Anxiety – the Modern Curse?

Getting ready for my 60^th birthday party this week showed me something in myself that is typical of our generation. I get anxious. I think too much about little details. I get slightly irritated with Kathy, who is one of the world’s best wives. I spend money. I eat and drink too much. Nothing is actually wrong, but I create stress for myself and over-react.

Then I start talking with my family and my friends and find that they too are anxious: about business; about family relationships; about life in general.

I go shopping at one of the nicest shopping malls in Vancouver. At first I am overwhelmed at the wonderful atmosphere of Christmas, with wonderful choral music, abundant merchandise, glittering colours, and enticing scents. But the shoppers rush by looking more worried than joyful at this immense banquet of material pleasures. They stop to gamble at the government run lottery. They fret in the long line-ups at the cash registers. They look tired and withdrawn. They too are very anxious.

Our responses to anxiety are often unhealthy. We take drugs, both legal and illegal. We eat and drink too much. We overspend. We worry and plan. Some of us barrage ourselves with loud music, games, and electronic entertainment. Others become depressed or withdrawn. In fact, together with loneliness, anxiety seems to be the curse of our modern world.

Strangely, our anxiety seems mostly unjustified. Our world is richer and safer than in any previous generation. We are living longer. We can travel safely and quickly. Many if not most of the things which worried our parents and grandparents are now better than ever. Yet we worry and stress ourselves and fail to sleep soundly.

There are cures to this anxiety at many levels, although these are intertwined. I would distinguish between the physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of our beings. Curing anxiety successfully takes all three.

I find regular exercise most helpful. A good diet of healthy food is important. Regular routines and intentional forms of relaxation, like music, help a lot. Slowing down to talk with friends and strangers is calming.

What we feed our mind is equally important. Our mental diet is as critical to total health as the food we eat. What do we read, talk and think about? What movies do we see?

Then there is the spiritual dimension. The ancients have always maintained that there is a part of us which transcends the body and the mind which is our spirit. This in turn connects in some mysterious way with the Great Spirit beyond all worlds.

The ancients believed that we must shape our lives in accordance with certain patterns of behaviour which put us in right relationship with the Great Spirit and how the spiritual universe is formed and governed.

When we encounter stresses, setbacks, disappointments and storms in our inner and outer worlds, our spiritual reaction determines how we will come through.

Do we trust God totally, or are we in rebellion against this supreme power? This may seem academic when all is going well, but when intense storms grip us, our spiritual attitudes determine the outcome.

Trusting God completely with our lives and with our future destiny is the ultimate cure for anxiety. No drug or medicine or even healthy living can protect us from life’s ultimate crises, such as: broken relationships; sickness, pain and suffering; career or financial misfortune; getting older; and facing death, whether our own, or the death of those we love.

I will talk more later about the implications of trusting God, because it requires us to reshape our entire lives. But for now, I simply want to affirm that in the storms of my life, however minor (like a party) or major (like facing death), taking care of the body and psyche are both important, but not enough alone. We must also nurture our spiritual being daily to live life well!