To Worry or Not to Worry?

“Either you have control or you don’t. If you do, take it. If you don’t, don’t waste your energy on worry.” Dr Wayne W. Dyer

Many people are consumed with worry – over money, time, work, what people say or think – the list goes on. The reality is that worry does not create solutions or contribute anything positive to our lives.

Worry causes unnecessary stress and tension and the consequence is that concerns over one area of our lives quickly spill into other areas. Feeling tense about a relationship at work can leave us short tempered with personal relationships at home, impact on health with lack of sleep and a multitude of other problems.

As simple as the advice above seems, it is not easy to implement. While it sounds rational when we are faced with challenges the choices on how to react seem limited. We need to accept that our first choice is how we react to issues as they arise.

It has taken many years for me to learn that the best first response is to do nothing apart from sleep on the matter at hand. Reacting emotionally and impulsively can only lead to poor quality decisions that often aggravate the initial concern.

Statistics are often quoted that 80% of what people worry about never happens – imagine all that energy redirected to productive thought and action!

The irony is that practice seems to improve our resilience in coping with adversity – the more challenges we overcome, the better we are able to deal with them. When we contemplate the lives of some people we are often amazed how serene they seem after overcoming great tragedy or hardship. These are the graduates of the “School of Hard Knocks”.

They have learned first-hand that worrying about something does not prevent it happening or create a solution, the best approach to life is to focus on what is perfect right now and to reserve your energy for dealing with real crises as they arise.

Try it on for size – don’t worry – be happy •

 

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