The Conscious Parent

naturally picked up on, gearing himself for battle as well.
Anxiety is our way of reacting to our mental judgments. Recognizing
when we are anxious is one of the most important things we can do for
ourselves in terms of the preservation of our relationships. When we
experience anxiety, something from deep within us has been triggered. If
we are aware from moment to moment, we ask ourselves, “Why am I
being triggered right now?” After asking this question, we remain in a
state of openness, being careful not to project our anxiety onto others.
The anxiety is coming from something unresolved within us and would
continue to exist regardless of whether the triggering person or event was
present. If one set of circumstances didn’t trigger us, something else
would.
Anxiety is a natural emotion there’s no escaping. Rather than seeing it
as something we need to control, we are asked to accept that it’s natural
and quietly witness it. Sitting in our anxiety, simply allowing it to exist,
is a core practice of this journey. If we don’t learn to just witness it, we
are likely to become overwhelmed by our internal state and blindly react
to it. We are then primed to engage others in a reactive, perhaps volatile
manner—or, conversely, sink into depression. Either way, we inevitably
leave a trail of unnecessary consequences. Only through awareness do we
neither split off from our anxiety nor dump it on another.
Life happens, pure and simple. No matter how we try to manage it, it
has a force beyond logic or coherence. When we swim in the ocean, we
allow the water to move our body. We don’t protest, “How dare this
wave be so high? It should be low.” We accept that we have no dominion
over the ocean. Indeed, we find the unpredictability of the waves