When we wake up from a night’s sleep, a nap, or small doze-off, our brain is very active of course, and we don’t have complete presence to keep our subconscious thoughts under control. This is why we have nightmares and dreams and such. We can wake up stirring and full of anxiety – this is where the phrase, “woke up on the wrong side of the bed”, came from.
For someone who suffers from anxiety the morning jitters can be much more severe and frightening. So when we wake up in the morning and notice right away that we are filled with anxiety we have to shake it off. I’ve mentioned literally shaking off anxiety before, but here I am talking about waking up, becoming present in the moment enough to “turn off your mind” and the let the REAL, PRESENT, AND FULLY CONSCIOUS YOU take over.
When you’re sleeping your subconscious gets to run wild, and fearful, and anxious thoughts can come over in a dream state. You don’t have the advantage of being conscious and present when you are dreaming, and this can cause you to wake up seemingly defenseless against negative thoughts that are pure fantasy. We need to disregard these anxious morning thoughts completely and take them with a grain of salt.
I’ve also mentioned before that when we have a good thought that gives us hope and a feeling of well being, that is a sense of reality coming to the forefront of your present moment. This is true. The universe only understands “good”, and “feeling good”. If you could speak to a tree or a cloud trying to explain what feeling bad is or felt like, they would be quite amused and confused by the idea of anything being bad. They know (the universe knows) that there is ONLY GOOD, and the idea of BAD is nothing but a human invention and ego disease. I know to some who are not familiar with new age material this sounds insane, but in reality human minds and egos are the only thing insane (unreal) on this beautiful earth. After all, the grass, the trees, the clouds, a raindrop, the sun, the planets, and galaxies don’t worry about who has more property, attention, money, or status.
So when you wake up in the morning and feel like you are deep in a negative “funk” there is an exercise that works well to restart your framing of reality. That is to turn off you mind. This is why most people who meditate do it first thing in the morning, when they have the most energy – so they can get the bearing with universal reality and turn off their minds.
When you wake up filled with anxiety you need realize that your brain and ego has attempted to control the moment. Remind yourself that your ego and mind are not really you. Your thoughts can’t be taken seriously if the thoughts are anxious or negative.
What Do You Do When You Don’t Know Why You Are Anxious and Filled With a Negative Energy
There are those times (and the morning is one of the most common times) when you feel anxious and filled with negative energy and you don’t know why. You can sit there or lie there wondering why you are filled with sadness (or anxiety). This is very frustrating for sure, and when a friend or family member notices your melancholy mood, body language, or tone of voice, and they ask you, “what’s wrong” – you don’t have an answer.
Now you do have an answer. Tell them that your unconscious mind and ego have snuck up on you and tried to hijack your moment.
When you are in this state of negativity just remind yourself that your mind can’t be trusted, and the real you is all that matters. That the current morning moment is not a time for allot of mind activity. All your mind needs to do is help you get up, have a shower, get dressed, do some exercise, or eat breakfast – it does not need to worry about the future or rerun fantasies about the past.
Remind yourself how grateful you are to be alive to experience the new day. Remind yourself to except the moments of day for what they are, and not let your mind or ego judge everything you see or experience. Remind yourself that you are changing rapidly as a human being – for the better.
When I wake up in the morning filled with anxiety I say these words, “I’m awake now and the real me is taking back control of the new day, and I want to feel good”. Sounds nutty I know, but this is the reality of the human anxiety disease. We have let our minds and ego have TOO many of our days. For those of us who let our overactive minds steal our days, we need to reaffirm the truth of our existence sometimes.
How To Stop Your Anxious Morning Mind In It’s Tracks
In the morning you may need to STOP your anxious mind activity in it’s tracks, or you could continue on in a miserable and unconscious state.
Concentrate on your breathing and try to imagine a great stillness within your chest. Then imagine that stillness radiating into the rest of your body – right out to your finger tips and toe tips. When you succeed (and you will) remember that that stillness you feel is the essence of the universe and reality. When you feel “that stillness” this means your mind and ego are not dominant for that brief time.
Try to block out thoughts about the past, other people, or the future. Just concentrate on your current moment and the room you are in NOW. Anytime you find yourself “thinking” about what is going on at work, stop yourself and be aware of your thoughts. Once you are aware you will start to notice your anxiety levels decrease.
To Stop Morning Anxiety Get Enough Sleep and Get Up Earlier
The majority of people don’t get up early enough experience the peace and quiet of the morning. They get up when the world is in full swing, or close to full swing. There is more noise, and the sun has been up for awhile already. Try going to bed earlier, and waking up earlier.
If you have to go to a job this is the best thing you can do. Give yourself some quiet, cool morning time to wake up slower, and get your still “center” back. Exercise is a great way to ease your morning stress, but it’s often not enough – you need to control your mind. You need to laugh at your anxious morning mind. Seriously. If you feel anxious you can try just grinning at your minds anxious and negative thoughts. If you can’t identify what negative thoughts you’ve had or are having to make you feel so listless and filled with a sinking sad feeling, then grin at the negative feeling altogether.
It really is worth laughing at. Any time your mind and ego has taken control, or hijacked your thoughts with negativity it’s human insanity, absurdity, and it’s yes……laughable. This may sound sick to someone who is in the depths of depression or anxiety. I understand that.
This is why so-called “crazy people” who are in the depths of mental illness sometimes laugh loudly and uncontrollably. It’s literally a (still existing) SMALL window of their real natural selves bursting out through their mind created thick shell of anxiety. When these so-called “mental patients” (actually mind and ego patients) go on one of their insane laughing fits, they feel a small bit better in that moment because reality is present for a brief moment. Soon after they fall back into a shell that is hard to penetrate – their minds have taken over again. Paranoid mentally ill patients are nothing more than human beings that have become almost completely self absorbed into their mind and it’s cyclic thought patterns. These patients have usually suffered from a painful experience that most other humans have not. Therefore their minds have an extreme movie (more like a nightmare) from their past to keep replaying in their minds. Because their minds have had total control for a long time, they have managed to attach themselves to their pain. They fear the future complete, and they have amplified their past trauma to the level insanity. This is just an extreme case of what ALL humans do to themselves every day of their lives.
So like the so-called “mad mental patient” give yourself a break and LAUGH at your fear, your worry of the future, and your “bad stories” from your past. It’s all unreal and untrue.
Look down at your breathing body and be amazed at the wondrous organism your energy field is inhabiting for your brief time on earth. When you see the true magic of your physical existence then you will be filled such gratitude you will find it impossible to complain. You won’t complain about a fantasy future you are imagining, a bad past you have amplified, or a bad present moment that so many of us choose to imagine sometimes.
Even if your body is old, broken, wounded, sick, or diseased, it’s still a miracle of our universe. It’s still miraculous because it has breathing lungs, a heart beating, and blood moving.
Humans that read this who are filled with anxiety and negative thought patterns will find these statements to be impossible and fantasy, when in reality their negative thoughts are the unreal and unnatural. The reality is that every day is perfect. Every morning is perfect. Every second is perfect, and your existence is perfect. A soon as you turn off your mind and your ego you will understand this perfection – you will understand bliss. You will understand God (universal energy).
So recognize your mornings for what they truly are – another gift experiencing physical form. How much money is in your bank account, how “happy” or “unhappy” you are, how old or young you are, how “important” you are, “how powerful you are”, have nothing to do with the gift of your new day.
That street urchin you see lying in downtown doorway, sleeping in dirty, urine soaked cloths, has the exact same gift you have. They have been given a human body to learn what being really is. They are truly no different than you in the laws of universal energy. Their life experience and current circumstances are VERY different than yours, but ask yourself this question:
When a bowery bum wakes up in the back doorway of a downtown alley to the sun in their eyes, do you think they have less morning anxiety than you? or do you think they have more morning anxiety than you? Just think about it.
The poor man who has never fretted the collection of things, money, and status, will often be more connected to the NOW and be less anxious that your average middle class person with a family and a so-called “good job”. I’m not saying you should give away all your material wealth, and quit your job – I’m suggesting that you don’t need to worry about LOSS so much.
Wake up each day THANKFUL. Make sure you FEEL thankful and don’t just let your mind fake it’s way by saying, “Gee – thanks for this day”. Try closing your eyes, quieting your mind, and feeling gratitude. You will begin to understand that what’s causing stress in your mornings, your days, and your life, is fear of loss. You have enough, and if you become truly grateful you will have more – MUCH more. Let the morning unfold without forcing it. Don’t try and control your morning and day. Let the universe unfold naturally. Let the people around you, with their unconscious egos, take part in the drama and the trauma of the human runaway mind disease. Don’t judge them or scold them in your mind, and leave your ego in the dirty tool shed at home.
Don’t hate others or even dislike others. Don’t judge a moment as bad either. There is a natural order to things and happenings. Be a witness to the miracle of life.
You can be happy right now at this very moment.