WORRY – I actually looked this up in a real dictionary as my
Google was not working at the time. 1. "to feel uneasy or anxious; to fret;
torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts. 3. To make uneasy or
anxious; trouble; torment with annoyances, cares, anxieties,etc.” These are some
of the dictionary definitions of worry.
This brought up interesting questions for my mind,
1. What does worry mean to me?
2. Why would I want to feel anxious?
3. Why am I willing to torment myself with disturbing
thoughts?
While exploring these questions in my mind I remembered a quote
from one of my favorite Spiritual teachers, Iyanla Vanzant. In her book
Until Today: “What you make in your own mind is what you put your faith
into just to prove to yourself that what you believe is correct."
Here is a good place to ask -
4. How important is it to me to be RIGHT?
I have known some people who would go to great lengths to be
RIGHT! As a matter of fact, I perhaps, have been in the past, one of those
people.
There have been several conversations in my life recently
revolving around worry. These conversations ignited my thinking mind, and I
began to wonder at what age did we learn to worry? And then I wondered what
exactly is worry?
It seems that at a very early age we learned that worry was
connected to love. I'm sure that many of us remember the admonition from our
parent “Be sure you’re home on time; when you're late I worry!” And so it seems
that many of us began to believe that if we loved someone it was proven by how
much we worried about them. So consequently we have trained ourselves to worry!
Being older and wiser now it seems to me that when we
contaminate our time worrying about the past or the future, rather than being
aware of the infinite possibility in the present moment, we are apt to be filled
with stress and agitation. We find our relationships become strained and our
creativity seemingly blocked. Worry about the future or the past means that we
can't really focus on the peace and happiness available today. For instance,
when we are worrying about our self or a loved one, because of an illness, or
upcoming tests, our doubts and fears will be transmitted to all those around us,
thus destroying the peace of mind of all concerned and losing any joy in the
time that we are together, the now moment.
I personally made a decision a while back, after hearing the
quote "Worry is misplaced faith." I decided that I would prefer to have faith in
the good and the wonderful, that I would like to prove my love in other more
productive and peaceful ways. Being a student of Ernest Holmes teaching ,
“Change your thinking change your life,” indicated I had some work to do. I
resolved to change my thinking. I soon discovered this is easier said than
done!
I have found that to change my thinking I must first become aware
of what I am thinking, again not always so easy. I have been able to do this by
being very faithful with my yoga and meditation time. One of the things I have
learned is that our mind is very powerful and often divided. There is what I
call the ego mind, that part of our mind which is very attached to the world,
which is by the way, the mind that convinces us to do the worrying. Then there
is our Spiritual mind which knows of things beyond this world and has the
ability to bring good things into our life if we will get the negative worry
thoughts out of the way. I will share with you that the ego mind is usually
much louder than the Spiritual mind. Thus the scriptural teaching "BE STILL and
KNOW."
For many of us the “being still” often comes when we crawl into
bed and just want to sleep. This is the time our ego mind gets very busy with
all of the worry things. The awareness of our ability to change our thinking
will help us to still the worry thoughts. Then we can begin to work with our
incredible Spiritual Mind and think the things that help us feel Good. I
personally feel that Good is synonymous with God; therefore we are always
offered an opportunity to let go and let God.
If we are to let go, we must stop ruminating. Ruminating is
meditating on negative thought. We find our mind running in circles chasing the
negative thoughts around and around gathering evidence for problems and disaster
in our life.
Here are some techniques that have worked for me. I share
them with you with a sincere desire and knowledge that you too can become worry
free!
1. When you go to bed each night take some time to do some deep
breathing and give yourself permission to relax and to feel good.
2. Express gratitude for another day of living. Dr. Michael
Bernard Beckwith, another great spiritual teacher said "Nothing new can enter
your life without gratitude."
3. Find at least 5 things that you can be grateful for, make
sure that one of those things is your wonderful, awesome Self. Some people find
it helpful to keep a gratitude journal by the bed and writing a gratitude list.
These can be very simple things like good food to eat and good water to drink, a
kind word from a friend, a smile from a stranger.
Talk to your mind as though it were a little child that you were
in the process of training. When your mind says negative things, say “Thank you
for those thoughts, but I don't believe they are true.” Then take a deep breath
and replace that negative thought with a positive thought. Be very patient, for
just as with a stubborn child, you may have to repeat yourself several times
before the message is finally received. Perhaps hundreds of times, even more –
don’t quit - it is worth the effort.
And most of all remember, We all, no matter where we have been
or what we have done have the ability to experience anything and everything good
that we desire. This requires faith, a believing that our good is always there
waiting for our acceptance.
Start each day with this affirmation, “Today I am devoted to
bringing my mind and life into alignment with all the good that I can imagine.”
Now begin to image in good things and allow yourself to enjoy life.
It works for me and it will work for you! So go ahead be brave,
step out of your comfort zone and give it a try.
Remember you are loved
YOGA YaYa
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