Because racing thoughts will steal your peace of mind if you let them
✨ Bridget Webber(thetaoist.online)
Published in
3 days ago
There are five hindrances, according to Buddhist philosophy, that block wisdom. Each influences happiness and fosters suffering. You will reduce your karma and increase contentment if you purge or curtail them.
We often become more sage-like when we examine our lives, particularly our thoughts and behaviors. When we recognize the benefits of handling challenges such as difficult emotions and thought patterns, wisdom increases, widening the path so we can better traverse life without stumbling.
The hindrances include sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt. The fourth hindrance, restlessness, and worry, affects us all and can create poor mental health. If you’ve ever fretted late at night about a problem or agonized over an adverse event, you know how detrimental worrying is to well-being.
Many of us use the phrase “don’t worry” with ease. We tell people we care about to stop worrying because we dislike seeing them suffer when they are anxious. Sometimes, though, our instructions are easier to utter than follow.
According to Buddhism, restlessness is uddhacca or agitation, which means to shake. It refers to a wandering mind. For example, you are restless and unable to focus when your mind flits from one idea to another.
I recall being restless and anxious once when I had a fever. I tossed and turned, unable to lie still or gain peace of mind. Whether we toss and turn physically or mentally, our well-being is compromised. We need to stop our bodies or thoughts from racing.
If you engage with the fourth hindrance, your scattered thoughts make you anxious and are likely to produce remorse. For instance, you may worry you’ve said something that will offend someone. As a result, perhaps you’ll imagine the individual might reject you or tell people you are unkind.
If you’re sensitive about how others see you (and who isn’t?), your heart will sink after you’ve said something you regret. Your comment may have been misunderstood, and now somebody judges you harshly and is offended. Being misinterpreted feels dreadful, and you might beat yourself up because you could have explained yourself more clearly.
Worry can create remorse when you are anxious about the future, imagining many challenges in your path that you don’t know how to handle. As a result, you regret agreeing to attend an event that bothers you or getting involved in circumstances you can’t control. Then again, you may feel forced into troubling situations.
Some of my greatest worries when I was young stemmed from family dramas instigated by other people. Even from the sidelines, I would fret, hoping everyone would get along. As the family peacemaker, I felt obliged to attempt to smooth away the creases in close relationships and make everything better. But it’s not always advisable to step into complex scenarios. Sometimes, letting those who make their beds lie in them is wiser.
Restlessness and worry create stress and stop you from focusing on tasks. They might also cause you to endure sleeplessness and narrow your perspective, so you don’t see the complete picture regarding circumstances. The fourth hindrance is a standard block to meditation, too, since many people experience worries when they sit to meditate in a distraction-free environment.
Often, people want to meditate because they wish to stop worrying. As soon as they sit still, their anxiety streams since it’s got room to flow. The way to handle the deluge is to observe it rushing by, letting it move as though on a conveyor belt. Just because your worries are on the belt doesn’t mean you must gather them and accept them as yours. However, it takes practice to get to the point when you can witness your thoughts, and worrying can block your meditation.
Why people worry
Scientists believe worry is a normal part of being human and developed to aid survival. For example, your ancestors benefited from considering potential mishaps, such as the likelihood of predator attacks. Now, people entertain different worries (whether their friends like them and how successful they are), but they still experience their concerns as serious threats.
You may worry and be restless if you imagine you’ve strayed from your moral compass. One way to reduce concerns is to be mindful of your everyday actions and practice loving kindness. Sometimes, people might misperceive your intentions, but at least you’ll know you acted within your ethical guidelines and need not experience remorse.
At times when I’ve regretted saying something that was misinterpreted, I’ve reminded myself that I can’t control how others perceive what I tell them. Then, I understand it’s best to let go of worry. People will see you through their level of understanding rather than as you see yourself; whether you worry or not won’t change that.
It’s usual to worry now and then. However, if your mind is restless and you worry too often, you could regularly fall into a fight-or-flight state and suffer stress-related conditions. You will also focus on the past or future rather than the present.
I’ve met many people in a stuck state through my work in mental health and socially. Going over the past and worrying constantly kept them from the present moment (where their circumstances had improved).
How to reduce restlessness and worry
· Stay present
· Note restlessness in the body
· Focus on breathing
· Practice self-forgiveness and learn from experiences
· Change worries into positive solutions
Mindfulness (present moment awareness)
Unless you’re in the middle of a challenge, an argument perhaps, the present moment is a refuge. It’s where you can rest and stop worrying because your concerns don’t exist here.
Most people worry less when they stay present. However, your mind may wander to past events you perceive as adverse when you are restless.
You could think about events that didn’t go to plan or consider what may happen in the future, and if you’re remorseful, you regret saying or doing something. Or perhaps you regret not saying or doing something. As a result, you experience aversion, guilt, and shame.
When restlessness and worry threaten to steal your peace of mind, bring your attention to the present. Use your senses to help you hone in on the moment. For example, note what you can smell, see, hear, touch, and taste.
You can also pay attention to what you do, being mindful of your physical movements as you stretch your arms to wash your car or note the warm water on your skin as you shower.
Physical restlessness
I remember twitching and rolling in bed during my fever, which exhausted me. It wasn’t only the heat that caused me anxiety; it was continual physical movement. When you exercise, you may feel exhilarated. But you are on edge when you toss and turn due to an illness, stress, or another adverse reason. Your mind imagines you’re in a battle dodging bullets. And in some ways, you are since you’re fighting with your urge to move or your thoughts that make you jittery.
Resisting worries can worsen the situation, causing you to pour attention into your concerns. So, instead, acknowledge the fourth hindrance without putting up a fight. Observe your experience, recognizing how it affects you physically.
Does it create tension in your jaw? Or tight knots in your stomach? If so, breathe into the area and relax, releasing strain and increasing calmness.
If you are restless but not focusing on a particular worry, notice where you experience agitation in your body. Is there unease high in your chest? Or maybe you have palpitations? Breathe into these areas without aversion to your restlessness, and it will ease.
Breath awareness
Sometimes, my body responds to stress, while my mind is much more Buddha-like. Unlike a real Buddha who is balanced, this signals I’m overriding my concerns with intellectual wisdom rather than applying sagacity. Listening to my body and checking in with my breath helps me align all parts of me with calmness.
When you are restless and worried, your mind and body are in a state of tension. But you can generate peacefulness by breathing like you do when you are more tranquil, low down in your belly.
Take deep breaths as if pulling them into your stomach. Be sure to do so comfortably rather than forcefully, and inhale and exhale slowly. Continue to follow your breath with your awareness, and troubling thoughts will fade as you relax.
Self-forgiveness and learning
Looking at the past, I see I could have made better choices. But I understand I did my best. I’m different now. Wiser. It’s impossible to time travel and use my current wisdom in the past. So, I’m left with the understanding that I did what I thought was right then, and my decisions made me who I am today, smarter and more sage-like.
When beset by remorse that makes your mind spin, recall that you can only ever act with the knowledge and understanding you have at any given moment. Sometimes, you might make unwise decisions or do regrettable things because you’re experiencing a learning curve. Mistakes can teach you how to improve your life and do better next time.
You might also remember that, according to Buddhism, karma takes care of your life lessons, offering opportunities to address imbalances and gain wisdom through experiences. You are not alone. Everyone makes blunders. It is essential to acknowledge them and use them to aid personal growth.
Once you do so, self-forgiveness becomes easier. Perceiving you recognize your gaffes and understand how to embark on self-improvement will help you let go of remorse and embrace positivity.
Positive solutions
Knowing I’m constantly learning and growing reduces my worries. Challenges and mistakes are part of knowledge-gathering because they help me. The moment I recognize this, instead of panicking about and expanding them, I let them fade and concentrate on improving.
Restlessness and worry create a sense of helplessness when you focus on what you dislike about your actions. However, you can develop a positive frame of mind by finding solutions to problems.
For example, rather than worry about whether a friend is upset with you and ponder the potential fallout, consider how to improve circumstances. Perhaps you can contact her and determine whether you’ve made an incorrect assumption. If she is upset, you can think about how to make amends.
Sometimes, you can’t alter circumstances, yet you can reframe them and think about them differently. A positive solution in such a situation is to consider how to behave differently if a similar event occurs and to expand self-knowledge, noting what caused your behavior.
The fourth hindrance, restlessness and worry, can block wisdom and create stress. But you can use it to further self-understanding and personal growth. Acceptance and self-examination, rather than ponderance on aversion, result in greater understanding.
When the fourth hindrance blocks your ability to focus and relax, drop resistance, allow the experience, and transform its energy into awareness until it leaves.