Anxiety- A quantum approach

 Eliminating Anxiety- A quantum approach.

Modern day living is inevitably, riddled with challenges, problems, odds in both, personal and professional domains. Dealing with a multitude of issues stretches everyone. 

  Dealing with problems has two distinct components.

The first one-

  Perception and a circumspect appraisal of the problem with possible consequences

The second part is dealing with the problem 

          It is almost everyone's experience that dealing with the problem most often recruits all our resources very effectively and often brings to fore even hitherto unknown abilities. And then, once the problem is solved, one is surprised at how one overcame the problem that at one point of time was looking unsurmountable.

Anticipation of a problem is always worse than solving it, and anticipation of a celebration is always more enjoyable than the actual celebration.

      What magnified the misery of the problem before solving it and what depreciated the preceding joy of celebration when the event actually happened?

       The answer is projection of both these events by the mind. 

In quantum mechanics parlance, all these projections, possibilities are addressed as being in superposition. 

It is only the observation by a conscious observer of an event, that causes a collapse of the wave function and all other possibilities in the superposition get eliminated. 

  Paul Dirac called this the "Projection Postulate" in quantum mechanics. The “collapse of the wave function” describes the change from a system that can be seen as having many possible quantum states (Dirac’s principle of superposition) to its randomly being found in only one of those possible states.

     The mind embarks on a 'What if' multi universe model. It conjures up all sorts of virtual fearsome possibilities, that trigger the fear responses in anticipation. Much like the conditioned responses demonstrated by Pavlov. Fear, anxiety, and desperation arising out of the projected worse case scenarios. 

      Fear evolutionarily is a response to a realistic, tangibly imminent threat, whilst anxiety is associated with uncertain, abstract, ambiguous, sources of futuristic threats. Anxiety is a chronic, long-lasting state of apprehension about probable, potential threats. It is an alchemy of melancholic neurotransmitters, that only increase the noise and entropy of the neural circuits. Physically, it causes autonomic symptoms, increased vigilance, insomnia, increased adrenergic hormones, and is a major contributing factor to psycho-somatic ailments. Our thoughts, beliefs and convictions modulate our biology. Epigenetics is all about the environment and its influence on the expression of the genetic blueprints. The genetic code is no longer treated as an unchangeable life sentence. It involves a complex interplay and is in dynamic equilibrium with a host of environmental factors, which include our thoughts, beliefs, and moods. This vulnerability to environmental influences could explain the role of faith in coping and overcoming any adversity or problem.

Faith, may it be in any external agent, or then in one's own self, certainly curtails and restricts the wanderings and uncontrolled excursions of the 'What if' faculty of the mind. It keeps the morale high and accords more power to the elbows at the crunch time.

Manifestation might involve a pre-emptive collapse of the wave function, observed by the mind in advance thereby leading to elimination of all other probable Superposition outcomes.

    A positive, optimistic attitude, and the ability to remain in the 'Now' goes a long way in restricting the time travel excursions into forbidden territories undertaken by the mind. Learning the Art of 'Crossing the bridge when it comes' and stabilizing the mind in a positive cheerful environment works as a "Wonder drug" to treat this cancer of 'Anxiety'. This malady, which spreads its tentacles surreptitiously snuffing out the gumption of life. The surest way for the next 'What if' to conclude with the best probable wave function collapse. 

Dr Deepak Ranade