We obviously live in the age of terrible anxiety, which isn’t surprising considering the pace of modern life,financial stresses, family pressures and global unrest.
My life used to be quite a hectic and always busy and frequently loose my temper, both at home and at work. Yes, I consider myself as the one who achieved a lot from life, yet, it had its price – I used to always rush and was under pressure. You know how does it feel.
I knew I had to do something in terms of changing these bad habits. I had a lot that I wanted to accomplish in life in as shorter time as possible as being quite impatience. I also realized that I couldn’t do everything that I wanted to do, yet, I felt I could do much more than I was doing, and I wasn’t prepared to cut down on what I was accomplishing.
Something had to change, and I didn’t know what I could do differently. I’d like to share a unique approach for reducing worry and anxiety, which I call the joyful will-power technique. It’s based on the Torah and psychotherapy, and views anxiety as a call to look within ourselves and express our authentic-selves more deeply.
In essence, the sages explain that there is a frantic willpower and a calm willpower within us . They are obviously polar opposites. Just because I wanted to accomplish a lot didn’t mean that I had to be a nervous wreck about it. I could maintain an inner calm and still do a lot. I could utilize my time wisely, and feel an inner relaxation. I had always looked at being relaxed as not being motivated to accomplish a lot.
What I wanted to explain is, that many people as I used to be once, become overwhelmed when they feel they have too many things to do and they don’t have enough time to do them. This overwhelmed feeling causes them to move more slowly than they usually do. Their minds becomes unclear. Hence, it becomes hard for them to focus and concentrate. Instead of becoming more efficient at what they have to do, they act way below their standard competency level.
We are in an endless state of mental congestion.We cannot hear ourselves think. We go to a party, family dinner, or vacation in a beautiful place, but we are only half there. Our minds are somewhere else – longing to check the smartphones just one more time. When we are constantly distracted, it becomes impossible to function well. We parent with half an eye, work with half an ear, and live with half a heart. The pressure of being perpetually on call takes its toll and does not allow us space to breath. A lot of stress has to do with the way we see ourselves. When we give ourselves negative messages and put ourselves down we lower our sense of self and destroy our own self esteem. We can become our own worst enemy.“I can’t believe I’m such an idiot.” “What was I thinking?I’ll never be able to do this!” Remove the negative eye – it will only stress you out. Stop demeaning yourself. Replace detrimental self-statements with positive ones. Start believing in yourself. And if you do happen to make a mistake and fall, pick yourself up and start anew. This is true strength
Joyful willpower technique in essence means that you take action, and you do so with full speed ahead while remaining calm and tranquil inside. You move as fast as is appropriate for the specific situation and circumstance. But you keep peace of mind.
Your mindset acknowledges that you will do everything that you have to do and that you will have an inner calm.Although you might move quickly, inwardly you are at ease. A key benefit of being calm and acting at the same time is that you think clearly. You think about what you need to do, and you remain calm as you take action
Now that I am so much calmer than ever before, I accomplished much more in shorter amounts of time. I work smarter,not harder. I began to see that I was pressuring myself much more than necessary. I could just let go and feel more at ease. My productivity increased. I got much more done in less time.
Because I was so much calmer and thought more clearly, I thought of solutions to things that had been distressing me. I not only accomplished so much more, but I grew spiritually and emotionally. I am able to naturally move into a state of calmness and greater joy in life and made a major difference in my life and in the lives of my family and friends.
