February 23rd, 2018

 



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                                               Can We Stop Worry When There is Reason to Worry? 

Worry is part of the human condition, but when it becomes so stressful that it affects your mental and physical well-being, it’s to the extreme.

We anticipate challenges and then try to resolve or avoid them, when often we are not equipped to do either. Yet we persist. We try to control the things we simply cannot control. 

So how do we stop this vicious cycle or can it be stopped?

There are steps you can take to end  chronic worrying; but in reality some will worry if they are doing the steps right and many will feel the solution requires too much time or effort.

Is it possible to rid yourself of that gut-wrenching worry that comes from situations like your children being on drugs, getting pink-slipped, or ending a relationship you don’t want ended? Under extreme circumstance is it possible to find peace of mind?

The answer is yes.

You let go and let God. 

What does that mean and how can you do it? What if you don’t believe in God?

For those of you who believe in God, you simply have to remind yourself that everything is in Divine Order and that things are happening for a reason.  You have to surrender to God and have faith that He will make everything right in time.

That’s a tall order.

However, the reality is that there is nothing you can do to change certain circumstances. So why not make it easy on yourself and surrender to God, who can and will take care of things?

How do you surrender?

Simply pray. Tell God you can’t handle it and you are handing it over to Him. Then do just that.
If in that instant you acknowledge you are not equipped to fix things and you are willing to drop the responsibility, that’s how you know you have let go. The instant that you let go from the heart and sincerely hand it to God, worry immediately leaves your mind and stays gone.

Try it.

And what if you are not religious and do not believe in God?  Does that make you an outcast who is stuck with the problem of eternal worry?

Not necessarily.  According to Bobby Azarian, (blogger for the Huffington post)
“The majority of college-educated individuals no longer accept the supernatural and magical accounts of physical processes given by religious holy books.  Nor do they believe in the actuality of mystical realms beyond life that offer eternal bliss or infinite punishment for the ‘souls’ of righteous or evil men.”

This statement does not include people of all walks of life who have no religious beliefs or practices. It would be safe to say that the “non-religious” thinker reflects the philosophic outlook of Individualists like Ann Rand who express that “life is not a supernatural mystery but a fact of nature, and consciousness is a natural attribute not a mystic miracle determined by some occult source in another dimension”.

Instead of “God” power the belief is in “Mind” power. The theory is that the mind is the strongest power man possesses and the thoughts that pass through the mind create everything that happens to us. In other words the subconscious mind creates our reality.

If that is truly the case, then the individual can control and eliminate worry.

According to Psychology Today Psychotherapist, Tina Gilbertson states that, “worry is fueled by unprocessed emotions. The fastest and surest way to stop worrying is to process your feeing’s about the thing you’re worrying about.” She gives step by step instructions on how to do this.

The relationship between religion and science is becoming less conflicted. “American scientists are about half as likely as the general public to believe in God or a higher, universal power”- (2009 Pew Research Center survey). 

However, there is one concept that unites us all regardless of our beliefs: “So you’re made of detritus (from exploded stars).  Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it.  After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?” -Neil deGrasse Tyson

The bottom line… regardless of where we stand, we can stop worry even when there is something to worry about.
 
 

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