If you Have the Nerve.......

If you have the nerve, read this article and participate in this anxiety research project:

Anxious Caring

Denial of anxious caring is our typical unenlightened state of mind. We do not recognize this state because it is disguised and distorted by defensiveness. To admit that we are anxious and that we care is to be vulnerable and exposed. Also such an admission requires self-responsibility and not blame and victimization postures. When we begin to take a responsible perceptual stance, we can also then begin to perceive it in others, and free them as well from the universal ego attack-and-defend mentality.

All of our behavior is motivated by our unconscious search for security, love and belonging, freedom, power and pleasure. We do not believe that we have enough of these things. We seek to fulfill this lack by trying to control other people and circumstances. When we fail in this attempted effort to be and have more through control and manipulation, we get very anxious. When we get this anxious, we often try harder or slip into depression. Let us use this situation to be more reflectively aware.

Notice that we are assuming that we do not have security, love and belonging, freedom, power and pleasure. We are telling ourselves that we are lacking, that there is not enough. Is that true? How do you know it is true? Are you sure it is true? Is the assumption of lack the cause of your anxiety and your manipulative control strategies?

Suppose that Security = Self-knowledge
Suppose that Love and Belonging = Self-knowledge
Suppose that Freedom = Self-knowledge
Suppose that Power = Self-knowledge
Suppose that Fun = Self-knowledge

If these definitions are true, then our only lack is Self-knowledge and our only fault is ignorance.

The lack of true self-knowledge is due to our story or our false self-mythology.
So let us review the enlightenment process: Self-Medication Failure > Symptoms > Anxiety > Forgetfulness/Ignorance > Acceptance or story- recognition >Awareness/Remembrance of our Infinite Potential > Gratitude

Please feel free to examine and challenge your story in detail by filling in the sentence-completion test below, circling either True or False and adding your Comment.

I am angry because _______________ makes me mad
_______________makes me mad because_______________
I am justified in being angry because___________________
When I feel angry and justified, I want__________________
When I feel angry and justified, what I get is_______¬______
When I feel angry and justified, there is also something I don’t get that I want, which is_____________________________________
I am angry and irritated because I am not in control of myself, and _____________________is controlling me
I am not in control of myself because I am choosing to blame ___________________
I am choosing to blame______________because I am giving_______________my power
I am really upset because I have given ___________ my responsibility for _________________
I am anxious because I am telling myself that___________________
I am anxious because I am trying unsuccessfully to change_______________’s behavior instead of my own
I try to change _________’s behavior by______________________
I tell myself that _______should change their behavior about_______
Is it true that ___________should change ______________________?
How do I know that _______________should change their behavior about________________?
I am anxious because I am telling myself that _________should change their _________behavior and I cannot control their behavior.
I am anxious because I am selling myself short. I am selling myself short by__________. I am selling myself short because_________. Selling myself short makes me anxious because_________________________________.
I am anxious because I am assuming that_____________________
I am anxious because I have forgotten that____________________
I am anxious because I am unaware of _______________________
I am anxious because I need to realize________________________
I am anxious because I am deceiving myself about______________
I am anxious because I am limiting my choices about____________
I am anxious because I am ignoring___________________________
I do not understand the cause of my own anxiety nor that of others. True or False? Comment___________________________________
When I do not understand the cause of anxiety, I react by________________________________________________________
When I react automatically to the denial of the value of my anxiety, I feed into a cycle of more reactivity and anxiety. True or False? Comment___________________________________
I often feel like a victim of_____________________________________
I feel like a victim because____________________________________
When I feel like a victim, I tend to ______________________________
When someone accuses, criticizes, betrays, distrusts or judges me, I react by___________________________________________________
When I react, the other person reacts to my reaction by________________________________________________________
When I accuse, criticize, betray, distrust, or judge another, they react by________________________________________________________
When they react, I tend to ____________________________________
I do not know the cause of my anxiety. True or False? Comment___________________________________
I would like to know the cause of my anxiety. True or False? Comment________________________________
I have been assuming that anxiety is worthless and destructive. True or False? Comment___________________________
I choose now to consider that my anxiety may have a valuable purpose. True or False? Comment_________________________
I choose now to deeply investigate the purpose of my anxiety. True or False? Comment__________________________
I am always and only upset because of my anxiety. True or False? Comment____________________________
I am anxious because of the story I am telling myself, True or False? Comment_________________________
I do not know what that story is. True or False? Comment__________________________________
I am willing to inquire into that story and to accept my responsibility for creating and sustaining that story. True or False? Comment________________________________
All of my feelings, thoughts, and actions are determined by that story. True or False? Comment________________________________
No one else and nothing else is responsible for my story. True or False? Comment_______________________________
My story creates all of my victim perceptions. True or False? Comment__________________________________
I am a victim of nothing but my story. True or False? Comment_________________________________
My story or pattern in life as I see it has been _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
My anxiety has the sole purpose of making me aware of my story. True or False? Comment_________________________________
Without awareness of my story, I will continue to make the same mistakes and get the same results. True or False? Comment________________________________
Without the awareness of my story, I will continue to get what I don’t want. True or False? Comment__________________________________
Without the awareness of the limitations of my story, I will remain unaware of my infinite potential, my godlikeness. True or False? Comment_______________________________
Without the awareness of my infinite potential, I will continue to short-change myself and to be anxious and to blame outward circumstances for my suffering. True or False? Comment__________________________________
I want to know the truth, regardless of the apparent cost. True or False? Comment__________________________________
No one and nothing outside of my awareness and choice makes me mad, sad or glad. True or False? Comment_________________________________
I am totally responsible for all of my experiences. True or False? Comment__________________________________
The awareness of my responsibility is sobering. liberating, and empowering. True or False? Comment__________________________________
The awareness of anxious caring as the basic human motivation is a liberating realization for me. True or False? Comment_________________________________
Everyone I know is fundamentally an anxious lover. True or False? Comment_________________________________
All of my communication problems are due to the lack of awareness of anxious caring in myself and others. True or False? Comment_________________________________
Regardless of how it appears, everyone is anxiously caring. True or False? Comment_________________________________
We are anxious because we are unaware, and we care in spite of our anxiety and unawareness. True or False? Comment________________________________
To tell myself that I don’t care and that I am not anxious is a lie. True or False? Comment________________________________________
We are anxious because of our programmed ignorance, and we care because we are godlike beings. True or False? Comment__________________________________
Anxious caring is not easily recognized because it appears in many symptomatic and twisted forms. True or False? Comment___________________________________
Regardless of what we think and how we act, we are still godlike beings with infinite potential. True or False? Comment__________________________________
The cause of all suffering is unawareness of our infinite potential, True or False? Comment_________________________________
The cause of all anxiety, depression, addiction and acting out is our ingrained and faulty belief system. True or False? Comment______________________________
Everything that has ever happened is for my benefit and for the purpose of my awakening. True or False? Comment__________________________________
I can begin to see that gratitude is the most beneficial choice I can make about anything. True or False? Comment_________________________________
Anything less than gratitude is a form of insanity. True or False? Comment_______________________________
Everything that has ever happened to me was for one single reason: my enlightenment. True or False? Comment________________________________
If I am awakening I will not simply accept mediocre behavior in myself and others. I challenge myself and others to stretch and reach beyond any familiar comfort zones and habits. True or False? Comment__________________________________
I tend to experience my anxiety most often as
( ) jealousy ( ) anger ( ) despair ( ) withdrawal ( ) nervousness ( ) pressure ( ) criticism ( ) blame ( ) paranoia ( ) accusations ( ) defensiveness ( ) submissiveness ( ) irritation ( ) belittlement ( ) sarcasm ( ) domination or bullying ( ) rationalization or excuse-making ( ) rebellion ( ) skepticism ( ) people-pleasing and submissiveness ( ) egocentricity and rebellion or ( )_______________
When I experience anxiety, I tend to self-medicate or self-comfort myself by________________________________________________
My self-medicating strategies work ( )10% of the time ( ) 20% of the time ( )50% of the time ( ) 70% of the time ( ) 100 % of the time
The pay-offs for my self-medicating strategies are____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The costs of my self-medicating strategies are____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I live by my life story, my myths, my assumptions, my beliefs, my stereotypes, my opinions, my view of the universe. True or False? Comment__________________________________ __________
Many of my beliefs are unconscious to me. True or False? Comment___________________________________
Most of my choices and decisions are affected by these unconscious beliefs and opinions. True or False? Comment___________________________________

Please email your self-examination test to drjoe@shentel.net to participate in this ongoing research project in anxiety-awareness and anxiety-transformation. This research or insearch is vital to the future of this planet in the next 6 years. There is growing evidence that we are facing vast planetary and consciousness changes by December, 2012. The question is whether we will choose to participate consciously in that paradigm shift in time to equip ourselves for its apparent curse or actual blessing. We can choose to wake up or to ignore the meaning of the intense speeding up of time that is going on right now.