Can I Stop Worrying?

Most of us experience repetitive worries at some point, what do we do with them? There are many techniques we can use if we’ve decided to worry less. The intention to worry less is the first step, then we can use breath and body, affirmations, logic, visualization, present moment awareness and forgiveness. Just as we return the wandering mind over and over during meditation, we also return the mind to positive outcomes over and over. Photo by Gianandrea Villa on Unsplash

Transcript

Comfortable. Allowing our arms and legs to be somewhere comfortable. If we find that we've got stuck in a big loop of worry, We might find it's affected our physical body over our posture or our muscle tension. So let's deliberately choose posture that's relaxed and open. So allowing our muscles to relax, Allowing our shoulders to soften and open. Opening our chest, Opening our palms and taking a few relaxed breaths, Conscious breaths. So we're choosing consciously to worry or not to worry and we do that by paying attention to ourselves in our present moment and making a choice. So let's notice our body, Notice our mind. And if we find there's long-running fears in our mind really ingrained like railway tracks or more, Maybe there's more transient worries, Whatever worries. First of all let's let ourselves off the hook, Forgive yourself. And a lovely way of doing that is ho'oponopono. I'm sorry please forgive me, Thank you, I love you. We can say that to ourselves because we're doing our best, I'm sorry please forgive me, Thank you, I love you. We're trying our hardest and things are difficult, Maybe things don't go as we wish. Sometimes we criticise ourselves so instead of the energy of that self abuse, Self judgement, I'm sorry, Please forgive me, Thank you, I love you. And feel how that feels. I'm sorry, Please forgive me, Thank you, I love you. Resting in that relaxed forgiving energy. Let's use a cleansing breath and as we do so we can imagine putting down those difficulties because we've decided we don't want that in our heads anymore. Worry only hurts us, It doesn't help so I've decided to release it. I'll do what I need to do, I'm gonna put the rumination, The chewing over, I'm gonna put it down. So let's blow it out with a cleansing breath. So when we're ready to exhale we're gonna blow out the breath through slightly pursed lips as much as we can and then take a long smooth in breath. Relaxed out breath. Once again relaxing the shoulders, The whole physical body softening a little. We're gonna try the cleansing breath a couple more times with the rest in between and I invite you to blow out the difficulties, The worries, Replace it with fresh air, Fresh energy. So we'll see how that feels. When you're ready to exhale blowing out the old stagnant stuff. Long smooth inhale. Relaxing out breath. Unrest. Let's do one more cleansing breath, Seeing how that change of energy, Using that to change the energy and see how that feels. When you're ready to exhale blowing out the breath. Long smooth inhale. Relaxing out breath. So you may be familiar with the idea that in meditation when our mind wanders we just return to the focus without any blame or criticism or making up another story. So when we find ourselves chewing up ourselves over worry, Constant worry, Repetitive worries it's very much the same idea. You find yourself going to the same place over and over again. You decide consciously that is not for me and you return to a positive focus and I'm going to give you as many tools here to do that as I can. So we've noticed our mind is worrying. We've decided that's not for me. We've used forgiveness. Ho'oponopono. Yeah that's tricky and we've used the breath. We've used our posture and our physical body. Let's use a relaxing breath, A belly breath. So letting a little more air very gently into the lower lung. The breath slows, The heart rate slows. We start to turn our biology away from the stress state, Consciously. So we're not forcing the breath. It's 95% natural breath. We just move the belly just a little more to let the air a little deeper into the lungs. This is the breath we naturally do when we're relaxed. So we take advantage of that mechanism to tell the body it's time to relax. So long as we're not trying too hard our breath might naturally slow a little. And as our body relaxes our mind and nervous state relaxes too. And yes those repetitive worries will keep raising their attention. Come back, Come back, Come back to the present moment. Are you projecting a fear into the unknown future? Is that what your worry is? Let's recognize if this is the case. It isn't happening now. It may happen, It may not happen. And we will take every action possible for a good outcome to the best of our ability knowing that that is the case in this moment. If we can do nothing now we relax. So we may logic ourselves out of this concern. I will act if this is not the time for that action. I relax. Similarly with the past maybe your worry is about something that happened before that may happen again. That may be your fear. Same same logic. Is it happening now? If yes we act. If we can act to change things we act. If not, Relax the body. Breathe. Present moment with the body and the breath as best you can. Breathe. If you can take five minutes, Ten minutes out of your day particularly if you're in a state of worry and running around madly lie down choose to restore and nurture your physical, Your muscles, Your nervous system with a restful breath. There are many ways in which we can adjust our state of mind, Our state of being. So another technique is an affirmation. So if you have specific worries going round and round and round you craft an affirmation that turns that on its head. So I'll see if I can give you some examples. So if you're worried about a particular situation in which something that you don't like may happen you create an affirmation in which this particular situation is resolved the highest outcome for everyone involved and as soon as that worry appears in your head you turn it upside down with your affirmation. If you're worried about a particular person your affirmation might be something like this person is able to learn and grow and I send them love so they can do that better. That's going to be unique for everybody but the idea is you take that fear and you see the flip side of it you want the positive outcome that's why the worry is there put a sentence on that positive outcome and tell it to yourself again and again and again because it's just as possible as the negative outcome. So I'll give you a moment to craft an affirmation. Examine your routine or habitual worry flip it over see the outcome you want put some words around a beautiful best-case scenario outcome use it feel the energy of it and if you really have decided that there is no more space in your mind for negative thoughts for worries for fears of any kind as I have. This becomes your way of being that you're always watching your mind for negative projections thoughts fears and they all get turned on their heads. No space in my mind for any negative projection and I watch and as each one turns up they are turned on their heads with a positive outcome that I desire. And sometimes it all gets the better of me and I use all these techniques to find my way back to a better space. I forgive myself I breathe I acknowledge the difficulty I bring my mind back over and over and I don't watch my mind with intensity I don't it's not work it's not hard work that makes me clench my fists I choose and I relax into a vision of the good I face the sunrise and I relax. When I breathe. When I breathe. I'm sorry please forgive me thank you I love you. So we offer that to ourself at the beginning we might now offer it to the situation the person in our worries whatever it is we're worrying about let's put it down let it go I'm sorry please forgive me thank you I love you. Breathe in the wonderful relaxing energy of that. And there will be times when worry gets the better of you I'm sorry please forgive me thank you I love you I'm doing my best. Resting for a moment. And we'll gradually start to return to our waking state so we'll take one or two energizing breaths. Fresh air fresh energy entering the body and we start to move gradually bringing movement back into the body having a stretch if that's for you. Thank you for practicing with me.

Reviews

My first session without music. It was helpful just to sit in the emptiness. A good assortment of tools to stop the worrying loop.