Finding Calm in the Chaos: Buddhist Tools for Anxiety and Angst

0:00 { Helvetica; **Speaker A**: Hi, my friends. No fancy intro today. Just jumping right in. This is Margaret Meloni, and it's the Death Dhamma podcast. And we are in our season where we're talking about equanimity and chaos. And today I think I want to just talk a little bit more about chaos, because some chaos, I will say recently has led me to have some anxiety. I don't know about any of you, if any of you ever deal with anxiety, but I had a little bit of chaos and anxiety this week. And I know that it's my practice that helps me to deal with this, and yet sometimes I still feel like I'm, you know, having a hard time with it.

0:03 But some ideas for all of us, because there are things, of course, in the practice that help me. And even on the times when I feel like, oh, I'm still, you know, dealing with chaos and I'm still having anxiety about it, I do really believe that my Buddhist practice is helping me and that the anxiety is probably less than it could be, that it could be. Right? So, you know, connecting with the Dharma, this is a way to regain focus and to regain calm, which, again, can help lead us to equanimity in a time of chaos is, you know, to reconnect with the Dhamma, to get back out a favorite passage or two from your Pali canon or do some of the things I've done recently, which is some searching for suttas that help in times of chaos or, you know, suttas that help with anxiety.

0:03 Right. And so getting reconnected with the teachings, getting reconnected with meditation. Chanting. Chanting can be so helpful if you're ever having that moment where maybe you're having a hard time even sitting down to meditate. Although we'll talk about that right after this. If you're having a hard time sitting down to meditate or, you know, focusing during meditation, which, you know, it's normal. We know thoughts arise and we try to label them and put them aside. But sometimes, maybe there's that moment where you're feeling like maybe that's not exactly the right approach for you.

0:03 What about chanting, repeating, and whether, you know, I'll say official chants that our monks and nuns use or not, you might use a mantra and keep chanting that mantra to yourself over and over again. It can be very helpful. It can be very helpful. I do remember there was a time years ago when I was dealing with the death of two of my closest loved ones, and I was having anxiety. I look back now, I was having a lot of Anxiety of going on a trip to take care of the personal affairs and the final services for my mother.

0:03 And I was having a lot of anxiety around what was that going to be like? And someone gave me a mantra to chant to myself which was, you are calm, cared for and connected. And it was so helpful. And to this day I still use it. And so you can bet that I was using it this last week. So try chanting or mantras if you are able to reach out and help someone else. That can very much take your mind off of what is. I'm going to say angsting. I don't know if that's a word. Angsting you. That helps sometimes.

0:03 What's angsting me? Community and Sangha. I had discussions with three very good friends over what I was angsting out. I'm going to keep using that. What I was angsting out over two of them, encouraging me to talk to the third because the third person was, I'll say, a player in the drama, by the way, that I was creating in my head. Each of those discussions really helped center me and helped me get through my angstiness and enhanced self awareness. Right. Was some self awareness of this is where I am, this is what I'm feeling.

0:03 And admitting it, I wasn't running around all over the place going, oh my gosh, I have so much anxiety. But. But just saying out loud to some people around me, I'm having a lot of anxiety around. This thing was tremendously helpful, Tremendously helpful. Some other things that can be helpful is to think about something you love, something you truly enjoy, and also see if you can try to spend some time doing that so that when you're having some anxiety and having trouble dealing with chaos, think about some things that bring you joy and see if you can find a way to participate in those things.

0:03 Even though you're feeling angsty, keep moving. Movement is so important and regular movement does help a lot. And you know what? In this past week that I having this challenge that I'm sharing with you a little bit about, I didn't exercise as much as I usually do because I was in the middle of transitioning from one exercise program to the other. I think maybe I might have shortchanged myself on movement. Have good conversations. We already discussed that. See if you can do something that's creative, something that takes your mind off of, you know, the black and white, listen to music, dance, draw, journal, whatever it is that makes sense for you.

0:03 Then be true to who you are for sure. And coming back to meditation. If sitting meditation isn't working for you, try just breathing. And when I say just breathing, hopefully you're continuing to breathe all the time. But we aren't always thinking about the breath. So what I really mean right now is to stop and take in a deep breath and let a deep breath out. Just stop and have some focused breathing. And another item I'm going to offer up is walking meditation. So take a nice walk. Walk at a steady pace.

0:03 Don't necessarily listen to music. If you walk with someone else, have some silence and just walk with purpose, being aware of your foot coming up, your foot going down, being aware of the ground, being aware of what's around you. And have some walking meditation. And so these are all some tips to help. These are things that helped me during this week where I had chaos and angst. And thank you for listening and I hope there's some help in there for you. Knowing that you're listening was helpful for me, so thank you for that.

0:03 I hope that you will be well and happy. And please remember to take care of yourself and your loved ones and to protect the unprotected. Bye for now. You've been listening to the Death Dhamma podcast with your host, Margaret Maloney. Thank you so much for being here. Come find me on margaretmeloni.com M A R G A R E T M E l o n I.com and until we meet again, may you be well, may you be happy, may you be at ease, and may you be free from suffering. Bye for now.