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Meditation + Talk: How to Prevent and Release Needless Anxiety
April 4, 2024

Anxiety is a normal human experience — we all feel anxious or afraid sometimes — but excessive or chronic anxiety can wear us down and be detrimental to our long-term happiness and health. Plus, many of us are anxious about things that we don’t actually need to be anxious about.

In my Wednesday meditation and talk from April 3, I shared some ideas on how to prevent and release needless anxiety.

Some key points that I covered this week are:

  • We can feel undisturbed, undefended, and uncontracted in the moment — which is what we meditated on.
  • In order to receive the present moment without fear, we have to recognize that the brain is a prediction machine and can be stuck in predictions, especially regarding fear.
  • The scientific understanding of how the brain generalizes fear, including the biological and neurological mechanisms involved.
  • Strategies for preventing and managing overgeneralized fear, including mindfulness, self-compassion, and self-awareness practices.

I hope you find it helpful. You are welcome to join my free Wednesday Meditations – which are open to everyone!

Also, you can check anxiety courses that can help you manage your anxious thoughts and bring a calming focus back to the present.

Meditation

Download the Audio of this Meditation

Talk

Download the Audio of this Talk

These teachings are offered freely, at no charge. 

And if you like, you may wish to participate in the age-old tradition of generosity through making an offering yourself – called “dāna” – to support Rick and the Wednesday Meditations. Generosity itself is a beautiful practice that opens and gladdens the heart, relaxes the contraction of “self,” and ripples out into the world to touch many people – and perhaps, eventually, even oneself. 

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