To GeorgeSon on Fear and Anxiety

[Guest guest]

GeorgeSon wrote:

 

Anxiety Fear and the egotistic delusion of self-preservation kick in.

 

 

Ah, GeorgeSon ~ I can relate even better to this. I have much anxiety and

fear related to personal security issues. It has been 7 years since I have been

able to work, and the more time that passes, the more I fear I will never be

able to work again. (And I am not getting any younger.)

 

One of the things I alluded to in my last note was that I moved to Oregon to

live with my mother, due to my illness. She made many promises to me: you

don't have to worry about anything; you don't have to worry about money (no

matter how many times I offered to contribute financially); this will always be

your home, no matter what (which was the most important because I grew up

feeling like I didn't have a home ~ it was very abusive). At some point, I left,

and when I asked to come back, she said no. So the promise was an empty one.

 

Also there is the matter of her, at a time when I was very vunerable due to

the death of my father, that she managed to get $55,000 of my inheritance out

of me. This is money she didn't need ~ she and her husband have a beautiful

house and land, two cars, two boats, all paid for, and they can buy anything

they need or want. I have had a hard time shaking the feeling that if she

really had my welfare at heart, she would not have taken this money, even if I

was stupid enough to give it to her. These are the things I woke up with this

morning, going around and around like a broken record, and the only thing I

could finally grab on to was to say my mantra, over and over and over.

 

It is not possible to hold two thoughts in the mind at the same time, and I

have discovered that very often it is my thinking that makes me feel fearful,

anxious, sick, etc. If you have a mantra that Amma has given you, I would

most gently suggest that you grab onto this as a life preserver when this fear

and anxiety begin to take hold of you. If you don't have an Amma mantra, you

can always use MA OM or Aum Amriteswarayai Namaha. As someone who has been

there and is still struggling with being there, I have great empathy for your

feelings. But I do believe we can use the tools Amma has given us to help

ourselves. Jai Ma ~ Linda

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Namah Shivaya, Linda:

 

The machinations of parents can be devastating.

 

Growing up in the fifties and sixties I thought families were all

like Beaver Cleaver and his birth dad Ward and birth mom June Cleaver.

 

I felt abandoned very early. Being an only child exacerbated this.

 

But Spiritual Teachers like our Beloved Amma harken again and again

to that rascal aka the "MIND"

 

Your previous post suggesting the "prescription" of the Mantra is the

medicine necessary. The mantra will purify and strengthen our minds.

 

Here are some quotes that may give us more tools. Some of these

perspectives infer the possible healing of chronic illnesses.

 

...

"People build large palatial houses and commit suicide inside! If

luxury could give us happiness, why would people die of depression?

Peace and contentment entirely depend on the mind. ...How can you

fully experience spiritual bliss without fixing the mind totally on

God? If you mix your dessert with other dishes, can you fully enjoy

its taste?"

Sadguru Sri Sri Mata Amritanandamayee

------------------------

 

"I cannot trust my mind. It may go astray any time. O Lord! Do

not leave my hand even for a moment. Shanti Vachan Bhandar, 1942.

 

Those who are already sick and infirm need as pleasant an environment

as possible, among people who have a strong and positive nature, to

encourage them in positive thoughts and feelings. Thought has a great

power. Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.94

 

(...) no doctor or medicine can help any patient if the patient's

mind has become so weakened that the disease has become chronic.

Three-fourths of the cure lies in the mind. Paramahansa Yogananda,

Man's Eternal Quest, P.103.

 

>From now on you must say: "I am not the slave of the body. I am the

dictator of my own kingdom. My thoughts are going to be exactly as I

wish them to be." Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.188.

 

Do you realize that within you, in your soul, is a superb garden? A

wondrous garden of thoughts, fragrant with love,

goodness,nderstanding, and peace, and more beautiful than any earthly

flowers that grow. (...) So always think of your mind as a garden,

and keep it beautiful and fragrant with divine thoughts; (...).

Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.208.

 

Your thinking is like a camel driver,

and you are the camel:

it drives you in every direction under its bitter control.

Rumi, Mathnawi I, 2497, quoted in: Helminski, Kabir (2000). The Rumi

Collection. P.19.

 

When your mind has become controlled you have control over the whole

body; instead of being a slave to this machine, the machine is your

slave. Instead of the machine's being able to drag the soul down, it

becomes its greatest helpmate. Vivekananda, quoted in: Nikhilananda,

Vivekananda, A Biography, P.196

 

Thanks for the holy company on this List.

 

Offered to Her Daughters and Sons,

 

GeorgeSon