| "He's
such a worrier. He's beginning to wonder what wine goes
with fingernails." |
The modern world has many comforts and conveniences, but it's
changing rapidly and almost everyone is nervous about the future.
Increasing job demands, the constant threat of unemployment,
and the mounting pressure on family life are just some of the
major stresses everyone faces.
Excessive worry makes you feel pretty bad, and the energy
of worry trapped in the body can be destructive, creating all
kinds of symptoms - and possibly illnesses.
But it's totally useless to say to an anxious person: "Stop
Worrying!"
We all worry sometimes. The question is: does worry take up
a significant part of your waking hours? We must learn to take
the energy of worry and use it to make ourselves stronger and
our lives more enjoyable, even though we face many difficult
problems.
Q: How
do you worry RIGHT?
A: How do you worry? WRITE!
You can use pencil and paper to organize worries - and find
solutions!
The Basics
- WRITE out a complete list of all your worries
- DESCRIBE them accurately - as PROBLEMS
- SORT them into groups such as:
- Major
vs. Minor
- Urgent
vs. Non-Urgent
- Worries
you CAN do something about and those you CAN'T
- FIND solutions to the problems
- TAKE
ACTION
- SEE
IF IT WORKS! - if not, try something else!
General
Worry Tips
Are you spending lot of time worrying uselessly? If you are,
try these ideas instead:
Force
yourself to worry regularly. Your mind will probably
rebel against doing this, and you may be surprised to find
yourself unable to worry as often. To start, make a contract
with yourself to worry for 30 minutes once - or even twice
- a day and if you are unable to keep worrying for that long,
you can allow yourself to cut down the time.
Stop
it! If you find yourself worrying outside of your official
hours,
shout "STOP" loudly. Okay, it's embarrassing,
but it will help! Try visualizing a large red stop sign in
your mind' eye - or put an elastic band around your wrist and
snap it against your skin when a worry rears its head.
Substitute
a positive thought, an "action" or "relaxation" thought
for the worry. Make a list of pleasant positive images of relaxation
in advance.
At
night - when you're lying awake in bed worrying, you may
not be exactly sure what it's about; or perhaps you feel there
may be more to it than just the one worry that's on your mind.
If you're tired and need to sleep, first try relaxation
techniques,
using breathing muscle relaxation, and mental imaging. If you
simply can't quiet your mind down and go to sleep, then follow
the Worry-Write rules.
