The Quarrelsome Quartet:
Fear, Stress, Anxiety, and Depression By Bentley Murdock
What Are They (Really) and How in the World Do We Navigate Them?
28 www.sghealthandwellnessmagazine.com
Some of the most prevalent “Dis-Ease” symptoms in today’s world (on top of the smattering of physical maladies burdening the masses) are within the more cryptically elusive mental and emotional areas of unrest. At the top of a long list, we’ll always find varying degrees and unique combinations within the same quartet: Worrisome Fear, Excessive Stress, Polarized Anxiety, and Chronic Depression. Each one of these is nothing more than a verb, very much in-motion and at work within each of us, communicating the criticality of its existence and why we should lean in with more than just an ear of validation. Our bodies, hearts, guts, and minds all speak boldly and communicate powerfully with surprising efficiency and clarity. Yet how often do we actually stop and listen? Let’s break down each of these into more in-depth and more digestible terms. Worrisome Fear is “the primarily unnecessary (and often unavoidable) preoccupation with all the worst-case-scenarios that have an astronomical probability of never happening at all.” The short answer is this: Thoughts Become Things. Universal law teaches us (all day long) that we will continue to receive only those things, people, and experiences that are each in harmony with our predominant thoughts. Hence, the more we focus on fear and worry, the more experiences are going to show up about which we’ll be choosing (again) to worry, and the cycle continues.
We have to approach it like a diet within the appetite of the mind because old habits die so hard (or not at all, for those who are a bit too attached to let go). If we continue only observing and assessing what shows up, then we’ll never find out what could have potentially been within our power to attract into our lives. So begin obsessing over all the ideal, best-case scenarios you can think of, and replay those mental video-clips as frequently as you’re able. In time, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with what materializes— but only if you’re not simultaneously allowing toxic fear and worry pollution to continue sneaking in through the back door.
