Almost all mental or emotional pain comes from reactive behavior whether in thought, word, or deed.  Reactive behavior is something we deliberately learn OR unwittingly develop through conditioning.  We create painful emotions in the same way a phobia is created—by repeating unwise reactions that progressively become more habitual, pronounced, and emotionally hurtful.  Repeated thoughts or behavior always create greater skill, so eventually these emotional habits become powerful and controlling, if not extreme and addictive.  Sadly, our inner pain grows with every negative habit or obsession.  This is also true of anxious thinking; debilitating pain is self-inflicted, not by a single fretful thought, but by a habitual way of self-destructive thinking.

Every thunderstorm or nearby fireworks threatened to be the end of our dog, Sadie.  In her adolescence, her reaction to every thunderclap was to crawl up in my lap and shake like a leaf.  I assumed if given enough security and encouragement, she would learn there was no negative consequence from the noise.  I was wrong.  As the years passed, her anxiety and shaking grew worse, until, in her advanced age, she refused to be comforted, and attempted to tunnel through concrete instead.  It seemed her little heart wouldn’t survive another thunderstorm, New Year’s Eve, or 4th of July.  I tried everything imaginable, but she was still inconsolably afraid of noises that would never hurt her.  That’s how foolish it is to worry—to subject our emotions to pain we were never intended to bear—simply because we will not police the thoughts we allow to reside in our minds.  Hundreds of times the Bible states: “Fear not,” “Fret not,” and “Be not afraid!”  Jesus taught His disciples, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  Clearly, we don’t have to “let” our hearts be troubled, but that requires us to stop frightening ourselves with dreadful thoughts.  A troubled heart is an anxious spirit, and we keep our hearts from being troubled when we DON’T think of “all the bad things that could happen”—when we avoid the rabbit hole!  

The most common types of fear are the fear of man, poverty, disease, and death.  Notice that all these fears concern something beyond your control, so to fear them you literally create torment for yourself—just like Sadie!  In agony of spirit, you may cry out to God to deliver you from anxiety, yet YOU are the one creating it.  Instead of thinking about things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtue, and praise, you choose fearful thoughts.  The only thing that will deliver you is to stop jumping into the rabbit hole every time you hear “Boom!”  You’ve convinced yourself that the noise will hurt you, when in reality, it’s a celebration!  Your reaction is what’s causing your pain, and if you don’t intentionally change your habits by focusing on something good, wholesome, and virtuous, your behavior will create even worse mental dysfunction, such as panic attacks and paranoia. 

Do you want to be free of anxiety?  If so, it is imperative that you avoid listening to the voice of your enemy and stop agreeing with fear and condemnation by rehearsing it in your mind.  Reject those thoughts by replacing them!