Worry

Every morning I spend fifteen minutes filling my mind full of God, and so there’s no room left for worry thoughts.   Howard Chandler Christy

Many people, particularly friends and well wishers have often asked me how I am able to keep up my New Year Resolution to write this blog every single day, in addition to my weekly blog (www.poweract.blogspot.com).  I don’t worry about how I will write if I am out of town and don’t have access to the net connection. In fact I have consciously refused to look at the topic for the next day (this is taken from a PPT that I received which is actually put up by someone not known to me at all, and which is available on (www.actspot.com) Well truth be told, I am surprised myself, but the one secret is that I have never worried about the topic for tomorrow and what my response would be. In fact for Indian readers who have seen the movie 3 Idiots, there are times when I actually tell myself ‘All is Well”

Does it mean I don’t worry?  Alas, worry will always be a constant devil that will chase you till your last breath; the antidote is ‘faith’.  When we begin every day with a prayer on your lips, faith in God and yourself and a positive frame of mind, worry will be banished for the day. However, it may make the odd appearance, when your spirits are low and a task looks daunting or a situation looks bleak and desperate.  Death for instance is a reality that everyone has to face; be it that of parents, siblings, friends, spouse or loved ones. Can we then in fear and hopelessness cower and slunk with worry? Sounds foolish but then if we are short sighted and seek escape in worry, we end up as nervous wrecks and not joyful beings.

The spate of suicides amongst us particularly the young, the youth and the students is ‘worrying’ to say the least and paradoxically is the culmination of their individual ‘worries’ seeking relief through desperate means.  If all those who have suicidal tendencies,  just pause to ask themselves one question ‘‘Will this last?’, they would have realized that most worries are by and large temporary, a few, more long term and a minuscule lot of our troubles are permanent and inescapable. Take the case of paraplegics, those suffering from terminal illness and those having mentally challenged children or siblings; they have worries of a long term and permanent nature. What is their response? They seek courage and hope in prayer and in themselves.  As Paul Brunton correctly put it “Worry is spiritual short sight. Its cure is intelligent faith.” Suicide is escape from worries not a solution or a remedy.

Remember: “Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.”Leo F. Buscaglia quotes

Try these:

1. Most of us are scared to even think of our worries; so you have to take that special effort to outline your worries now. It could be fear of exams, apprehension about your relationships, career prospects, financial stability, a personal illness or that of a loved one etc. Once you list it down, ask yourself if the listing down makes you more anxious or more relieved that you have identified it? Now for each of the worries identify who can help you or who can you confide in and share with, your worries. Meet them at the earliest and try to get guidance and solace.
2. Many of your worries are actually your lack of faith in yourself or your dogmatic refusal to address the concern under some garb or excuse. Be honest and review your list of worries and ask yourself if the problem is s gigantic or desperate as you make them out to be? Can many of them be partially addressed by you accepting that you have to do something about it? Are you ready to take that effort? Are you afraid, ashamed or defiant to seek help?
3. Ask yourself the following questions and be proactive in your response! If you see that someone is in trouble and worrying, are you prepared to go that extra step and offer your help? Do you have the tendency to say that ‘ I don’t want to get involved’? Are you scared that getting involved would make me more caught up than what I really see myself wanting to? Do you realize that Listening is the best help that you can give to someone with a worry? Can you spare time to just LISTEN to another?

This post is courtesy www.actspot.com

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