The solution is to develop anxiety tolerance—to learn how to observe and hold our felt experience, which involves the ability to greet and observe our most uncomfortable and inconvenient feelings with “unconditional friendliness.” This kind of mindfulness means we can provide a safe container for our fear and soften it into a manageable state.
//////////////DTR CRSS
What am I afraid of? You name it. There’s the existential fear of untimely death, or of sudden, unforeseen abandonment. Then there are the more banal fears of financial ruin and loud noises. Statistics and my clinical experience suggest that I’m not alone. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 19 million Americans suffer from chronic fear-related disorders. It seems we’re living in a time of pervasive fear: of the enemy within, of destructive leaders at the helm, of disease and other crises brought on by our suffering and neglected planet.
////////////Of course, humans, like all animals, have strong physiological responses to fear. When we are afraid, the amygdala, a small organ in the center of the brain, immediately sends a signal to the autonomic nervous system. This is what spurs an increased ability to run like hell or fight like an alley cat or, if necessary, to play dead until the threat has passed. When we feel fear, we have either an active or passive response. An active response comes from the sympathetic nervous system, which generates the fight-or-flight response. The passive response comes from the para- sympathetic system, which generates the extremes of freeze or faint
///////////////recently saw a documentary by the film director Mickey Lemle called The Last Dalai Lama? In one scene, His Holiness looks into the camera and says: “Basically, I think I’m short-tempered. If something goes wrong, reaction is immediately to say, ‘Oh, shouting!’ But then, very fast, it’s over. Completely gone.” When meditators are subjected to painful stimuli—an experience likely to provoke fear and anger—they have the same physiological response as everyone else. But unlike non-meditators, who continue to show increasing signs of distress, these yogis return to a baseline of equanimity almost immediately. This is compelling evidence that meditation is no indulgence. It’s potentially life-changing and, in the right circumstances, life-saving. It helps us to stop identifying with strong feelings such as fear and anger so that we can quickly recover our ability to feel safe and act accordingly.
//////////////////When most people experience acute fear, the mind gets fuzzy as the blood flows from the brain to the limbs. This is a critical deficit just when we most need to be discerning. But if the nervous system is trained to recover, we’re much better able to keep cool, breathe, and think things through. No fainting, no fleeing, no slapping necessary.
/////////////////Think about what you fear. As you contemplate the answer, keep breathing, slowly, deeply. The next time you feel afraid, your fears may be strong and real. They may be a response to intense pain. But deep within the body-mind system, there is a reliable and fast-acting remedy. Whether you call it buddhanature, clear seeing, inner strength, or simply a regulated nervous system, the right medicine is available. And then, very fast, it will be over.
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//////////////////In human life, if you feel that you have made a mistake, you don’t try to undo the past or the present, but you just accept where you are and work from there. Tremendous openness as to where you are is necessary. This also applies to the practice of meditation, for instance. A person should learn to meditate on the spot, in the given moment, rather than thinking, “. . . When I reach pension age, I’m going to retire and receive a pension, and I’m going to build my house in Hawaii or the middle of India, or maybe the Gobi Desert, and THEN I’m going to enjoy myself. I’ll live a life of solitude and then I’ll really meditate.” Things never happen that way.
—Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Transcending Madness
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