What to do with fear and anxiety? || Acharya Prashant (2015)

Question: How can one be in the sense of ‘presence’? How can one get rid of anxiety?

Acharya Prashant (AP): First of all, I do not think that there is any magical formula to it. There is a part of anxiety that is related to ‘facts’, and there is a component of anxiety that rests upon ‘imagination’. We have to deal with them differently.

What is purely imaginary, will lose its sting, the moment you see that it is merely ‘imaginary’.

The part of anxiety that is merely arising from projection, just projection – and the mind is very fertile, the mind can really imagine anything – that will lose its venom, its hold on you, the moment you see that – “I can go on imagining anything, and there is no end to the self-inflicted anxiety that I can cause to myself.”

There is another component of anxiety that is related to ‘facts’, where there is a ‘cause-effect’ thing. You know that the cause has taken place, so the effect is bound to surface. And the effect might be impinging on your self-interest, so you are anxious. Right?

Now this is the part that probably all of us have to bear. If the arrow has left the bow, it will travel the distance. Since it will travel the distance, one may as well say, “There is no point worrying now.” It is a fact, one can’t do anything about it. It is done. And when one can’t do anything about something, then minimize your losses. Why put more investment in something which is already a lost case?