A common theme occured to me whilst meditating tonight. Which did of course mean that the meditating had not actually happened yet – I was caught in my thoughts. You see, the key to meditation is to observe without engagement. To let your thoughts flow by – to observe the chatter until it diminishes.

This theme, I realised, is common to the therapy for overcoming chronic, sustained anxiety – to observe (and accept) the physical symptoms without engaging them. A kind of day time meditation. With no fuel to sustain them, the symptoms, and hence the anxiety fade much as your thoughts do when meditating.

Finally, in pursuit of happiness, you do not predicate your happiness on events or things, but on your attitude. If you are in pain or discomfort, you accept this wihtout fighting or feeling hard done by. This sustains a more balanced outlook on life.

Fighting a negative situation, such as a restless, ever chatty mind or waves of anxiety, it seems, merely fuels and legitimises them. Just as striving to achieve happiness is a misfocus – you have the capacity for happiness already, and do not have to do special things to make it appear.