Meditation did not relieve me of my anxiety so much as flesh it out. It took my anxious response to the world, about which I felt a lot of confusion and shame, and let me understand it more completely. Perhaps the best way to phrase it is to say that meditation showed me that the other side of anxiety is desire. They exist in relationship to each other, not independently. Mark Epstein
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The Buddha said that meditation did not relieve me of my anxiety so much as flesh it out. He also said that meditation showed me that the other side of anxiety is desire. They exist in relationship to each other, not independently. I understood that my anxiety was caused by desire, and that I could understand my anxiety if I knew how it related to desire.

Source: Open To Desire: Embracing A Lust For Life Insights From Buddhism And Psychotherapy

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