The Worry Cure

Switch the Channel on Worry

Worry is like any bad habit. It can be addictive. One small fear leads to another and another. Before you know it, you’ve imagined your life falling apart, not only now, but ad infinitum into your future. One of the ways to begin breaking any habit is to simply recognize you’re doing it! “Oops! There I caught myself imagining not being able to pay my mortgage again.”

But simply the recognition that you’re worrying isn’t usually enough to change it. What can you do to switch the channel? Ask yourself the question, “What do I want?” For example, if your worry du jour is imagining yourself broke and penniless, turn it around. What you probably want is to feel safe. You might also want to imagine having enough or more than enough money. Your task at this point is not to figure out how this will happen, it’s simply to begin choosing something you want versus something you don’t.

Sometimes you don’t know what you want. Or, the thought of imagining something so dramatically different stops you in your tracks. If this is the case, switching the channel on worry may be to simply say, “I want to feel at peace.” “I’m choosing not to worry right now.” Or, “I’m open to something easier.”

If you’ve got a bad worry habit going on, you may need to be patient as you retrain your brain. Also, all of this is much easier at 3 in the afternoon than at 3 in the morning when you’re lying awake with not a lot to distract you! The great positive thinker, Dale Carnegie, once said, “If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there and worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the loss of sleep.

Pray for Peace and Guidance

Prayer works. It’s one of the things that survey respondents mentioned most often. If you don’t know what to pray for, simply ask the Divine to bring you peace, to help you to feel calm. “God, I welcome your love. I invite your peace. Fill my heart and soul with your wisdom. Show me my next steps. Give me courage and hope. Sustain me with your message.”

You may wish for a direct, clear message from God. Sometimes that happens. More often, you’ll feel a sense of peace that wasn’t there before, or you’ll be drawn to a passage in a book that provides comfort. Pay attention to that “still, quiet inner voice.” It’s one of the ways that the Divine imparts His wisdom.

Distract Yourself

If you find yourself at the bottom of a huge worry pit and you can’t dig out, distract yourself for a while. Put on some music and dance. I love the “Three Little Birds” song by Reggae musician Bob Marley. The main line is “Don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing gonna be all right.” Get your favorite feel-good music lined up and ready for those occasions when you feel particularly down.

Sitting alone and thinking about your problems only serves to intensify them and make you more miserable. If all of this, uplifting advice isn’t making you feel better, get out and do something for someone else. Check out a homeless shelter, soup kitchen, a daycare that could use some volunteers, anything that temporarily gets you out of your house and circumstances. Sometimes all you need is to feel less alone and to join the human race again.