Elixir
of Courage
“He went
to a cupboard and reaching up to a high shelf took down a square
green bottle, the contents of which he poured into a green-gold dish,
beautifully carved. Placing this before the Cowardly Lion, who
sniffed at it as if he did not like it, the Wizard said: “Drink.”
“What is it?” asked the Lion.
“Well,”
answered Oz, “if it were inside of you, it would be courage. You
know, of course, that courage is always inside one; so that this
really cannot be called courage until you have swallowed it.
Therefore, I advise you to drink it as soon as possible.”
L. Frank
Baum (excerpt from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, c.1900)
Wouldn't it be nice if
there were an elixir that instantaneously, and once and for all, gave
us courage. Think of all the teenage dances we would have enjoyed
instead of feeling overwhelmed by anxiety. And, all the presentations
we would have given without lying awake all night imagining
everything that could possibly go wrong. When I was younger, I felt
crippled by anxiety. Every book report, every recitation, every date
produced a burning red face, eyes that poured water, and panting,
like a dog that's been running too long. I'll bet a few of you know
exactly how that feels.
Dealing with crippling
anxiety sometimes requires actual medicine, but regardless of the
medicine we may or may not take, there is also an associated learning
curve. I had to learn to calm myself, and to do whatever I wanted or
needed to do in spite of the anxiety it caused me. In other words, we
must find within ourselves the courage to act regardless of the fear
we feel. I won't pretend that this is easy. A brain with a constant
overload of stress hormones is not easy to reset, but it is possible.
One of the things we do that escalates anxiety is self-talk—inside
our heads we yak-yak-yak about all the terrible possibilities.
Cutting this off by replacing it with affirmations is sometimes
helpful. Daily exercise and meditation are also useful. Some of my
friends listen to guided meditations designed to calm the mind—the
series by Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey are good
examples.
Here are some things that work for me: Monitor activity level, and know when
it's off kilter. Since the brain's stress chemicals are the same ones
that produce the Fight/Flight/Freeze behavior, we are likely to see
some of the same behaviors—we speed up and over-do, we become
irritable and ill tempered, and/or we cannot organize our thoughts or
actions to make them coherent. Take time for quiet activities, ones
that slow us down. Simply sit down, breathe deeply and allow the mind
to wander, meander, and day-dream—the opposite of rumination. Take
time-out to read, or take a walk. Everyday chores, especially ones
involving the hands that allow the mind to enter into creative
imagination, can restore balance.
Like love and joy,
courage is an inside job. Mustering the courage to recognize the
problem as our own, to act in spite of fear, and to ask for help when
it is needed—these are everyday solutions to everyday problems.
Anxiety is not something that should rule our lives. It is only a
challenge like many others to be faced.
In the Spirit,
Jane
No comments:
Post a Comment