Anxiety … the facts or the story?

Description

In today’s Morning Calm, I reflect on anxiety, something nearly all of us wrestle with, and I share a simple truth that has helped me many times: “the anxiety lies in the story, not in the facts.” Most of our everyday worries begin with something good, a love for our children, our work, or the people we care about. Yet that love can spiral when the mind starts spinning stories. A small fact becomes a catastrophe in our imagination. Swedenborg reminds us that spiritual influences shape the thoughts we entertain, and when fear grows beyond reality it often reflects lower influences that “excite and exaggerate anxieties in the mind.” The invitation is to return to what is real. Address the problem in front of you. Then let the story fall away. Jesus tells us that “sufficient unto the day are the troubles thereof,” a reminder to stay grounded in today instead of projecting disasters into tomorrow. When we pause, breathe, and pray, we rediscover the peace the Lord offers, “a peace which passes all understanding.” In that quiet space the noise fades, perspective returns, and we remember that God is present even in the middle of ordinary human worry.