Three Easy Ways to Overcome Fear and Anxiety
19 August 2020 (with subtitles)
[Mooji] Tatiana? Tatiana. Thank you. Please come.
[Q: Tatiana] I am very happy to join this meeting, Moojibaba.
[Q.] Thank you so much for being here ... [Mooji] Thank you.
[Q.] I hear everything you say and I can follow.
I have practiced a lot of things for about ten years,
but I'm getting so distracted by my fears and worries during the day
that I nearly can't work, for hours sometimes.
[Mooji] Yes.
[Q.] So, I have tried to explain it intellectually,
but can you recommend rituals or tools that I can use,
so I don't get distracted through the whole day?
So that I can come back to what I really want to be,
to come back to my values
and to come back to how I really want to act,
instead of worrying and having fear and panic.
[Mooji] Let's try a simple one. Try a simple one.
I will talk to you a little bit about the other thing after.
Let's just try a simple one.
Just imagine, right now, that there is only you.
There is nobody else, nothing else.
Just do it now with me. There is only you.
There is only yourself.
There is really no world, apart from your thoughts about it all.
There is no world, or people and expectations.
Just allow yourself that space. Create that space.
There is only yourself.
The attention has nothing to go out to to bring something from outside.
The attention itself is also here.
Just look at that. Just look at that now with me.
There is only yourself.
There is no shopping. There is no work.
There is no 'other' to engage with.
Just only you right now, just for a few seconds.
Take a look with me.
Where is your attention?
Do it. Do it though. Do it now.
Where is your attention? Just do it.
Don't go off in any story at all.
Only about being.
Don't try to be, or to become anything at all.
Suppose there is only yourself.
There's only yourself.
No story.
No appointments.
What is here? What really is here?
This is the most simple exercise,
because you asked for that, for a moment. You asked, no?
'It's so easy for my mind to come up with all these things.
All these things come up.'
Right now, whatever's coming up is completely unreal.
It's none of your business right now.
There's just yourself. Just the Self.
Not a historical self, not a history of yourself.
Just look at what is here. Don't create!
Just look and experience what is here.
You don't have to say it in words,
but just look for yourself and feel.
Is there anything jumping about?
I'm not asking you to make any story, or to project a future.
Just pay attention. Only pay attention.
That is one of the quickest ways,
to bring your attention to your Self.
No story.
No projections, like, 'OK, what I am going to do after'.
Just to rest in just the silence of being.
That is all!
As often as you can do that,
sit for two or three minutes to do this.
You do that. I will give you another simple exercise.
Do you want a practical exercise as well?
Just do some simple breathing.
I am going to show you something very simple.
All of you can do it if you want to, wherever you are.
You simply start by ...
You can do this exercise for just two or three minutes.
If you are experiencing a mind attack,
or fears, or whatever,
just take this moment and do this.
Just breathe out. Let's do it together.
Breathe out slowly, not fast, not a gush.
Just like you are breathing through your teeth.
Breathe out [exales very slowly] everything
until you come to a natural stop.
When you reach a natural stop,
push three more times to bring out three more breaths.
So you get everything out.
Stop for five seconds.
In your mind count, 'One, two, three, four, five'.
Then start to [slow release].
Let the air flow back inside, nice and easy.
Don't be in a hurry.
Just slowly let the air come in
until you are full, naturally.
When your are full naturally,
top it up with three more breaths. [inhales three times]
You didn't know you had the space, huh? But you do.
Then just stop again for five seconds,
three seconds if you want, five is good,
and then slowly release again. [exhales slowly]
Slowly.
Stop. Natural stop. Then squeeze another three out.
You may have to pull your body, like this. [exhales three times]
Hold for a few seconds,
then open up and let the air flow in again by itself
until you feel full.
Then take three again. [inhales three times]
You may find your eyebrows going up.
Stop. Count a few seconds. [exhales slowly]
Do this for three minutes and see what happens.
It brings you back into your natural state of being.
Especially as I have shared with you that ...
Be OK. It is OK to be empty.
Rarely, throughout the waking state,
do we allow space to simply be empty.
Meaning, you are not a thing, you are not an object,
you are not a solver of things. Just be empty.
Be conscious of emptiness, even for five minutes you do it.
It will give you back hours of tranquility.
You will find that you can function, through what you have to do,
with much more focus and you're more relaxed,
more able to understand, empathise,
to be compassionate in your way.
It is a simple thing.
So this is another simple exercise.
I am going to give you another one.
This natural sense of being that I spoke about ...
When you say 'I', the word 'I' comes,
know that this 'I' is not a person, originally.
It is just a sense of being 'I', or 'I am'.
The sense 'I am'.
It is not personal.
It is just, 'I consciousness am, exist'. It's just this.
Just be aware of this sense of just being.
The sense 'I am'.
Don't allow it to connect up
with any other intention or concepts.
Just like that. Just be Self-aware.
You don't have to hold your breath, or anything like that.
But if you can sit quietly for five minutes and just look,
it will be so beautiful. Get used to the state of simply being empty.
It is very healthy.
And your work will not lose its value.
You are not going to become lazy.
I'm telling you this because your mind might tell you,
'You're becoming lazy, not productive, you won't get anywhere like this'.
The usual nonsense that sometimes comes up inside.
Simply being quiet and empty, and being conscious of it at the same time,
Self-aware is another term I can use.
Be Self-aware.
Nothing more.
No construction. Not, 'After this, I want to go and do this'.
Just really be present and empty.
After five minutes [inhales deeply then puts hands together]
and go about your business.
Make it a part of your day.
Simple things. Simple things.
Gradually, as you feel a deepening emerging inside,
you may feel that you want to be more present with that.
We have many videos you can watch if you want to.
But what I have shared with you today is enough.
You can just follow this and be present. Be very watchful.
Being watchful, but in a neutral way.
Meaning, you can look, but don't log in so quickly,
in the time that you are looking, just be very present.
And so you can begin to experience
the natural vastness of being that is present here.
Even your very person is appearing inside it, the sense of a person.
This is quintessentially important,
because what happens is that you become aware of some distance
between your natural state and the sense of personal identity.
It's something rarely recognised in the human kingdom.
But you begin to recognise that, OK?
I put this one to you.
I have given you a few little tips, little exercises.
I have one letter.
I don't know if I responded enough, Tatiana.
[Q.] Yes. And I do it as often as I can.
Every time I have this distraction, I practise it.
I have to take the time, right?
[M.] Just take a little time ...
If I say, do it for 15 minutes or half an hour,
people say, 'I don't have half an hour',
and it becomes a kind of burden.
But if you sit for just five minutes and say,
'These five minutes belong just to myself', and sit with that
and empty your mind of all the intentions, just for a moment,
and these simple breathing exercises can help you.
Or just be aware of the sense of Self,
but not as a historical self, not in a personal way.
When I say, Live as though you alone exist,
I can also say to some people,
live as though you don't exist.
Sometimes, some people love it.
Whichever way, it is just to bypass
this locked-in stage of personhood
which has a tendency of worrying a lot and projecting a lot,
'So many things to do! So many things to do! ...'
I even sometimes got so much into this idea of things that need to be done
that one of my close friends said,
'Long after we are dead, there will still remain things to be done'.
Don't get so, 'Busy, busy! I've got to do, do, do!'
No, but more ... The quality of your present state, as presence ...
When I use the word 'presence', do you have a sense of what I am saying,
without having to define it too much?
[M.] The intuitive, untaught way of knowing yourself.
Without ...
It is not a resumé, or something like that. Just ...
Just this.
It may seem over-simplistic or even naïve to some people.
But it is so powerful!
And the minute you are in the taste of it,
you know the value of it.
Even if the mind comes and is scratching, it's OK.
You can cope with that.
All of you have gone through enough to show that
you are capable of going through these things.
But, I would only say a caution:
beware of egoic identity.
It is at the root of all troubles in the world.
The sense of a personal self
is the first and strongest attachment,
and the cause of much trouble.
The great news I can share
is that you are infinitely more than this.
In discovering this, you don't have to go and kill the ego.
But at least you are aware of that. You are aware of this.
And, somehow, it arrests its negative odour.
It gradually thins away in its influence
in its psychological influence, emotional influence,
as you are more grounded in your natural state.
It is a simple thing!
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