“Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” ~ Corrie ten Boom

Why we worry

When it comes to concerns about life’s uneasy or potentially disastrous issues, we start to worry. I don’t think there is a single person in this world that hasn’t experienced a copious bout of the worries in their lifetime — but why do we do this?

There could be a number of reasons, some being:

You feel you need to ‘prepare’ yourself for the worst

You are a ‘glass is half empty’ kind of person and just expect the worst to happen

It is in your experience that disaster always strikes, so worry is a necessary coping mechanism

There are so many things that could go wrong and you feel you need to focus on each one to embody it or try to find a possible solution for it in the event of it happening.

Now, if we actually look at this list from an outsiders point of view — in other words, we take ourselves out of the equation and are impartial — these worries are not only a waste of precious manifesting time but they are a reinforcement of unconstructive potential timelines.

You Are What You Think

Just remember you bring about what you think about the most. This is not meant to scare you, it is a preparation tool so that you can steer your thoughts to more positive neurological pathways. When you reinforce encouraging scenarios in your mind, as opposed to harmful scenarios (aka worrying), you are creating the potential for a more fruitful future.

Easier said than done?

Sure, but it is possible.

Answer this: Has worrying ever solved your problems anyway?

I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say ‘no’ it probably hasn’t, right? So what can you do now to alleviate any future concerns you have?

Eckhart Tolle has pointed out three memorable and straightforward options that you can apply here, either: remove yourself from the situation (in this case, remove the worry), change it (transmute the worrisome thought form), or accept it totally (surrender to any future possibility). But let’s go into it a bit more:

6 Techniques to Stop Worrying

1. Do Something to stop worrying

Swap worry for doing. Can you actually do something about it now? If the answer is yes, take those first steps and you will begin to lighten the load off your mind. Even if it means writing the problem down. Just getting it out of your head and onto paper can be a relief. You can even then burn the paper or trash it symbolizing your new stance on worry. Tell your troublesome thought who is the boss!

2. Find a solution

Map out a possible solution. Again, it is always helpful to write it down so that your mind is free of it. When you can look at some achievable solutions, you may gain a better perspective of how you can change or alter the course of your quandary.

3. Accept

If there is absolutely nothing you can do, then try acceptance of what is. If you cannot change what is, you need to let it go and find peace within your situation.

4. Meditate

Solutions will present themselves when we quiet the mind. There is a wealth of information just waiting for you to tap into when you are in a meditative state. Clearing your mind of what I like to call ‘mind-static’ (continuous loops of mind chatter) will help you to excavate that diamond of truth and gain a lucid perspective.

5. Positive Thinking

Remind yourself that what you think you attract. Do you want to attract more of what you are worried about? If not, then switch to thinking about what you do want to manifest in your life and let all negative outcomes go.

6. Affirm Happy Outcomes

Practice positive affirmations and visualize your best outcome to the situation at hand. Keep reaffirming, every morning and evening, this ‘happy outcome’ and truly feel the emotions of having it in your life right now.

“Make sure your thinking is pointing you in the right direction to manifesting your ideal destination”

The mind can be trained to think differently — you are 100% in control of your destiny. You have a choice to rewire your thought process to align with what you want to manifest — don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Don’t fall into the trap of being a ‘victim of circumstance’ — this state doesn’t really exist as you create everything and only you can give it the necessary potency. Playing any kind of victim role is a disempowering position that you should try to not take part in.

You are the powerful creator of your reality and you are in the driver’s seat — where are you going? Where do you want to go? Wherever you see yourself in the future just remember, worrying never got anyone anywhere — so…

Hakuna Matata* all the way!

*a Swahili phrase that is literally translated as “There are no worries”

Comments

Cherie Roe Dirksen

Cherie is a self-empowerment author, multi-media artist and musician living in the Klein Karoo, South Africa. She has weekly blogs at her site www.cherieroedirksen.comwhere she discusses practical and insightful perspectives on taking responsibility for your life and following your bliss.You can follow her on Facebook, on Pinterest, on LinkedIn and on YouTube.

No Comments

Cherie Roe Dirksen

at 9:59 am

Thanks, Kelly — happy it helped. It’s great that you write them out, doing that will help to relieve your mind of the burden. The burning or trashing is symbolic and you are subconsciously reiterating your desire to live without the worry — so it is a great thing to practice.
Kelly

at 1:03 pm

This was great! I always try to write my worries/fears/anxieties but writing them down and burning/throwing them out in the trash is such a great idea. I will definetly try this 🙂 Thank you for your awesome article, Cherie 🙂
Cherie Roe Dirksen

at 9:39 am

You raise a very valid point here. One of the greatest worries in this world is over the safety of a child — no matter how old the child is. But you have to remember that your son is also on his own spiritual path, no matter what that may be. You cannot know what it is he came here to experience. Your job is to love him unconditionally, that is all you can really do. You must know about the ‘tough love’ approach, and that can work. But in the instance that it doesn’t, you need to accept what is and set yourself emotional boundaries — this is to say that you need to detach from his outcome. Many people think detaching is done when you no longer care. The fact is nothing could be further from the truth, you can detach out of love. You can love from a distance and always be there for him without worrying about where his journey will take him. There is so much to say on this matter as it goes very deep… I do understand your plight as I have had many loved ones in my life take the path of drug abuse and I know how difficult it can be…
Cherie Roe Dirksen

at 9:32 am

How very astute, but then the Buddhists usually are…thanks for sharing this, Tahlia.
Cherie Roe Dirksen

at 9:31 am

Hi Vee, glad it helped! 😉
Cherie Roe Dirksen

at 9:31 am

Thank you for your input, David. I laugh now looking back on my life and what a worry-wart I was! I honestly speak from experience when I say that I was the ‘queen’ of all possible situations and their outcomes — my ‘what if’s’ outweighed my present moment awareness. The thing is that it is acceptable to mentally ‘prepare’ yourself for an event but the key is to not dwell on it. If you can find a solution, then let it rest, if you can’t, then let it rest. When we are faced with challenges, one can only do ones best in the moment. The best thing you can work on instead of worrying, is to practice calmness and non-reaction. When you have a level head, you can cope with anything.
Cherie Roe Dirksen

at 9:25 am

Yes, isn’t it marvelous how things seem to always happen in 3’s? Or could it be that we are expecting it to that inevitable brings on this trinity? Maybe it’s time to change that…from this moment onwards — if inconvenient things are going to happen — let them happen in 1’s! Thanks, Mary Liz. 😉
Cherie Roe Dirksen

at 9:21 am

Thanks, Andrea — glad it helped 🙂
Mom1281

at 2:21 am

This is all very good advice, but what does one do when the worry is over one’s child? My son has caused me terrible stress and anxiety over the last 2 years primarily due to his drug abuse. He has been totally clean for a couple of months now, but I have become so conditioned to one bad thing after another occuring with him that I don’t know how to turn off the chronic worry that plagues me. Positive thinking has just gotten me burned over and over again.
Tahlia Newland

at 11:31 pm

There’s a Buddhist saying – if you can do something about it, there’s no need to worry, if you can’t do something about it, there’s no point worrying.
Vee

at 4:10 pm

I <3 this! I had to print it out.. thank you!
David J. Singer

at 2:21 pm

Cherie:
Great work. Excellent.
Right at the start, you had a line that resonated with what I often spend time doing… My version: “In a given situation there are many things that could go wrong so I focus on each one to try to find possible solutions in the event of them happening.” And while, at times, that has helped me to be prepared, it can also work against me. Fear of the unknown can add up to over-analyzing and analysis paralysis, in which case all that “worrying” didn’t even help. And if it’s not going to help, and is going to be unpleasant, there is no point.
Thanks for your nice piece.
Best regards,
David
Mary Liz Tippin-Moody

at 1:31 pm

Wow. This one came at an opportune time!! We laugh that things come in “threes”, and there is not much that can be done most of the time, so you just wait it out. Great way to adjust thinking and visualize solutions. GREAT POST – thanks now and always.
Andrea Picarelli

at 11:19 am

Excellent article! I really needed this!