Is It in Our Nature To Be Restless, Unsettled and Anxious?

This episode is a re-release from season one that traces a familiar experience: feeling anxious and restless even when there’s ‘nothing to worry about’. Like when one is hiking in the beautiful mountains with a month off work (me).Originally aired when the podcast was called Inner Peace and Other Cool Shit, this episode is an important reminder of the upstream influences on our feelings and experiences. I’m exploring responses to this in upcoming episodes, so this is for the benefit of new listeners (hi, friends) and anyone else needing a refresher. If you've heard it already and you totally know where that anxious, restless, unsettled feeling comes from — you are free to go! Go outside. Watch a bird wash themselves in a puddle. It's the best. Original show notes for this ep. are below.Mentioned in this one: A belated move to Substack; join me here. I mention a piece I am working on about rarely experiencing anxiety and restlessness anymore, and how that’s changed. If you want that when it’s finished get your sweet butt on my Friends’ List here. Please note it is NOT a pollyanna how-to for getting rid of anxiety. It's gritty. Questions, comments, or ideas, feel free to get in touch with me hereOriginal show notes:It's the first episode back after the summer break and I can't wait to talk about horrid feelings with you. Join me for an exploration on the birth and evolution of anxious, restless, unsettled feelings, and how understanding this helps ease their ickiness so we can return to peace. This episode will  meander through: A long intro vividly describing my anxious thought storm while on holiday A reminder of the relationship between thoughts and feelings and the outside worldWhen it's relevant to look at the content of thought itself, and how understanding this transforms our relationship to itAn expedition back through history to the origin of our horrid thoughts This will include mentions of anxiety, productivity, overwhelm, being busy, hustle culture, rest and moreHow understanding the creation and evolution of thoughts helps us see them as less personal, giving us more opportunity for freedom and ease Metaphors and comparisons include the climate and soil, soup and croutons and a couple of bad jokes Anxious Alice asks how this historical and evolutionary exploration of thought content reconciles with the orthodox orientation of 'looking upstream to the source of thought'.  Isn't she a wise little squirrel?