I looked inside myself was created by UK poet Steve Taylor. I have followed Steve as a poet for many, many years and found he has a gently sharp edge to his perspective on the world. I like this poem. Whenever I spend time with someone and have the chance to see into their inner world, their soul and feelings and experience, I find myself in a sacred place. That experience can be nourishing, distressing, guiding, calming. It always enrciches my experience of the world. It is the same when I spend time with someone who I let enter my inner world.

We don’t seem to enjoy anxiety very much but it does seem to be part of what it is to be human. I think there is also some debate about whether we should overcome it, get rid of it or learn to live with it. This article looks at anxiety through an existential lens and is based on a panel discussion with Emmy Van Deurzen, Kirk Schneider and Alfred Längle. These three people have been trained in Existential philosophy and therapy yet even they differ in their thoughts about what anxiety is and what we do with it.