Anxiety and needless thoughts? Simple Solution || Acharya Prashant, Sir J.J. College, Mumbai (2022)

Acharya Prashant

Video Information: 08.12.2022, Sir J.J. College of Architecture, Mumbai   Context: ~ How to control anxiety?  ~ How to stop overthinking?  ~ What is one stop solution for all your mental problems?  ~ What makes Federer G.O.A.T.? ~ Giving a loser's argument?  Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Aryan and I'm from first year. So, my question is how to control

00:10anxiety as I have a problem called hyperhidrosis where my hands are too much sweaty. So, without

00:19thinking my hands and feet starts to sweat. So, and it's cause of anxiety, overthinking

00:27and all. See, if the problem is due to a physiological reason, obviously only a medical practitioner

00:37can advise best. Having said that, I'm sweating right now probably as much as you do. It's

00:47just that I don't care for it. And that ends it. You have no control over what your

01:01body does, what circumstances or chance can do. Who can control that, right? You didn't

01:12control your birth, you'll also not probably control your death. We do not know when the

01:20next earthquake or tsunami might hit us. There is so much in life that we have no handle

01:30over, no control over at all. But there is one thing we can choose and that one thing

01:42is everything. You can decide what is it you care for and what is it you ignore. If

01:53you cannot ignore all the trivia in life, life will enslave you. Are you getting it?

02:08There is just so much that can happen to you just randomly. Let it all happen just on the

02:17outside. Even the body must be considered an outsider. If something is happening to

02:24the body, it is something happening to somebody external. How many of you got COVID infected?

02:38Did the virus take your permission? That's how life is. It infects you without your permission.

02:47But inwardly your consent should be everything. The body is an outsider and the virus can infect

03:01it without your permission. But let no virus infect you inwardly without your consent. You

03:11have that freedom, that authority over yourself and you must exercise it. It is possible there

03:21is something in your body, in the brain, in the physiology that causes the condition you named.

03:27You can't help it. Maybe it is genetic, who knows. But is it not in my purview to accord

03:45it importance or to willfully ignore it? I am asking you. Has it not ever happened that you

03:54are running a high fever and yet you are engaged in something simply because it is important,

04:01simply because you love it? Does it happen or not? In fact, it happens with little kids as well.

04:08101 fever and the little chap is running away to play cricket. Seven years old and mama is

04:21running after him. You stop. He says no, I have to play. 101 fever he wants to play.

04:28Equally 101 fever you may decide you are very sick. Fever you cannot control. Your attitude

04:39you can or can you not? Please tell me. Please tell me and that's everything. If you cannot

04:53control your attitude towards the strange things life throws at you, you will simply be a pitiable

05:05slave, controlled by, possessed by situations. Do you want to live like that? Something,

05:17anything can come and simply control you. You want that? You want that? But then there are

05:26things outside the body, there are things inside the body. You know of hormonal changes, you know

05:31of mood swings, you know of how heat affects you, you know of how humidity affects you,

05:37you know of how food affects you and these things are happening. Do you want to allow

05:48them to possess you or do you want to rather lord over them? You say yes, something is happening in

05:54the body. But I don't. But I don't. I don't care. Don't care. Roger Federer recently retired.

06:08One of the reasons why for me he will remain the greatest ever is not because he had 20

06:18grand slams. Nadal has 22. He'll be the greatest ever because he played a lot in pain and through

06:32pain. He was 41 when he retired and that means a lot. Interestingly, even against Rafael Nadal,

06:49most of the matches that he won were after he crossed the age of 33. Federer was losing a lot

07:03to Nadal. But the last 8 or 10 matches that they played, Federer dominated and that was

07:13after Federer had crossed the age of 33, 35, 38, 40 and the body was creaking. There was a phase

07:31in between when his backhand had totally broken. He was just slicing and also losing but he kept

07:47playing and that's something I have found in all great players. They play through pain. They simply

07:57tell pain, come on, I don't care and if you can learn to say I don't care to your body and

08:09everything associated with the body, you'll go very far. I don't care. Are you hungry? Of course,

08:18but I don't care. It's animals who are ruled by their physical instincts. Am I an animal? No,

08:28I don't care. If an animal is hungry, it will go for food. If a human being is hungry, she will

08:37decide whether to go for food. You have the power to choose and that choice I am saying is everything

08:46in life. That choice is called consciousness. That alone is the characteristic of consciousness.

08:53The authority to choose. The power to not be ruled. I will not be ruled. I will choose whether to go

09:04for food and the body may keep crying for food. I might decide I am not having anything for two

09:10days. I am not having anything. Have you ever seen any animal fasting? We manage to fast because we

09:17rule our bodies and that's why we are human beings. We rule our bodies. The bodies keep saying so many

09:23things. We don't care. We don't care. You have an examination tomorrow. It's just 10.30 p.m. and

09:35the body is saying sleep. What do you do? Crash on the bed? What do you do? You say I don't care.

09:46Your comfort is less important than my priorities. The body is saying give me comfort. You say no,

10:02something else is more important. Have you watched the movie A Beautiful Mind? Did you

10:11see how Nash fights against his own body? How many of you have watched it? It's worth it. Go

10:22for it. You must especially. See how he fights against his own body and that's why he is a great

10:31and that's why the movie is wonderful. Getting it? Don't be a normal timid soul. Why did you fall

10:51asleep? Because I was sleepy. That's a kid's argument. It does not behoove grown-ups. Why

11:04did you fall asleep? Why didn't you hit hard? Because I was tired. That's a loser's argument.

11:20When you are tired, that's when you should be hitting the hardest. When you are afraid,

11:36that's when you should be the boldest. Getting it? Remember these are all things embedded in the

11:51body and the body comes from the jungle. We are no more creatures of the jungle. We are not to

12:03be ruled by the body. We must understand the body and we must use the body towards the purposes of

12:10consciousness. Consciousness will decide the destination and the body will be the vehicle

12:18to reach that destination. The body itself cannot be the destination or the ruler. What do you want?

12:31To use your body or to be used by the body? Use your body. Otherwise your body will use you.

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