Take Charge: How to Harness the Power of the Subconscious Mind to Overcome Stress and Anxiety

By Alan D Weber

This book contains a detailed discussion about mindfulness and harnessing the power of your mind to overcome stress and anxiety.

In today’s world that we live in, the society glorifies people who have a busy schedule and who always have something planned even on weekends, those days set aside for us to rest and relax after a long day of working. If you have nothing planned, people think you are lazy or not ambitious.

The truth is, there is nothing wrong in slowing down, and just living in the present moment, enjoying every second of it—the sight, sound, smell, and all the other sensations that you are currently feeling. The past is gone so why think about it. The future is yet to come so why worry about it. The preset is here and not. And it is even more important that you make the most out of the present moment by practicing mindfulness. This will book will teach you everything you need to know about mindfulness—how it can help reduce stress and anxiety and how it can make you a better person in general and how it can lead you to a happier and a more fulfilling life.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: May 12, 2021

Book preview

Introduction

This book contains a detailed discussion about mindfulness and harnessing the power of your mind to overcome stress and anxiety.

In today’s world that we live in, the society glorifies people who have a busy schedule and who always have something planned even on weekends, those days set aside for us to rest and relax after a long day of working. If you have nothing planned, people think you are lazy or not ambitious.

The truth is, there is nothing wrong in slowing down, and just living in the present moment, enjoying every second of it—the sight, sound, smell, and all the other sensations that you are currently feeling. The past is gone so why think about it. The future is yet to come so why worry about it. The preset is here and not. And it is even more important that you make the most out of the present moment by practicing mindfulness. This will book will teach you everything you need to know about mindfulness—how it can help reduce stress and anxiety and how it can make you a better person in general and how it can lead you to a happier and a more fulfilling life.

Chapter 1: What Is Mindfulness?

You have probably heard of the term ‘mindfulness’ a number of times, probably from New Age people, yogis, meditation gurus, and others who are into spiritualism. This is because mindfulness is something that they practice on a daily basis. It is not just a fad that they do but it is an important part of their everyday life. And you will understand why after reading this chapter.

But do you really know what mindfulness means? There are several definitions associated to this word—some may be familiar to you while others may sound completely new. One thing is for sure, though. Whatever the definition of this term, you cannot deny the fact that it is something that you need to achieve a life free from stress and anxiety.

Mindfulness is being in the present moment

This is the most common definition of mindfulness and this is probably what you already know about the word. In today’s world, people are all too consumed about the future that they spend a lot of time thinking about it. You probably spend a lot of time planning about the future as well—whether it is a few hours or years from now. You have a notebook full of lists of tasks that you need to do and goals that you want to achieve. You create a schedule of activities for the next day, the next week, the next moths, and so on.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with thinking about the future and planning for it. It is, in fact, essential to plan for the future especially if you have small children who rely on you. Planning for the future is also important if you want to have a good life after retirement, when you can no longer work and you do not have a fixed source of income to support your daily needs. Planning for the future is something that every responsible adult should do.

But when does it become a negative thing? It becomes a negative thing when you think about the future too much that it causes you a lot of stress and anxiety. Anything in excess is not good, as you probably already know. You should not stop planning for the future, but you should not let it keep you from enjoying the present moment.

And this is what mindfulness is all about—being in the present moment. One powerful mantra that you should always remember is to not let the future take away your present. Do not let yourself become too preoccupied with the future that you neglect to enjoy the moment you are currently in. You may not notice it but thinking about what will or might happen in the future takes away the precious moments of the present that you should be enjoying.

For example, if you are on a vacation that you are enjoying so much, but then it suddenly crossed your mind that in a few days your vacation is about to end and you will be back to work, you will suddenly feel glum. Instead of completely enjoying your vacation, you feel sad because you thought about the future. You are letting your thoughts about the future steal away your enjoyment and your precious time. Of course, you already know that your vacation will end. You are not going to stay there forever, obviously. And you have to go back to work at a specified date and time. But why do you have to speed up that moment, when you can just sit back, relax, and enjoy every second of your vacation? Just let the time pass naturally.

This kind of thought process prevents you from enjoying the present because you are focused too much on something that will inevitably happen in the near future. And even if you are thinking about something that you like, for example, watching all your favorite TV series when you get back home, it still keeps you from enjoying the present because your mind is somewhere else. If you do this, you will miss out on a lot of things that are happening around you. You are just wasting your time being there and you are not getting the most out of the experience if you cannot be in the present moment.

You can also show non-mindfulness in this scenario. You are about to go on an exciting trip. Or you are anticipating a big event, like a wedding, a birthday party, a date. What do most people do? Think about it and plan for it. If you think about it too much, you are like rushing the time between the present and the trip or the big event. And when the time already comes, it will feel like everything is anticipated and before you know it, the trip of event that you have been waiting and planning for so long is over.

Instead of trying to wish away the time that leads to the main event, just simply relish each and every moment from the time you learned about it until it ends. This way, you get the most out of the experience from start to finish. You get to appreciate the main event even more plus you get greater satisfaction if you focus on the present.

However, you have to remember that your mind will stray whether you like it or not and you will find yourself thinking about the future. This is normal. Some people get frustrated with themselves when they cannot seem to stay in the present moment, when in fact, this is something that most people experience while trying to be mindful. But instead of letting your mind stay in the future, make it return to the present. This is what some people say about mindfulness. The mind cannot really stay in the present completely. What it can do though is to return to the present when you find yourself getting distracted by the worries of the future.

Mindfulness is being aware of the things around you

Simply put, it is about not taking things for granted. Oftentimes, you live your life on autopilot. You do not pay attention to the things that have always been there. And because of this, you miss a lot of wonderful things in life, albeit small and simple.

For example, you wake up every day at the same hour, take a shower, eat breakfast, and leave for work. That is how your normal morning routine looks like. But have you ever stopped even for just a few seconds to listen to the chirping of the birds living on the tree by your bedroom? Or feel the warmth of the sun on your face when you go out the door? Or see the lush green trees that line your street? Have you ever stopped and appreciate all these things? You probably have not noticed or maybe you do, but you simply take them for granted because these things have always been there. You know that there are birds and flowers outside and you know that it’s sunny but beyond that, you do not know anything more about the beauty that surrounds you. By not being aware of these things and taking the time to appreciate them, you are missing a lot on the beauty of where you live.

And what could be the reason why you are not aware of this beauty? The main reason is that your mind is somewhere else. It is probably wandering somewhere in the future, thinking about