Are we Restless Spirits and how to face the challenges?
By Shiva
@Shiva49 (26809)
Singapore
January 24, 2016 3:21am CST
We are prone to restlessness and have to fight to remain calm as the challenges rest uneasy on us. We can feel the build-up within us even rising to a crescendo, sort of threatening to boil over. There are many issues that fight for our attention, crying for action. We can hardly ignore them for long. We have to evaluate and tackle them as best as we can.
That feeling and awareness is inbuilt in us to keep us on our toes. Though there are many ways like family, prayers, meditation, yoga etc., to help us to remain calm they prove temporary reliefs at most. If we ignore such feelings we can become lazy, inactive, and underplay our role, potential. They spur us to action, make us alive to the reality around us, and also do our duty to ourselves and others. We are preoccupied at a mental level prioritizing our agenda for needed action.
I like to be aware of what is causing the restlessness and react – if no need for action, I just ignore them to an extent “delete, erase” them from bothering me. What needs my attention are prioritized and then dealt with. This lessens their impact – we should consciously deal with them as par for the course. Do as best as we can and then face the consequences. Life is generally kind to us as even certain end of the world scenarios blow over.
How do you deal with the ceaseless challenges that make you restless?
11 people like this
9 responses
@paigea (36315)
• Canada
26 Jan 16
I don't know if I get restless. But I get anxious about certain things. I find it helps if I write a plan of what I can do and then do it I feel better. I can't solve my loved one's problems but I can go visit and I can phone when a visit is not possible. I feel less anxious when I do what I can.
4 people like this
@Shiva49 (26809)
• Singapore
26 Jan 16
I think anxiety is inborn in us from time immemorial. Most become restless too mainly to achieve more in life in whatever pursuits they choose. When I cannot solve a problem, and it lingers, I become restless though I deal with it the best way I can - siva
4 people like this
@Shiva49 (26809)
• Singapore
25 Jan 16
i have been on various online sites for five years posting articles. I find every site has its own "soul" based on TOS, members posts and how they interact. So here I initiate discussions and so added the last line!
Yes, we have to be who we are and I think as our thumbprints vary our responses also will be different according to our comfort levels to the challenges we face. I am grateful for the choices we have as human beings which we too did not have earlier - siva
3 people like this
@simone10 (54187)
• Louisville, Kentucky
25 Jan 16
I agree with @TRBRocks420 prayers and faith are what get me through difficult times.
3 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
26 Jan 16
I take them on as best as can, given limited time. Yoga is something I use to help me through.
3 people like this
@whiteream (8567)
• United States
26 Jan 16
Meditation is a big part of it for me. I write often that works as well.
3 people like this
@innertalks (22160)
• Australia
10 Feb 16
@Shiva49 The Dalai lama thinks that our goal in life is to find happiness, but if it makes us anxious to do this, why should we follow such advice even if it comes from someone on the surface of it who appears to be happy.
“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.”
The Dalai Lama (XIV)
He wants us to take actions then that might bring us happiness. I think he is only partly right here though. Some actions can lead to happiness, but this only a surface happiness, at its best though.
Happiness to me anyway, is something that we have deep inside of us already.
If we become peaceful, and loving, and allow our love not to thrash against our minds like angry waves against a rock, a peaceful feeling of happiness will then bubble through the waters of love instead, of which the bubbles will fill all of the other parts of us then too, including our minds, and all other areas of our lives as well.
Happiness is the cream on the cake of love. Anxiety is this same cream, going sour, because we are not loving enough, or filling ourselves sufficiently with the bounty of God's love, which is being provided for us always continuously in such cakes. Nothing is missing, from our lives and if we accept this, we will not be so anxious.
@Shiva49 (26809)
• Singapore
10 Feb 16
@innertalks Some want to be restless to achieve in life and they equate contentment with laziness. I am contented but I am not lazy unless we term the latter with not pursuing wealth. Most have wealth pursuit as their goal in life especially in Asia. I feel sad when they try to impress others the wrong way - rather live a life that gives us fulfillment and to hell with what others think about our lifestyle. I knew one young private banker who had enough of associating with those wheeling and dealing and left to do charity work with a non-profit organization and that I think is inner voice triumphing over material life.
We should not pursue happiness as it should just be a way of life. I feel the more we chase happiness the more elusive it becomes - when we do what is right, and we all know that from our experience, and by following simple guides like - treat others as you would like to be treated - then we reach the exalted state of bliss even - siva
2 people like this
@Shiva49 (26809)
• Singapore
26 Jan 16
I think it is in our nature to be anxious bordering on restlessness but we should find ways to cope. I have heard also that it arises due us feeling the yearning to be united with the supreme being, sort of due to our separate existence here - siva
3 people like this
@Aingeal (437)
• United States
2 Feb 16
You may laugh, however I make a list of things that are important to me to get done. That way the frustrations will at least calm down. It helps me to concentrate on what has to be done and what can be let go. Usually the things to let go are on the list too. Such as things I don’t need any more that I can give away to someone who can use them or things that need to be tossed out.
Great post, thanks for sharing.
1 person likes this
@Shiva49 (26809)
• Singapore
3 Feb 16
Thanks for your encouragement. There are two types of anxiety - one is positive that we want to keep them in mind for action, and the other negative that we are lazy to attend to but weigh us down due to the guilt factor.
I have what has to be done at the back of my mind always. When the prompts become louder I attend to them earlier than the deadline so as not to put needless pressure on me. As I get older, I don't like to postpone those that can affect others more - siva
