A very powerful lesson for me in “A Course in Miracles” is Lesson 136 – “Sickness is a defense against the truth.”

You can substitute many different words for the term sickness…. Depression is a defense against the truth, addiction is a defense against the truth, anxiety is a defense against the truth.

How is it that anxiety (or any of these problems) is a defense against the truth?  The course talks about how the purpose of pain (psychological or physical) is to to keep us believing that we are our bodies.  It hurts, and so of course it has to be real.  And so we don’t look beyond it.

If anxiety is a defense against the truth, it means that the anxiety is actually a really great barometer for gauging how much we are identifying with our small self (how’s that for a reframe?  ).  If we’re feeling anxious, we can be sure that we’re in our ego.  And so it is time to choose again.

So now what?

One of the italicized sections in ACIM (p. 90 in the Foundation for Inner Peace edition, p. 99 in the Course in Miracles Society edition) is a great one to memorize and use when that anxiety feeling arises:

I must have decided wrongly because I am not at peace.
I made the decision myself, but I can also decide otherwise.
I will to decide otherwise because I want to be at peace.
I do not feel guilty because the Holy Spirit will undo
all the consequences of my wrong decision if I will let Him.
I will to let Him, by allowing Him to decide for God for Me.

Read this slowly, noting that it is leading you towards willingness and openness to a shift in perception.   It is also leading you towards lack of guilt, trust, and peace.