{"id":59381,"date":"2022-01-21T11:07:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T15:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=59381"},"modified":"2022-01-31T11:46:42","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T15:46:42","slug":"dalai-lama-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dalai-lama-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dalai Lama&#8217;s Tips for Overcoming Anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Do you often feel anxious? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-do-you-get-anxiety\/\">What causes anxiety<\/a>, and how do you overcome it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Dalai Lama, anxiety, like all negative emotions, stems from ignorance. If you struggle with anxiety, educate yourself about where the anxiety comes from and whether it\u2019s valid, recommends the Dalai Lama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s how to deal with anxiety, according to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-1-educate-yourself-to-be-less-anxious\"><strong>1. Educate Yourself to Be Less Anxious<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you struggle with anxiety, educate yourself about where your anxiety stems from. If, for instance, you\u2019re anxious about going to an event, analyze your thoughts and figure out if you\u2019re anxious for valid reasons\u2014perhaps because you\u2019re giving a speech\u2014or because of a generalized fear of socializing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Figuring out the source of your anxiety can be difficult. If you\u2019re not sure where your anxiety comes from, consider whether the following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthline.com\/health\/mental-health\/how-to-cope-with-anxiety#long-term-strategies\">common anxiety triggers<\/a> might be affecting you: 1) Work environment\u2014is your job stressful? 2) Travel or commute\u2014Do you spend a lot of time in transit? 3) Withdrawal\u2014Are you withdrawing from alcohol, drugs, or medication?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2-develop-your-motivation-to-be-less-anxious\"><strong>2. Develop Your Motivation to Be Less Anxious<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dalai Lama recommends not developing a motivation to be less anxious, but rather to <strong><em>pivot<\/em> your motivation toward being a kinder person<\/strong>. According to the Dalai Lama, anxiety often arises when you feel you can\u2019t meet expectations. If, instead of worrying about expectations, you develop the motivation to just be the most compassionate person you can be, then, says the Dalai Lama, no matter whether you meet expectations, you\u2019ll feel good because your intentions were good.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>3. Exert Yourself to Be Less Anxious<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dalai Lama recommends a two-pronged approach to combating anxiety in the moment: If there\u2019s an actionable solution to the problem that\u2019s giving you anxiety, work toward that solution. For instance, if you\u2019re anxious over whether a fellow party guest will bring the same bottle of wine as you, the solution is to call them and ask, not to fret. If there\u2019s no actionable solution to the problem that\u2019s giving you anxiety, stop worrying. If you can\u2019t get in touch with the other guest, drop the worry. You can\u2019t change anything about the situation, and worrying won\u2019t help.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: If after exerting yourself to be less anxious in the way the Dalai Lama recommends, you still feel anxious, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.harvard.edu\/blog\/can-exercise-help-treat-anxiety-2019102418096\">engaging in physical activity can help alleviate remaining anxiety<\/a>. This is because movement lessens muscle tension, meaning your tense body doesn\u2019t add to your feelings of anxiety. Further, your brain releases neurochemicals like serotonin and GABA, both of which combat anxiety, when you exercise. Finally, the frontal region of your brain is activated, and this keeps activity in the amygdala\u2014the center of reactivity and threat-responses\u2014in check.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you often feel anxious? What causes anxiety, and how do you overcome it? According to the Dalai Lama, anxiety, like all negative emotions, stems from ignorance. If you struggle with anxiety, educate yourself about where the anxiety comes from and whether it\u2019s valid, recommends the Dalai Lama. Here&#8217;s how to deal with anxiety, according to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":59516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,43,6],"tags":[571],"class_list":["post-59381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-self-improvement","category-spiritual","tag-the-art-of-happiness","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Dalai Lama&#039;s Tips for Overcoming Anxiety - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"According to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the first step to combatting anxiety is to understand its source\u2014where it stems from. Learn more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dalai-lama-anxiety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Dalai Lama&#039;s Tips for Overcoming Anxiety\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"According to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the first step to combatting anxiety is to understand its source\u2014where it stems from. Learn more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dalai-lama-anxiety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-21T15:07:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-31T15:46:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/dalai-lama.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1151\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"691\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dalai-lama-anxiety\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dalai-lama-anxiety\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"The Dalai Lama&#8217;s Tips for Overcoming Anxiety\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-21T15:07:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-31T15:46:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dalai-lama-anxiety\/\"},\"wordCount\":480,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dalai-lama-anxiety\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/dalai-lama.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Art of Happiness\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Psychology\",\"Self-Improvement\",\"Spiritual\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dalai-lama-anxiety\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dalai-lama-anxiety\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dalai-lama-anxiety\/\",\"name\":\"The Dalai Lama's Tips for Overcoming Anxiety - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dalai-lama-anxiety\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dalai-lama-anxiety\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/dalai-lama.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-21T15:07:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-31T15:46:42+00:00\",\"description\":\"According to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the first step to combatting anxiety is to understand its source\u2014where it stems from. 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