Worrying

Trouble, trouble, trouble…

“Worry is like a rocking chair—it gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.”

“Worry is the darkroom where negatives are developed.”

“Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.”

                                        Proverb Quotes

          I am a worrier.  I come from a long line of worriers.  I was trained from the cradle to worry about all sorts of things that I have no control over.  I have lost many perfectly good days of my life worrying and agonizing about things that would never happen.  It’s a curse that is passed down from generation to generation without the slightest hesitation.  In my own family, worry and concern and love were all bunched up together so that you had no idea what was what.  Only recently have I learned that they are not the same.

          I am not here to preach to you about the lack of faith, lack of courage or anything else that worry represents.  I bring it up because I think it is such a prevalent problem today that it deserves consideration.  We are living in difficult times.  For ten years we have had a steady diet of war and disaster and the threat of annihilation at the hands of terrorists.  We have watched fires and floods and hurricanes and tornadoes level cities and destroy homes and lives.  We are all living with a low level of post traumatic stress disorder from dealing with the world as it is.  I was in Atlanta over the weekend—the traffic alone was enough to cause hysteria. 

          So, given the amount of threat and chaos we face each day, how can we cope.  Here are a few things that help me.  Prayer:  saying the Buddha’s prayer helps.  “May I be at peace.  May my heart remain open.  May I awaken to the light of my own true nature.  May I be healed.  May I be a source of healing for all beings.”  It can be said for oneself and then for others.  Involvement:  Having something interesting to do distracts from fretting, especially something creative.  Creativity shifts activity from the left side of the brain to the right side, from words to imagery.  Active meditation is also helpful—for most of us, sitting meditation only concentrates our fearful thoughts.  The more we try to quiet our thinking, the louder it becomes.  Moving meditation, whether walking, tai chi, dance, yoga, swimming, gardening, or whatever is your particular whole-body activity, brings one’s attention to the body and away from the worrying mind.  And, finally, ritual helps; especially if the problem is not yours to solve, if it is something you have no control over.  Write it down; say everything you need to say, and then burn it, bury it, shred it, or whatever you need to do to send it on its way.  Just getting it out, blessing it and sending it to nirvana is a potent way to let it go.

          If you are a worrier, I send you a special Southern blessing.  “Bless your heart, honey.”  Shedding that particular anxious habit is a life’s work.  Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t dissolve immediately.  And don’t punish yourself for caring.

                             

                                        Be at peace,

                                        Jane