Worry can become a habit. Sometimes it can even grow to the proportion of an addiction and take on extra meaning besides the dictionary definition of "to allow one's mind to dwell on difficulties or trouble". Some people think that worrying about something will prevent it from happening, that it is a magic charm. Others, like my grandmother, thought that worrying about someone showed that you loved them. It was one of the few ways that she knew how to demonstrate love, so worrying was a daily part of her life. And for some people it is a family legacy, learned in childhood the same way they learned to speak.
The problem with worrying is that it focuses on the problem, not the solution, and it invites feeling of fear, apprehension, and discomfort. Einstein once said that "no problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it", so if we vibrate at the same level as the problem, odds are good that we will not come up with a viable solution. And we will spend that time of our life creating and experiencing uncomfortable feelings with our thoughts. "Troubleshooting " is a very different process than worry. The focus is on the solution and it is not accompanied by feeling of fear, but rather by feelings of curiosity and discovery.
There are a lot of ways to work with the habit of worry. "Worry Time" is a cognitive approach that I frequently use with clients. The purpose is to increase awareness and choice regarding the experience of worry. It involves determining how much time you actually need to worry each week, and setting up specific "worry times" that you put on your schedule. So let's say you think you need to worry an hour a week (most people underestimate the time they really spend worrying). You can set up a "committee meeting" with the agenda of Worry on Tuesday afternoons from 3-4pm or maybe you want to break it into two half hour meetings. How ever you want to set it up is fine. Then, every time you start to worry about something you write it down for the committee meeting agenda and let it go, knowing that it will get done at the appointed time when you will give your full attention and focus to the agenda items and worry about them until the meeting time is over. This might sound a little silly, but every person who followed through on this assignment changed their habit of unconscious worry and reduced it to a point where it was no longer troublesome.
Another way to decrease worry is to choose to direct your attention away the problem and instead think about something that makes you feel better. Gratitude always works for me. It shifts my emotional vibration to a higher level which allows me a better perspective, which shifts my emotional vibration to a higher level, which moves me to a better perspective, etc. And from that different level of consciousness, I am more likely to be able to allow a solution to manifest. Prayer can also be effective; choosing to believe that things unfold in perfect divine order allows me to move forward without fear. Try different approaches to reduce the time you spend worrying and gift yourself in the New Year with more time to do what you love.
The problem with worrying is that it focuses on the problem, not the solution, and it invites feeling of fear, apprehension, and discomfort. Einstein once said that "no problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it", so if we vibrate at the same level as the problem, odds are good that we will not come up with a viable solution. And we will spend that time of our life creating and experiencing uncomfortable feelings with our thoughts. "Troubleshooting " is a very different process than worry. The focus is on the solution and it is not accompanied by feeling of fear, but rather by feelings of curiosity and discovery.
There are a lot of ways to work with the habit of worry. "Worry Time" is a cognitive approach that I frequently use with clients. The purpose is to increase awareness and choice regarding the experience of worry. It involves determining how much time you actually need to worry each week, and setting up specific "worry times" that you put on your schedule. So let's say you think you need to worry an hour a week (most people underestimate the time they really spend worrying). You can set up a "committee meeting" with the agenda of Worry on Tuesday afternoons from 3-4pm or maybe you want to break it into two half hour meetings. How ever you want to set it up is fine. Then, every time you start to worry about something you write it down for the committee meeting agenda and let it go, knowing that it will get done at the appointed time when you will give your full attention and focus to the agenda items and worry about them until the meeting time is over. This might sound a little silly, but every person who followed through on this assignment changed their habit of unconscious worry and reduced it to a point where it was no longer troublesome.
Another way to decrease worry is to choose to direct your attention away the problem and instead think about something that makes you feel better. Gratitude always works for me. It shifts my emotional vibration to a higher level which allows me a better perspective, which shifts my emotional vibration to a higher level, which moves me to a better perspective, etc. And from that different level of consciousness, I am more likely to be able to allow a solution to manifest. Prayer can also be effective; choosing to believe that things unfold in perfect divine order allows me to move forward without fear. Try different approaches to reduce the time you spend worrying and gift yourself in the New Year with more time to do what you love.
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