (Y)

Anxiety is probably developed directly from the condition of one's metabolic system — Metaphysician Undercover

So in your opinion, anxiety is biological, and the anxious person cannot do anything involving the alteration of beliefs, to reduce anxiety?

If so, why is it that cognitive behavioural therapy, which effectively focuses on addressing and questioning the patient's beliefs, is so successful as a first-measure treatment of anxiety?

anxiety is deeper seated than beliefs. — Metaphysician Undercover

I disagree with you - a belief is what translates in a way of acting. If I act a certain way, then that is what I really believe. Beliefs go deeper than what one is conscious of - we can have beliefs we're not even aware of.

Sure. But ↪Posty McPostface isn't interested so much in those situations, but finds himself in the situation where his anxiety feels constricting, unreasonable, and unnecessary. — unenlightened

Well, Posty hasn't outlined what exactly he's trying to achieve that the anxiety is stopping him from achieving. So it's difficult to understand what it means that the "anxiety feels constricting, unreasonable, and unnecessary" - that seems to be our assumption, and certainly what he's telling us, but we can't decide that without understanding the context in greater depth.

Approaching the thought of snake, one learns about snakes, and perhaps one concludes that snake pits are not worth walking in, or perhaps one concludes that snakes are wonderful creatures that one can happily interact with, given a few precautions. — unenlightened

How does one learn about snakes by approaching the thought of snakes?

So my conclusion is very simple: Do not avoid anxiety, approach, investigate, find the source. — unenlightened

Well, in the example you gave, wouldn't the source be the encounter with the snake? That's where the anxiety originated from - but I have a feeling that this is not what you mean. So what is this "source" that you're referring to?

But maybe I have another response, that is not effective in reducing anxiety and fear. I might just try and stay away from snake country. Then I have deprived myself of that walk, but I have also made anxiety the dictator, and given it control of my life. It may seem that I have avoided the anxiety, but actually I have increased it. — unenlightened

Well, wouldn't such a response be appropriate in certain cases? I mean, some activities really are very dangerous, and danger is frequent, and not rare in them. If it's at all possible, without compromising your goals, wouldn't it be wise for you to stay away from them?

The only activity where I have partially adopted this attitude is driving. Quite honestly, because of the traffic here, violence on the road, serious accidents or legal issues some of my friends had to face due to driving, and just the general stress of it, I avoid it if I can. Some situations, it's not possible to - like, for example, one time I had to take my dog from the vet, and there's no way to do that except by car - so then I did drive. But normal going to and fro in the city, I use public transport or sometimes taxi. Would you say that I'm being irrational in such a situation and governed by anxiety? To my mind, it just doesn't seem to be worth the psychological effort, given the relatively small benefits.

And all this goes back to my initial point that whether the "anxiety" response is appropriate or not is circumstantial - if you are capable to adequately judge the risks and benefits, then I would say that your anxiety response isn't off.

In the example you gave about the walk, you have to consider the probabilities. Maybe you went on your walk using the same route for more than 100 times, and it was only once that you met the snake. So then you might consider the probability of encountering a snake to be quite low. And the event of encountering a snake, failing to see it, AND getting bitten by it is even more rare. So you take some precautionary measures with boots, and you're careful on your walk, not absent-minded, that should be more than enough.

So in that case, avoiding the walk seems too extreme of a response. There are certain benefits from going on your walk - exercise, fresh air, helps you have a clear mind, etc. And it's not worth forgoing these benefits because of a relatively rare threat, which you can take some measures to protect yourself against.

BUT - now suppose that your country was at war, and there was active conflict going on around where you usually walked. I think it would be insane to argue that if your anxiety makes you no longer enjoy walking, that would be a pathological response. In that case, I think it would be an absolutely normal response to cease your walking, since the dangers you'd expose yourself to in the activity now outweigh the benefits.

*If only I weren't depressed, I'd be able to do the task at hand.* — Posty McPostface

That depends, there are some tasks I struggle with. I used to go to the gym almost everyday, and I had kept that ritual for quite a few years. And now, during and after the Christmas holidays, I went only once so far - I experience it as a lack of motivation, I just don't feel motivated. I wouldn't say I'm depressed, it's just lacking in motivation. It is compounded by the fact that it's so cold outside.

*If only I weren't so anxious I'd be able to get out of the house more.* — Posty McPostface

I think you need to have goals though, and goals will dictate what you have to do or not do. From my observation some people seem to think "I need to get out of the house more", just for the sake of it, or because others are telling them so. But that doesn't work very well - you need to have your own goals, that you want to achieve for their own sake. For example, one goal could be to achieve physical fitness - that goal would give you reasons to get out of the house. Another goal would be not to rely on your parents for groceries, income, etc. - that could get you out of the house too, but for example, if you work from home like I do, it won't :P .

It seems to make sense (not tomato sense, idiot spellcheck) but one can always imagine that with which one cannot cope, however exaggerated one's self belief - you might get motor-neurone disease tomorrow, just as the economy collapses and... I'm pretty fucking competent, dude, but shit can still happen. — unenlightened

Well yeah, but very unlikely - so unlikely that there is no point taking these possibilities into account in the absence of evidence. I mean, doing so would be quite irrational - it would be like thinking the sun may not rise tomorrow, and taking that possibility seriously. That's again something you'll have to deal with as it happens if it does.

No, rather I think that the development of self-esteem is another cover-up of anxiety. — unenlightened

But anxiety isn't primal - it's developed as a way to respond to threats and guard yourself. If you had no anxiety, you'd be unable to respond to threats. But when your anxiety response doesn't function well, you focus on either very improbable threats, or take relatively small threats as if they were much bigger than they really are - the response becomes counter-productive. If on the other hand you had a sense of security in yourself - just the sense itself will be enough, so that the question of such pathological anxiety would never arise - because you'd understand how improbable such threats are, or how relatively insignificant most of the other smaller threats are.

But if I was on the streets, without health cover, without a regular income, I'd be bloody anxious. — unenlightened

You, because the change is sudden. I would imagine people who are used to living on the street frequently experience apathy & depression more often than anxiety.

I'd say that anxiety and unhappiness on that material level is - natural, functional, realistic, sensible, virtuous. — unenlightened

Sure, it's pretty much unavoidable, as I said.

or else you're screwed. — unenlightened

lol, doesn't sound encouraging.

But to negate, to depress, to deny, is not to ameliorate, any more that the endless accumulation of wealth ameliorates that underlying material anxiety. The Buddhist psychology, as I understand it is that to seek to reduce anxiety is a mistake that perpetuates it. — unenlightened

But see, this sort of ignores the functional role of anxiety, and how things can be turned around. As I said in my previous post, there is a reason why you experience anxiety, and it often has to do with some deep-seated beliefs about yourself and your capacities. I'm not talking about anxiety when you're actually facing a threat, and looking for a way to avoid it - I'm talking about the meta-level anxiety, that seems to be there, out of proportion. Underlying everything, there does seem to be the belief, on a feeling level, that you won't be able to deal with whatever bad thing you imagine might happen. That's what generates anxiety, and you struggle to secure a way that can certainly deal with it. So it seems to be a lack of self-belief.

Something's missing here. — T Clark

Yeah, you can be untrustworthy for other reasons too. But you certainly did try to eliminate some of the reasons for being perceived as untrustworthy :P

I've been meaning to comment here since morning, but I've been too busy...

However, anxiety over material goods is surely something that every philosopher would point out an issue of the uneducated or unenlightened. — Posty McPostface

Oh wow, when did @unenlightened say that anxiety over material goods is an issue for him?

Due to the fact that that which is of the material world is ever changing and not persistent. So, does this make anxiety irrelevant if we realize that it is a feeling produced by an overly desirous mind or lustrious appetite towards things? — Posty McPostface

But surely, the inner aspect is also always changing too.

Thus, is this professed attitude of indifference towards material goods the right way to address and reduce anxiety? — Posty McPostface

I don't necessarily think so. One way is certainly the nihilistic, defeatist way. You notice that getting or holding onto things in the world is difficult, you experience anxiety, so you renounce the former, to free yourself of anxiety. But what if instead of meeting the uncertainty of the world with anxiety, you met it with confidence in yourself and your own ability to navigate different situations to your advantage? What if, like a cat, you had the ability to always fall right side up?

Because, you see, anxiety isn't the only way to respond to the problem of lacking control over the external world. Anxiety is only elicited as a response because, somewhere deep down, you believe you may not be able to handle what the world throws (or can throw) at you. If, on the contrary, you could get that self-esteem and inner confidence in your own ability, you would interpret uncertainty as inducing excitement, not anxiety or fear.

I would say that out of all the philosophies, Buddhism seems to be the most effective in terms of reducing perceived anxiety and turning it into a means to inner enlightenment. Would that be something you agree with? — Posty McPostface

Well, you can find the same things in the Christian tradition. For example, you can read what I'm reading now, Into The Silent Land by Martin Laird. It's a book about what Christians call contemplation, which is almost identical to what Buddhists call mindfulness meditation.

Would you trust anyone who said they are good? — T Clark

Oh, so you just said that to get me to trust you? X-) ... well, it didn't work >:O

Nope. — Lone Wolf

Definitely not good. — T Clark

No. — Thorongil

Why not you bad people? :P

No you don't need a miracle to believe a definition.

I get around. — Posty McPostface

Superman?

Then through the nettle to the stars it is. — Posty McPostface

That stings so much man... do you get that in US? I'm sure there's a ton of it in Poland.

One compliment and you're hooked. — TimeLine

Hooked to the instruments of death? :-O That doesn't sound like good news...

Beelzebub — TimeLine

Is he cute too?

I'll be chilling at the pearly gates while Beelzebub will be introducing you to the various instruments of death that he'll likely use on you. — TimeLine

And you'll watch as he uses the instruments of death on my cute tiny ears? :-O

Because we can accept it from the Providence of authority of Marcus Aurelius. — Posty McPostface

Yes, yes but I want pragmatic advice. What if I want to get to point B, and the only way to reach B is through the briars?

In this one, as well as in the next :D

Turn away and never look back at the briars. — Posty McPostface

Why? :-O

Yeah, but I was asking what should an ambitious (not bitter cranky) person do about the briars?

Vat? — TimeLine

Vat? No, my brain isn't in a vat if that's what you're asking...