My thought processes feel unreal!

Have you tried to do any guided meditation?

Close-your-eyes-and-imagine-you're-lying-on-a-beach type thing? Hear the sounds, feel the warmth of the sun, and so forth?

Or maybe it's a mountain top you prefer -- close your eyes and go there in your mind.

Relax..........................................

Have you tried this? I mean, seriously tried it?

It works on the exact same principle that causes your tension and anxiety -- the power of your mind. You still have the power of your mind. You can refuse to try guided meditation and relaxation. You can say, "Oh, I've done that."

Of course, I will sit here and snicker, "Oh, no you didn't!" And I will do so because you have the power to refuse to try something new and if you don't try it, you are using the very considerable power of your mind.

So all this talk is just hogwash -- in a sense. Do you get my drift? I mean no offense, but I dare you to try to relax by the method I've outlined here and report back on how it goes.

Now, you have to really try, okay? You have to do it and expect that I am not lying to you, right?

Okay. Please try.

Are you seeing a doctor and a therapist? Are you on medication?

If none of the above, I would do so.

Most of what you report is just a heightened sense of what everyone in the world experiences from time to time, and sometimes even frequently. The nature of thought is very odd, indeed, and you don't have to be suffering from anxiety to appreciate that fact.

What may be part of why you're scared is the idea that the thoughts themselves are abnormal. They are not. I think thoughts like that all the time. The difference is that you are fixated on them.

Try telling yourself that existence is marvelous and uncanny and that normal people dip into what you are experiencing frequently, but don't get sucked in for good.

You and many others may just never have experienced this "underside" of reality. It's there and it's always been there, and much great drama, music, and literature comes from the uncanny and inexpressible feelings of awe and confounding we experience there.

But we are not meant to LIVE there. What you need to discover is why you choose to TAKE REFUGE in such a place. You may feel at the mercy of those thoughts, but I think you are choosing them. You can just let them go -- yes, literally, let them float by you and don't pay attention to them.

Get involved in doing something active with your mind.

Remember that old saying, "Idle hands are the devil's playground."?

Well, now you know what the old sayings are: truth.

The human mind can fully focus on only ONE thing at a time. If you have nothing to fill your consciousness with, you are not helping yourself get better. Don't sit around doing nothing. Don't sit around listening to rock music, most of all. If you want to listen to music, listen to classical music and concentrate on the music. Classical music does beneficial things for the brain and rock music (though I love some of it) doesn't do anything beneficial to the mind.