ASHA's News Page Continued

Chairman's Corner

What personal price are you prepared to pay for alleviating the severity of your anxiety condition? In a strategy designed to break the shackles of fear, is it an essential ingredient to sacrifice your job, your existing relationships, your material possessions, your ingrained beliefs, your dignity, etc etc etc in an effort to break those shackles of fear? The answer, as I see it, probably lies somewhere between yes and no. Yes, you do have to forsake part of your belief system and no, you can probably retain those attachments that do not excessively exacerbate your anxiety. The bottom line is that it will require commitment. At some level, this commitment involves an expenditure of money and herein lies a seldom-addressed problem: anxietees are often reluctant to exchange their hard-earned cash for the therapies that may greatly enhance their quality of existence. Many plausible explanations are advanced for this rather curious phenomena but there is one response that is barely heard even though it a well-recognised symptom of an anxiety disorders. The symptom is often expressed in verbal statements, all of which all are connected to the thought of unworthiness stemming from an unloved state. Do the words I have better things to spend my money on ring a familiar bell? A couple of the many variations are my son/daughter needs help to pay the vehicle licence or I have to buy my parent/child/sibling a birthday present.
In the following space, fill in the excuse you most often use for not paying your money to help yourself get well.

Please don't bombard me with protestations about poverty and the horrific fees charged by therapists (that is a separate issue) as I am well aware that certain circumstances make it virtually impossible to pay for treatment. In this regard and as a separate issue, there are avenues for obtaining reasonably cheap therapy: come to one of our meetings and discuss this problem with others that may have experienced a similar dilemma.

Now

Are you worried? Do you have many "what if" thoughts? You are identified with your mind, which is projecting itself into an imaginary future situation and creating fear. There is no way that you can cope with such a situation, because it doesn't exist. It's a mental phantom. You can stop this health-and life-corroding system simply by acknowledging the present moment. Become aware of your breathing. Feel the air flowing in and out of your body. Feel your inner energy field. All that you ever have to deal with, cope with, in real life - as opposed to imaginary mind projections - is this moment. Ask yourself what problem you have right now, not next year, tomorrow or five minutes from now. What is wrong with this moment? You can always cope with the Now, but you can never cope with the future - nor do you have to. The answer, the strength, the right action or the resource will be there when you need it, not before, not after.

The above extract was taken from
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

Saturday Meetings

As a bit of an experiment, at the next Saturday meeting on February 14th, we are going depart from our traditional "anything goes" format by devoting a portion of the time to discuss a specific aspect relating to the causes and treatment of anxiety. The discussions will not be of a clinical nature and hopefully will serve as medium whereby members can share and compare experiences: others may wish to say nothing but simply listen.
Details of the selected topic will not be announced prior to the meeting as we are trying to avoid an intellectual debate.

You will never "find" time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.
Charles Buxton, English author (1823-1871)?

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