I talked about the mental logic of why we have anxiety in the previous article (this article). Today, I will add more explanations from another perspective to eliminate it.
How to eliminate our anxiety
Sometimes, we want to eliminate our anxiety because it exhausts us. We often repeat the same thoughts when we are anxious about something we cannot solve soon.
For example, we often stagnate in thinking when we are anxious, as follows: “I have to deal with the problem, but I have no idea how to deal with it. If I choose this way, it will create this loss. If I choose another way, it will cause another problem. I cannot do anything, but I have to solve it.” Such repetitive thoughts exhaust us.
In such a case, understanding the mental logic of anxiety would help us to solve it.
Today, I will introduce another perspective on why we have anxiety. This way of thinking might help us eliminate our anxiety.
Unnecessary responsibility creates anxiety
The root problem is having unnecessary responsibility. We owe it due to confusion about values. That creates unnecessary anxiety.
To explain it, let’s consider the following question: why are we unable to make any sacrifices even if we have to deal with the problem?
With an appropriate understanding of its value, we never worry about it because we can find the most worthless thing to sacrifice.
If we appreciate it, we will protect it at the expense of its equivalent or less valuable things.
On the other hand, if the problem is more worthless than any other things we have, we will never be anxious to lose it because we understand that that is the first thing to sacrifice.
Either way, we don’t have anxiety. Even if it is just a little possibility of happening in the future, we can decide what to give up. An appropriate understanding of its value frees us from worrying.
An example of a stone
Then, let’s look at the case where we have unnecessary responsibility. Let me explain an example to make it easier to understand.
Assume we have a stone. This is a usual, worthless stone. We think it is useless. However, as opposed to us, our surroundings believe it has a high social value, such as a sacred stone that the gods brought us or a stone that a saint used. They value it, but we don’t believe it and are not interested in it.
We can let go of the stone if we are honest with our values. We can find the appropriate person to manage it because many people want to manage it willingly. That allows us to let go of unnecessary responsibility.
However, we are sometimes confused about values because social values affect us. That makes us believe that the stone is valuable to us. Although it is worthless for our lives, we are afraid of losing it.
That creates anxiety about losing the stone. Confusion about values causes us to have such an unnecessary responsibility.
An example of money
Let’s see another example. We often have worries about losing money. That is the same as the stone.
We need a certain amount of money. If we have empathic or creative natures, we don’t need so much money to live since we can mentally fulfill ourselves by helping weak people or creating new things.
However, we sometimes believe a large amount of money has value due to being affected by our surroundings.
If we are honest with our values, we can let go of sticking to unnecessary amounts of money. Even if we find it necessary to avoid falling into poverty in the future, we can exchange it for more worthless things we own. In other words, we can prepare mentally. It won’t create anxiety.
On the other hand, if we believe we must keep such large amounts of money, it causes anxiety. We try to keep earning too much that never fulfills us, even if we sacrifice other valuable things, such as freedom, health, time for creation, contributing to weak people, or relaxing time.
Anxiety indicates a heavyweight for us
It will be a heavyweight for us. Perhaps we know in our deep mind that those are unnecessary things in our lives, but we believe they are valuable superficially. Social values and our values are different.
Anxiety indicates what is unnecessary for us. We can use this logic to solve the root problem.
Conclusion
Above is another perspective on why we have anxiety.
The root problem is having unnecessary responsibility. We owe it due to confusion about values. That creates unnecessary anxiety.
This way of thinking might help us reduce our anxiety.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you in the next one.
