An Anxious World
It seems everywhere I go people are talking about how stressed they are. The news is full of tragic stories about individuals and families whose lives were shattered under the incredible weight of stress. It’s easy to get caught up in these stories and to view them as evidence that things really have gotten “that bad.” It is particuarly easy to believe that anxiety is overhelming the world when you feel tremendous in your personal life. There is good news amidst all this unnerving news!
Although you can’t always control the external stressors in your life, you can control how you respond to them! Anxiety is fueled by worry about the future. It is fueled by uncertainty. The big lie of anxiety is that if you aren’t worrying, you really aren’t doing anything. Many people falsely believe that worry is the antedote that will help to solve the problem of stress. Actually, the opposite is true. When you turn off the worry, you cut off the fuel source for anxiety. When you cut off the fuel source, you take away the gripping power anxiety may have had over you in the past and you regain control over your life!
The first step I’d like to suggest to you that will help you to stop the worry is to begin by recognizing that worry will NEVER help solve the problem. Today I’d like you to give yourself permission to only worry for a 15 minute period of time that you plan each day. To ruminate about a problem any longer than 15 minutes becomes detrimental to both your physical and psychological health. As you read this, you may be thinking that its either impossible to dramatically reduce the time you spend worrying or that you will lose control of your life and your problems if you don’t worry about them. Trust me….neither of these is true.
To regain control of your life, your emotions, and your health you must begin to limit the amount of time you spend worrying (endlessly thinking about problems or potential problems) each day. When worry creaps back into your thoughts you simply redirect your thoughts by gently reminding yourself that you will have time to worry about that problem at your scheduled time. It is very important that you speak gently and kindly to yourself whether in you thoughts or in your spoken word. Speak to yourself as your would speak to a loved one. When I feel worry creeping back into my moments I take three deep cleansing breaths, in through my nose and out through my mouth, and then say to myself, “Focus on the gift of this moment, look, listen, smell…take in the moment, your time to worry about this problem has passed for today. You can worry again if you’d like tomorrow.” If my mind wanders a thousand time, I simply redirect my thoughts a thousand times. I patiently redirect myself as many times as needed.
Remember, the process of change occurs over time. Begin in this moment to implement this small change. The most important thing is to be patient, loving, and kind towards yourself. Over time you will notice that the sense of urgency will pass. Over time you will feel your stress is reduced. You will begin to feel that you are once again in charge of your thoughts and ultimately your emotions.
I’d love to hear from you whether you have questions or thoughts on this topic. Feel free to share your experiences. I will respond to your posts and support and encourage you as you learn that you can decide how many of your precious moments you choose to give over to WORRY.
Enjoy this moment,
