MANAGING ANXIETY & WORRY

Anxiety and worry are two other negative emotions that need to be checked. Anxiety refers to a special state of the mind which results from the anticipation of a danger. With the individual focusing attention on the issue concerned, he/she experiences acute discomfort. As Schwartz (1979) rightly observes, any negative thought, if fertilized with repeated recall, can develop into a real mind monster, breaking down confidence and paving the way for serious psychological difficulties. Allied with anxiety is the emotion of worry. When worry assails the emotional brain, the resulting anxiety would force the mind to be obsessed with how to handle it. Worry in a mild form would help us to come up with positive solutions to the problems we confront in life by anticipating dangers before they occur. However, chronic worry can get you nowhere nearer to a positive solution. In fact, worry itself seems to come from nowhere and is uncontrollable and inaccessible to reason. Worry can lead to panic attacks, an unhealthy build-up of phobias, undue obsessions, etc., if it is not managed in time.

• Some suggestions for reducing anxiety and worry

As noted above, the emotions of anxiety and worry, when they become chronic, are matters of concern and they should not be allowed to go unchecked. Given below are some suggestions that can be used for imposing timely checks on them:

1. If we wish to deal effectively with anxiety and worry, we need to build up a certain level of awareness about them. We need to identify the sources that trigger these emotions and their accompanying sensations in our body. With practice, we will be able to identify their sources. Then we need to use relaxation techniques to subdue these worrisome thoughts.
2. Worry and anxiety arise as a result of anticipating that something important will be going wrong. This sort of thinking is often behind the causes of worry and anxiety. As a matter of fact, the frightful and fearsome thoughts we entertain tend to turn into mental monsters causing anxiety and worry. Now, to get rid of these, we need to take a critical stance. We need to reflect on what would be the result if a much dreaded event happens. This would enable you take constructive steps in the right direction. This sort of a sceptical stand can work as a brake on the neural activities and with it the debilitating anxiety and worry would make less Impact on you.
3. Another way to diminish the impact of worry and anxiety is to resort to some sort of a contingency plan. In case the dreaded event does happen, decide what you would do. When you have a fallback. strategy ready, it would ease your worry and anxiety as you are quite certain as to what to do if the event happens.
4. Another way to keep your mind off the possible onslaught of anxiety and worry is to indulge in some distracting or pleasurable activities. When your mind is involved in them, they will get your mind off the grip of worry and anxiety.

So far we have seen how to check anger, anxiety and worry. Fear, sadness, jealousy, etc., are some other important negative emotions that require restraint. As done in the case of anger, worry and anxiety, if you go on paying ongoing attention to your stream of consciousness, you will be able to identify the emotions that you presently experience. With the help of reflection and observation, you will be able to find the sources of their origin. Then after assessing the advantages and disadvantages the emotions can bring, you will be able to decide whether or not they deserve restraint. And in the event of restraint being called for, you could bring into play your sense of logic and rationalization in the management of your emotions. In this way, you will be able to put a brake on those debilitating forces and subdue them.

• Optimism and hope

  
  

Both optimism and hope are forerunners of success on difficult jobs. When the going becomes tough the tough get going! And so it is that the toughness of optimism prevents people from falling prey to apathy, hopelessness and depression. It provides the incentive to keep going in the face of difficulty. Our optimism is a sign of the conviction we have that everything would turn out to be alright despite all evidence of every setback imaginable. Hope can take you even further. Hope is the belief that you have the will and capacity to accomplish your goal. Only those with a high degree of hope are in a position to motivate themselves and feel resourceful enough to find ways to accomplish their objectives when they find themselves in a tight spot. The qualities of hope and optimism would allow them to carryon with their tasks despite the inevitable obstacles they encounter along the way. Those who lack these qualities are known to give up easily at the smallest setback they encounter. If ever you wish to succeed in life, you would need to set aside pessimism and rely on optimism. Pessimism is indicative of a lack of energy and motivation, leading us as it does to depression. If we think that the task in hand can be done and give it due attention, eventually it will be done. Conversely, if we think it cannot be done we will never be able to do it. It is our thinking that makes all the difference. If we keep hope and optimism alive by constantly thinking of success and act on that optimism, we are but bound to succeed!

A high level of positive thinking cannot but have a great impact on people's actions. Students with a high level of hope, for example, set themselves higher goals and see to it that they are accomplished. Students with moderate levels of hope would think of different ways to fulfil a given task, but lack of determination on their part would prevent them from pursuing their tasks to their logical end. Those students who have a low level of hope would soon become demoralized and give up, even dropping out of school altogether. Students with a high level of hope are ready to go even the proverbial extra mile to attain their goals. They will even break down formidable tasks into smaller chunks to make them manageable. Their optimism and hope would enable them even to pass through the toughest of situations and emerge successful.

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  Motivation

Motivation, like enthusiasm and persistence, is another important ingredient that helps maintain our energy level for long for continued work. Motivation may be intrinsic or extrinsic. However, true energy is one that comes from the inside. Motivation comes from the emotional brain. If our activities do not arise out of our deep desires, we will not be able to make use of motivation to pursue that activity. When we understand the intensity of meaning and purpose of what we do, we will be motivated. Only those tasks that are found relevant and interesting have the power to .motivate us into doing things. Only when we tap into that internal source of energy, into the inner self, that we will be able to find that spark of energy that sets our heart on fire with enthusiasm. Without that burning fire of optimism and persistence, we will be motivated to do nothing meritorious,

• Developing creative thinking

Peak performance does not restrict itself to positivity and motivation alone. A lot depends on how creative you are in your thinking. Creative thinking enables you to break away from those usual patterns that you have stored in your .memory. Creative thinking is simply finding new and improved ways of doing anything. Some people can do this by sheer inspiration. They seem to get Ideas out of nowhere. This type of creativity is known as pure creativity. But this is not the case with most of us. All creativity is not the result of sudden flashes of inspiration. Making a connection between two existing Ideas, practices or objects not made before, is another way of being creative. The Egyptian Griffin, an imaginary animal with a lion's body and an eagle's beak and wings, is a typical example of this. People also come out with new ideas as they play around with concepts, indulging in day-dreaming. In fact, by sheer fantasizing, people have been able to transform existing products (such as motor cars, TV sets, etc.) into sophisticated ones. Be it pure creativity, linking creativity or transformational creativity, creative thinking involves coming out with something new and useful or finding new and improved ways of doing anything. Success, be it at work or at study, hinges on finding ways to do things better. If you keep on doing things the way you used to do, you will always remain the same. Only creative thinking can make you leave the trodden path and take up a path that is new. It is this that can make all the difference in your life.

• Conclusion

As we have seen, emotions are intense feelings that are directed at someone or something. They are object-specific. Emotions can be positive or negative, depending upon the impact they make on us. Emotions playa vital role in shaping our lives. Hence, we need to pay close attention to them. We cannot stop emotions from entering our mind. However, whether or not to entertain those emotions is within our power. Any emotion that is not entertained would make little impact on our mind. In the event of our opting to entertain negative emotions and permit them to cross all limits, they will lead us to self-limiting behaviours. We would therefore need to bring our logic and wisdom to bear on them and check them before it is too late. We need to resist the despotic nature of our emotions, if we wish to maintain our ability to work productively. As we have noted, merely controlling our negative emotions is not enough. We also need to nurture and utilize positive emotions like hope, optimism, motivation, creativity, etc., if we are to experience success and peak performance. In the absence of positive emotions, all our efforts can go down the drain. Let us, therefore, not only manage our negative emotions but also nurture those positive ones and get them to work for us in our attempt at accomplishment of goals as well as our pursuit towards self-actualization.