Three methods to stop worrying

By Frosty Wooldridge

Your mother worried if you didn’t come home on time. She fretted about the house “worried sick” that something happened to you. When you popped into the door, she said, “Where were you? I was worried to death that something happened to you.”

“Hi mom,” you said. “I hung out with friends after practice.”

During your ensuing years, you may have picked up the “worry factor” that keeps your mind in stitches when some friend or a family member fails to meet with your “time” expectations. You might worry about a date, party, what to wear, how to act and a dozen other variables that cause mental anxiety.

Lots of people worry. They fret, agonize, fuss and fume over something that hasn’t happened, might not happen or never will happen.

What does the word “worry” mean? Worry equals emotional carnage we pay for perceived problems.

First of all, many mothers and other anxious people make “worry” a compulsive habit. It seems to validate their distrust of the future. It binds their mind, body and spirit into tenuous emotional turmoil.

When they unleash it on others, they cause guilt or resentment. When I attended college, I drove 1,000 miles home to see my widowed mother after every quarter. If I didn’t get home at the exact moment she expected me, she threw a fit at the door instead of welcoming me back home.

I finally said, “Mom, I’ll be home when I get home so don’t expect me.”

I took away her power to worry and I gave myself a break from being guilty and/or culpable for being a tardy person in her world. It worked! When I stepped into the house spontaneously, she felt thrilled that I returned home.

In ensuing years, I learned that a person can only deal with present reality. If I haven’t gotten a phone call that a loved one suffered an accident or some other problem, I assume the universe works on my side and that all goes well.

For those who worry, it’s like holding a glass of water in your hand at arms length. At first, it feels light, but if you keep holding the water, your arm aches. After a time, the pain increases to a point where you must lower the glass of water. Instead of holding your worries, it’s easier, more emotionally healthy and smarter to release them. You do not have to pick up a “worry” or fear and hold it inside your brain until it drives you crazy.

How to stop the habit of worrying

“Release” worry by changing the way you think about something that bothers you. Use the Law of Mind to transform your thoughts. What do I mean by that statement?

Your thoughts become things. If you worry about something because you think it’s true, your mind makes it true in your head. At that point, it impacts on your emotions and spirals into anxiety, which causes an unhealthy response.

“Replace” worry with positive thoughts and actions. Therefore, release the negative “worry” thought by thinking positive outcome thoughts. You will soon create a new “thought pattern” groove of “no worries” in your head. It takes practice, so start today. Your faith in the universe must overcome fear and worry. Please realize that your positive mental journey equates to a positive reality.

“Restore” your ideas, thoughts and emotional thrust with health thinking. Avoid becoming a victim of your mother’s imprint by creating your own destiny by choice. Become a co-creator of a positive life. Change your focus. If you stare at a black dot on a paper, it consumes your mind. If you back off, you see it as a tiny dot. It no longer possesses the power to consume your focus.

In the end, worry will never change an outcome. Guide your mind toward a higher mental equivalent. Think positive, act positive and enjoy positive outcomes.

The door just rattled, “Hi mom, I’m home.”

“Nice to see you dear,” you say, smiling.

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