How to stop worrying right away?

First, recognize that you always worry. Turn back, and see that you worried last month, yet, you are still surviving now. You wasted your time worrying last year, and you’re still sitting here now – complete and whole. So, with your own experience of worrying, you will know that worrying is futile. 

To get rid of it, do bhastrika pranayama and kriya – these practices will help you. If, for some reason, you think that they don’t help you, listen to people who have more problems than you! Then, your problems will appear smaller. If that, too, doesn’t help, then go and stay for a day in a mental hospital! Listen to all those patients who are there, and look at their condition. Thank god that you not one of them! Still, if it doesn’t work, then go to a burial or cremation ground. Look at all the dead bodies that come in every day, and get burnt. Know that you’re also going to go there one day. So, what is the point of worrying?!

Whatever you have been, finally, your body will be cremated, so, sit there for some time,. See how people come, burn the body and go home. They will have their dinner that day, and they’re going to have their breakfast the next day. Their life will continue; they’ll wash their hands off, and that’s what is going to happen to you. The moment you realize that you are, eventually, going to die, there’s no worry. There will be good times and bad times in life; they all come and go. Nothing stays.

This is a transcript from a talk by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. You can watch more talks on The Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar youtube channel. Subscribe today!