Anxiety is built on negative thinking.
At the basic level we have needs and wants. This is built into our human nature and drives our comparative thinking. When we achieve our wants and needs, we want more. However, if we consistently fail to get our needs and wants met then we develop negative comparative thinking which can cause anxiety.
To control our human nature we have a conscience which controls how we get our needs and wants met. Out of our conscience grows our principles of trust, respect, acceptance, etc. Therefore, at the basic level of human behavior there are two opposing forces at work in negative situations, namely, comparative thinking and principle thinking.
In cognitive principle theory the two highest principles are unconditional acceptance and unconditional giving, which are the direct opposites of comparative thinking related to achieving goals. Goals are based on a comparison between “where I am” and “where I want to be”. Goals are driven by fear of a bad goal and greed for a good goal. Unconditional acceptance is self acceptance of strengths and weaknesses and there is no goal. Unconditional giving is where you give without wanting anything back and there is no goal.
The CPM rule is that when negative comparative thinking rises, then principles fall.
For example,
* If a person thinks in a jealous way about a situation, then the principle of trust falls.
• If a person is abusive towards another person, they get angry and their respect for that person falls.
• If a person is overly critical of another person, they can feel rejected and don’t accept the other person.
Therefore, by giving into negative thinking you weaken yourself.
Spiritual principles are available to us to overcome our human nature weakness.
We have spoken about two of them, namely unconditional acceptance and unconditional giving.
If you get caught up in negative thinking, then stop it by using the spiritual principle of suffering:
Suffer and grow courage, patience, self control. Don’t use negative comparative thinking to suffer and blame yourself, others or circumstances.
If you do blame others or yourself, then use the spiritual principle of forgiveness. That is, split the person from their behavior and forgive the person, but put the behavior aside to be dealt with by god, karma or what ever else you believe in.
If you can’t achieve your goal, then use the spiritual principle of hope. A goal requires a pathway leading to an outcome, whereas hope requires no pathway, just trust in your intuition that you will achieve the outcome you desire and the pathway will be shown to you.
