10 Jun How to Overcome Anxiety | Motivational Podcasts
Podcast Transcript: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast, brought to you in part by Book of Zen, makers of inspirational fashion and gift ideas. Visit them online at BookofZen.com. Today’s podcast has been edited and adapted from: Your Right to Be Happy, by Frank & Marion Van Eps, published in 1922.
“About nothing be anxious.” THESE words from the Apostle Paul are not in opposition to earnest and determined effort towards a lofty goal; rather they put us in the best frame of mind for effective action, that state which is most conducive to successful endeavors.
“About nothing be anxious” is a statement that is opposed to faintheartedness, whether it arises from the consciousness of our own limitations, from a distrust of ourselves, or from want of trust in the divine. It is fear that leads to anxiety; anxiety, to faint- heartedness; and faintheartedness, to failure.
No anxiety should be allowed to disturb your joy. Consciousness of our divinity does not permit anxiety. Cultivate confidence in your higher self and your co-operation with the greater good. This is true self-reliance, because it is not based on one’s self as apart from the Infinite, but as in union with the eternal foundation and the infinite source of all things.
The nature of anxiety is well known. The origin of the word is suggestive: its root meaning being to choke. Anxiety is a tight mental state, where one is choked up in mind, and proper mental activity is restrained and constrained under this intensity—all of which leads to distraction, a drawing apart in different directions, rather than concentration.
In an anxious state, we do nothing, or else we do just what we ought not to do. The occasions of anxiety are many and various. You might be anxious about your own welfare or safety, your health, your happiness, your business, or your home; you might be anxious about yourself or about others; about the past, the present, or the future; about persons, things, or events.
You might be ready to embark on a new enterprise, but your imagination conjures up all sorts of obstacles and difficulties, and you are afraid to begin, lest you fail. But this is, actually, just where the turn of success is made. Daniel Webster, when he first started in his career as a lawyer, felt as if he were utterly incompetent and could never succeed. But he persevered and did not run away or give up, and he eventually became one of the most famous American statesmen of the 19th century. Had he yielded to that feeling of fear, he would never have amounted to anything; but having overcome that, all things were set in his favor.
George William Curtis remarked that he never stepped upon a platform to speak, without having the feeling that he would break down in failure. But no one would ever have suspected it; for he went forward, regardless of that feeling, and so eloquently did he speak that he was called the “silver-tongued orator.” If he had succumbed to his feelings, he would never have spoken or done anything.
On the eve of any great achievement, it is not unusual to feel the most like a failure or that your goals are unreachable. It is this point of apparent collapse that is so important in everyone’s career. Just when failure and disaster seem unavoidable is the time to push right on through and disregard appearances. More willpower and determination put forth at that time will turn the tide, and glorious results are certain…..
Read The Entire Essay in Evergreen: 50 Inspirational Life Lessons
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