From Anxiety to Gratitude

There’s always something to be bitter about and there’s always something to feel blessed about.

“It’s a fucked up world” and “It’s a beautiful world” are both reasonable.

“Fuck, I woke up again” and “Gratitude, I woke up again” are both valid.

The Bhagavad Gita says “yoga is equanimity,” the ability to sit in the middle of our circumstances without being owned by them.

Step outside of “good & bad.” From the perspective of the witness, those labels can soften. What remains is truth & untruth. The vision gets clearer.

We shouldn’t try to be “good,” because good is subjective. But in yoga philosophy, “Truth” is objective, which gives us something solid to stand on.

Yet we all live in a body with a mind and an ego. No amount of money, meditation, friends, fame, sex, sleep, or status can get us out of that.

The only way out is death?? Nope, try again 😉 So we better figure out how to make this whole “body-mind-ego” thing work. Because after a while, suffering gets old.

Here’s my personal map for shifting from anxiety to gratitude. I do this every day.

1. 📍 drop in: how do i feel?
2. 👁️ reflect: how do i want to feel?
3. 🫀 articulate: why do i want to feel that way?
4. 🪟 visualize: what does it look like?
5. 🧘🏽‍♂️ pause: find the moment
6. 👣 take action + make a shift
7. 🤝🏽 commit + follow through
8. 🔄 repeat + embody
9. 🪽 achieve + appreciate

My Katonah Yogis know: I’m magic squaring my mind. Giving myself a map with a route from A to B.

Anxiety, stress, anger, or bitterness aren’t “bad.” But this process helps me remember they’re not Truth. They’re stories my mind tells and my ego affirms. I can work with that.

Yoga isn’t concerned with constant happiness; it teaches us to sit well in our fluctuations. When we step aside and witness our minds, we can remember the most important part: we’re alive.