Worry

Thursday May 22, 2014

"So do not worryabout tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."  Matthew 6:34
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One of the most emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually draining and exhausting aspects of human existence is worry.  What is it that we worry about?  It can all be boiled down to this:  fear of  losing what we have, and not getting what we want.  There are several things to keep in mind as we worry about worry:

1.  That vast amount of things that we worry about are things that are not going to happen, thus, we worry unnecessarily.

2.  We worry about events based upon illogical mental constructs.  Question your automatic thoughts and ask yourself, is my worry logical?  Is my worry based on illogical premises?  Is there some some flaw in my reasoning?  Can I suspend judgement until I have more concrete facts?  

3.  Worry often involves inordinate attachments:  fear of losing what we have or not getting what we want.  Check: what am I inordinately attached to?

4.  The opposite of worry is trust; trust in God's providence and his faithfulness in answering prayer and his providential care for our needs.  Am I in such a communicative relationship with God in such a way that I commit my daily life to his care?

5.  We need to check our emotions.  Emotions are important.  They make us human and inform our intellect.  But, if we reason with our emotions rather than our intellect we fall into the an emotional reasoning that does not serve us or our relationships well.

6.  Maintaining an attitude of gratitude works as a counter-balance to worry.  Worry is an inordinate obsession with difficulty or troubles, or worse, potential difficulties or troubles.  Focusing on God's manifold blessings displaced unhealthy worry.

7.  Worriers need a place to deposit their negative thoughts. Keep a small memo pad handy, and whenever you feel yourself starting to worry about something, open it and do a “brain dump”.  Call it your 5 minutes of worry, then walk away.

8.  Sometimes forcing yourself to think of the worst thing can be the best thing for an anxious brain. If you find yourself trapped in “what-ifs,” a common state of mind for people with chronic anxiety, face your fears head-on: "What's the worst that could happen and can I and God deal with it?"

9. Worry puts the focus on us rather than on loving God and neighbor.   When we focus mostly on ourselves it breeds egoism which in turn begets even more self-centered worry.

10.  Live in the present with mindfulness.  Remember, today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday. 

11.  Focus on solutions rather than problems.