Anxiety...

Anxiety is an excruciating state that we have come up with for ourselves, thanks to it we are aging ahead of time, tormenting ourselves and tormenting others ... There are people who are especially acutely worried about everything happening around them and consider themselves responsible for it. They have a very developed sense of guilt, and it is very difficult for them to maintain peace of mind. No matter what happens, they are panicked whether they want it or not. A person should know this peculiarity of his personality, then he will learn to manage anxiety, control it, so as not to torment himself or others.

It is one thing to worry if we expect guests, and therefore we clean the house, cook, set the table. At this moment we are active, in a hurry, there is a positive charge in us, a vital force - after all, we sincerely want everyone to be happy. And quite another - the gangrene of anxiety, which slowly corrodes the soul. That excruciating state of uncertainty that makes a person sick. The one who endlessly experiences stress through his own fault is opposed by a balanced person, a person who does everything calmly, naturally, lives without panic, without painful worries, that is, as Christ has commanded us.

A person must learn to live with the sensation of the presence of God in his life - and gradually this feeling will expel painful anxiety from his soul. If we can feel God's love, we will see that all other problems will disappear. We will calm down, our soul will get rid of endless stress, tension, difficulties, which, in fact, practically do not exist. We are crushed by our logic, our rationalism, we rely on our strengths, on our intellect, on our abilities, money and acquaintances, and we trust God very little. Before it's too late, you need to change this in yourself, and bowing your head, say: “Lord, take my life and do what you want with it, if only I could feel that you are guiding me, that you are holding me, that you are protecting me, that you love me, that you are near me! That’s enough for me! ”

Archimandrite Andrei (Konanos)