The Modern Buddhism Podcast The Secret to Reclaiming Your Mind in an Anxious World
Jan 17, 2026
Kadam Lucy James, a Senior teacher within the New Kadampa Tradition, delves into why we often fear our own thoughts. She explains how modern life's distractions foster anxiety and how many people prefer busyness over confronting their feelings. Using the analogy of the mind as a clear sky, she emphasizes that meditation can help us recognize our thoughts as fleeting clouds. Lucy discusses the importance of choosing constructive thoughts to reshape our self-image and offers practical meditation techniques to cultivate inner peace.
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Silence Has Become A Lost Art
- Modern life has far more distraction and far less silence than in past decades.
- Kadam Lucy James links this loss of silence to increased anxiety and inability to sit with oneself.
The Shock Experiment On Sitting With Thoughts
- A 2017 study put people alone in an empty room and offered them the chance to self-administer mild electric shocks to escape boredom.
- Most lasted 6–15 minutes and many chose shock because their unprocessed thoughts felt too painful.
Avoidance Creates Unprocessed Pain
- People often avoid their thoughts by suppressing or distracting themselves rather than processing them.
- This avoidance leaves many with unexamined grief, loneliness and anxiety that they fear to face.