The topic of this article is how to free yourself of anxiety and morbid thoughts. This may be of use to senior persons and people suffering from serious ailments.
I have myself been prone to morbid thoughts and anxiety for some time. I tried a contemplation of death exercise some years back when I was young and foolish. Such powerful exercises should only be done – in my opinion – under the supervision of a realised master. I didn’t have a master to supervise and so fell prey to anxiety.
But we will all need to think of death as we grow older and death comes closer. How are we to deal with the terror?
The first useful concept is taken from the Bhagavad Gita. Following are three quotes from the book – The Living Gita by Sri Swami Satchidananda:
Just like casting off worn-out clothing and putting on new ones, that which is embodied casts off worn-out bodies and enters others that are new.
If somebody takes off his worn-out shirt and says, “I’m going to get a new one,” will you cry over it? Death is something like that. You have a new shirt and you show everyone proudly, “See how new it is? No wrinkles, so beautiful.” But when you start using it, it gets dirty and wrinkled. You keep on washing and ironing it, but at a certain point that can’t be done anymore. So you just discard it. The body is like that. And that’s how we should think of death.
Even a little bit of Dharma saves one from terrible fear.
So if you find yourself in the grip of morbid thoughts remind yourself of this teaching. That which dies is not you, not the Atman.
(I have stated another approach to morbid thoughts about death that you may find interesting. Link is below. But be warned – this is strong medicine. You may find that Less is more and that it is better to stick to the teachings of this present article.
https://insightsandexperiences.com/how-to-live-life-fearlessly/ )
The second useful practice is Present Moment Awareness. Eckhart Tolle speaks eloquently of the value of Present Moment Awareness in his book The Power of Now.
What is happening when you are think of death?
You are thinking of the future which exists only in your mind. It is fictitious, not real.
As Eckhart Tolle says:
This kind of psychological fear is always of something that might happen, not of something that is happening now. You are in the here and now and your mind is in the future. This creates an anxiety gap.
It is always possible for you to deal with the present moment. What you cannot deal with is something that is a fiction – which is what the fear of death is for most people at most times. It is a ghost and fighting with it will only tire you out without anything being achieved.
So what is the remedy?
Practice Present Moment awareness as you go through the day. Practice being the witnessing Presence. When morbid thoughts or the fear of death arise practice witnessing these thoughts and feelings.
I don’t think I have done justice to the power, usefulness and the value of this technique. I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of The Power of Now. Link to browse the book at Amazon is below. There is also another abridged version of the book by the same author – Practicing the Power of Now. You can read that if you don’t have much time to read
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