If you feel Overwhelmed or Anxious, Take this Step.
How silence is the key to regaining control of your life.
Humanity is more overwhelmed than ever before. There is a constant barrage of incoherent images and information infiltrating the privacy of our minds. Some of it by choice, most of it in the form of emails, advertisements, mindless scrolling, and pop-up notifications. Nonetheless, we are constantly consuming, without the luxury the body has of autonomous disposal of waste. Our minds store this “mess” and sweep it under a psychic rug while we tend to a matter that we deem essential. But the presence of this mess has a more significant impact on us than we realize.
I am a finance executive. Compound interest is a tool used by many to grow wealth. This is a multiplier effect that causes numbers to grow at a faster rate by steady and consistent accumulation. This same law exists outside of finance. Our lives are the result of compounding, an accumulation of decisions driven by our interpretation of circumstances and thoughts. Our minds store everything we engage both actively and passively. This steady accumulation builds a mountain of information that can begin to block some of our core principles and things that matter most, including our ability to regulate our emotions and see things objectively. Not only that, but we also feel overwhelmed, and we are confused about the cause.
You think there is not enough time in the day, you’re misunderstood, deadlines are unreasonable, you’ll get to “it” later, etc. Before you said that to yourself, how many times had you picked up your phone that day for the hell of it? Well, welcome to the equivalent of your AA meeting. You are lying to yourself. You’re distracted, and you don’t realize it. Because that mountain of “mess” is getting bigger and bigger, and it is crowding your massive but limited thought space. Thus, causing a feedback loop that cycles through negative emotions, anxiety, escape, and more information. Before you know it, you’re overwhelmed and unhappy. You could be successful or unsuccessful in life. Religious or non-religious. Spiritual or non-spiritual. Intelligent or unintelligent. Wealthy or poor. It doesn’t matter. You’re lost, and you don’t know it.
The only thing that is worse than a blind person is the blind person that thinks they can see.
I have the first step and most crucial step to solve your problem.
You need silence.
As a 30-year-old C-level executive of a multimillion-dollar corporation, I have been consumed and overwhelmed. It had gotten so bad that I couldn’t get much done, yet I had convinced myself that I had too many responsibilities and didn’t have time to do things the way people expected. They don’t know. They’re not in my shoes. I was absolutely overwhelmed. I started gaining weight, specifically in my stomach area. I paced around my beautiful home in fear on every call that did not require video, became anxious to even open an email, turned my phone on silent to escape the demand of daily life, and even ran from my schedule and structure. The worst thing was I convinced myself it wasn’t me because I pray every morning, have an established relationship with God and am religiously disciplined. Yet still, I was lost, but now I am found.
I recently took some time to travel to the most remote monastery in the western hemisphere in the remote desert of New Mexico and spent a week in silence with my trusted advisor, mentor, and friend. It was there that I found the cause of my anxiety. I never disposed of my mountain of mess, and I was utterly distracted but didn’t realize it. But the silence of wilderness brought it all to me in clarity. Once I unplugged from the phone, laptop, and civilization, I became acquainted with my calling, the cure to my anxiety. The thing is, everyone’s remedy is different, and we all know what it is. Our spirit has the answer, but we simply cannot hear it. The world is too noisy.
I developed a respect for time. If you sit and do absolutely nothing for an hour, no phone, talking, no thinking, no anything…you will realize that an hour is plenty of time. Anybody that tells you that life is short and is still living is not present and has missed out on a lot. Don’t make the same mistake. You do have time. There is a reason that every spiritual leader, from Moses to Jesus, to Buddha, to Muhammad, has spent time in the wilderness. It is because the most significant answers and solutions in our lives come from the quiet whispers of our spirit.
You feel overwhelmed and anxious because you need pure silence to sort things out and be honest with yourself. Move the mountain of “mess” from your mind to the ocean of nothingness. From there, you will find a sense of calm that you haven’t felt in a long time despite yoga class and meditation. You have to unplug everything and make a habit of it. Once you do watch the change in your heart rate, your skin tone, your awareness, and the power of controlling your own life return to your grasp. But from there is all in what you do with it. The power is yours.
I love you all.
