Are you Feeling Anxious? Simple Wisdom to End Anxiety.

Anxiety is simply the mind racing ahead while the body remains stuck in the past. The remedy is not to fight the speed, but to consciously choose slowness.

A Story of Two Farmers

Let me share a story that came to me this morning.

Two farmers lived side by side in ancient China. Both faced the same drought that threatened their crops.

The first farmer spent his days pacing frantically. He checked the sky every few minutes. He called weather services repeatedly. He worried about his family, his debts, his future.

The second farmer also felt concern for his crops. But each morning, he moved slowly through his fields. He touched the soil gently. He spoke softly to his plants. He breathed deeply with each step.

When the rains finally came, both farms received the same water. But only one farmer had spent those waiting days in peace.

The drought ended the same day for both. But one had suffered twice - once from the actual problem, and once from his worry about it.

The other had discovered something profound — His anxiety changed nothing about when the rain would come. But his response to anxiety changed everything about how he lived while he waited.

The Speed of Worry

Have you noticed how anxiety always makes us move faster?

When worry grips us, everything speeds up. Our thoughts race ahead to imagined futures. Our breathing becomes quick and shallow. We rush through tasks, trying to outrun our fears.

But here's what I've learned through years of watching minds in distress. Anxiety feeds on speed. The faster we move, the stronger it becomes.

Think about the last time you felt truly anxious. Your mind was probably jumping from one concern to another. Your body felt tense and rushed. You might have found yourself doing things quickly without really thinking about them.

Speed is anxiety's favorite environment. It thrives when we're moving too fast to be present.

The beautiful truth is that we can starve anxiety simply by choosing to slow down. Not by fighting our worried thoughts, but by moving our bodies more slowly through the world.

When you get up to get a glass of water, walk half as fast as usual. When you're about to send that email, take three deep breaths before you start typing. When you reach for your phone, pause and feel your feet on the ground first.

For instance, why are you reading this email so fast? Slow down.

These small acts of slowness stretch out the present moment. They give you more time to respond instead of react. They create space between you and your anxiety.

How to Stretch out the Present Moment

Your body is always in the present moment. It's your mind that travels to fearful futures and compresses the present.

When anxiety arises, the quickest path back to peace is through your breath. Not because breathing techniques are magic, but because focusing on breath brings you back into your body.

Here's a simple practice that can reset your entire nervous system. I call it the finger-counting breath, and it works because it gives your mind something gentle to focus on while your body remembers how to be calm.

Rest your thumb on the tip of your index finger. Take a slow breath in for five seconds, then breathe out for six seconds. As you exhale, move your thumb to the first groove of your index finger.

Continue this pattern, moving your thumb down each groove and fingertip as you breathe. Four breaths per finger, moving through all five fingers. That's twenty conscious breaths.

Your heart rate will slow. Your thoughts will settle. The anxious energy will have nowhere to go because you're no longer feeding it with speed and worry.

Do this twice if you need to. Forty conscious breaths can dissolve anxiety that seemed overwhelming just minutes before.

The next time worry visits you, remember that farmer who moved slowly through his fields. Your anxiety won't change what's going to happen. But your response to anxiety will change everything about how you experience what's happening.

Peace isn't the absence of problems. It's the presence of slowness in the middle of them.