When my anxiety is high it's because I"m off in the future rehearsing for a play that only exists in my mind - not on Broadway.
Nothing has happened. But my nervous system is going crazy, as if I were really there. My pulse is racing. My chest may be heaving as if I were facing a genuine challenge.
My magnifying mind is creating all kinds of terrifying images. I'm ready to flee or fight.
But if I bring myself into the moment, it all subsides. Spring sunshine is warming the day. Nothing's pressing in this moment. My family is healthy. I have the same job I've had for 24 years. Good is all around me.
Yet part of my DNA, my legacy as a human, it seems, is to create some uncertainty and anxiety in my life.
That built-in uncertainty - that heightened vigilance - is what kept us from being a meal for a wild animal in our early evolution.
This vigilance served us well down the evolutionary trail. But today that same trait might create problems in our daily life.
How do we escape this predestined dilemma? One way is to become mindful, to become of aware of our thinking. That way we can learn to live in the present and recognize that our thoughts are usually the cause of our anxiety.
Once we recognize them as thoughts we can move on.
