Tip #73: Next time you feel anxious about something, look at the bigger picture.
The why: When you have anxiety, even the seemingly smallest problem can escalate into a mountain of worry and stress.
Thinking over things we over think.
A method I have found useful is that whenever I begin to overthink I imagine the whole universe, I zoom out and, cliche as it sounds, I look up to the huge scale of the world and suddenly my problems seem so small and far away.
For instance, walking to the train station from university last week I began to feel short of breath, my head felt foggy and heavy, and my palms began to sweat like small fountains hand grown under my skin.
It was dark, and so I turned my head upwards and imagined all the amazing things and phenomenal phenomena that were currently taking place in the vast expanse of space.
This is the street I was walking down.
This is my home city, London.
This is my country, the United Kingdom
This is our planet, Earth
This is our solar system
This is our galaxy, the Milky Way.
Home to 100 billion stars, of which our sun is just one.
This is our local super cluster, Virgo
10 million light years across, made up of 45,000 galaxies and containing an uncountable amount of stars and planets, the Virgo supercluster is one of ten observable superclusters in the universe.
This is a snapshot of our universe
There are an estimated 10 trillion galaxies in our universe. That’s 10000000000000. That’s huge.
And this is just a mere drop in the ocean of the whole shabang
See how brightly it is shining? That may be because there are an estimated 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in the universe.
When you think about the sheer scale and magnitude of everything it puts things in perspective. Right now entire worlds are being created and destroyed, stars are exploding, it’s raining diamonds on a distant Earth, there’s an entire planet made of gold, quantum particles are buzzing in and out of existence. Everything that can happen is happening somewhere at this very moment.
Our existence is an impossible and wonderful thing.
Next time you’re feeling anxious, look upwards, not inwards.
Love myself a bit of perspective. None said it better than Carl Sagan in his ‘Pale Blue Dot’ speech. Youtube it. Basically summarises everything you just said.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s honestly one of the best quotes of all time! “Resting on a sunbeam” – it’s perfect :’)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I loooove it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I really appreciate this post! Like many people, I experience a lot of anxiety in my professional life. I have recently been trying to meditate, to go inward, in order to ease the pressure I often feel. I like what you explained about looking outward, instead of inward, because I’ve found that my expectations for meditation, at least right now, have been increasing my anxiety because all the possibilities (usually negative) flow through my consciousness when I am still. I will now try this inward/outward approach. I don’t think they are opposites but the outward strategy is shifting my perspective and during meditation I will try to think less of myself as an individual and more of myself as a small component of a vast network of beings and matter. Many thanks!
LikeLike
I’m so so glad you like it! I know what you mean, sometimes when you’re concentrating on breathing, it can actually bring on a panic attack! And if you have anxious thoughts rushing around the mind you are exactly right it can be difficult to silence them or concentrate. That’s a really beautiful way of putting it! Everything is interconnected and we are part of something bigger than ourselves. That knowledge helps give us a purpose when we’re feeling anxious I find. Thank you for your comment, really got me thinking now! I hope you continue to overcome these obstacles, your job should be grateful for having someone so strong and thoughtful working for them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aww thanks! When I am feeling overwhelmed, I will read this message!!
LikeLike